9/23/15 Report - One Way To Add Value And Interest To Your Treasures. North Carolina Beaches Producing. Sea Glass Web Sites.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

What's the most valuable thing you ever found?  That is a question that I hear a lot.  If you detect very much you've heard it too.

I'm never comfortable with that question.  For one thing, I don't know the answer.   I'm sure you've heard that an item is only worth what you can get somebody to pay for it.  If I do sell something, which is rare, I do some research, but I let the market tell me what the item is worth.

Since my primary interest isn't economic, and I know that is what I'm being asked, I don't know how to answer the question.  I could get into a long discussion, but that isn't what the person wants.  Their interest isn't complicated, but it doesn't mesh with my thinking.  The result is that I'm left with an uncomfortable feeling knowing that not only do I not know the answer, but I am also a little uncomfortable with how the question is posed and the underlying assumptions.

Even if you boil it down to a matter of dollars and cents, I'll bet that some of your finds will fool  you. You might have finds that are worth a lot more than you realize and vice versa.

Not long ago I talked about a red piece of uranium sea glass that I found.  I didn't know until very recently that it was uranium sea glass.  I didn't find that out until years after it was found when I finally looked at it under a black light.

Red sea glass is rare.  Only about one out of 5000 pieces of found sea glass are red.  But this piece is more rare than that.  It is nice extremely well tumbled and shaped.  It is more rare than that.  It is also uranium glass.  That puts it in another category altogether.  The fact is that the red piece of uranium sea glass that I found would probably sell for more than many of the silver reales that I've found.  Who would have guessed?  Most detectorists have no interest in sea glass.

My point with this discussion is not about sea glass.  It is about treasures and how easy it is to be fooled by the potential economic value of finds.  It is easy to over value or under value different types of items.

I think more mistakes are made by not not appreciating the value of items than by thinking that things are worth more than they are.  If you over-value something, you won't throw it away or sell it ridiculously cheaply.  You'll just be disappointed to find out that you can't get much out of it.

In the case of items that are not thought to have any value, they are often ignored, sold too cheaply or thrown away.  You might never find out about that mistake, or you might.

This is just as much about silver cobs or escudos or other kinds of treasures.  They can be over valued or under valued.  The key is knowledge.  Do your research.

Here's another question.  What is the oldest thing you've found?  You might think of coins that are hundreds of years old, or maybe an artifact.  In my case, I didn't know what my oldest find was for a long time.

My oldest coin find is about 5th century BC.   Obviously that is not a U. S. coin.  But that is far from my oldest find.  My oldest finds are millions of years old.  They are fossils.

The first fossil I found came up in a scoop of sand and shell when I was digging probably a penny or something.  I didn't know what it was at the time, but thought it was unusual, and as I often advise, I put it aside and kept it. I didn't know what it was for a number of years.

The knowledge you bring to a treasure can totally transform it.  You might not know something important about a find, but when you learn more about it, the find can be transformed.

It is knowledge that makes the item more interesting and possibly more important.  Knowledge can also actually make an item more valuable.

Take for example, a coin with a certificate of authenticity.  The certificate provides knowledge.  It should tell you something about the item, such as who found it, maybe what wreck it was associated with etc. etc.  That knowledge makes the item more valuable.  Having a coin graded can also make the coin more valuable.

Research can provide important information about an item.  Notice that auction catalogs provide as much relevant information as possible.  The catalog might tell you about any special features, rarity and anything else that might make the item more valuable.

As I learned more about my red sea glass, it became more valuable - in more ways than one.  That is another example of how what you bring to your treasure is important.  What you know about an item can add a lot of value - again, in more ways than one.

Most people look for the obvious treasures.  Anyone will recognize a coin, and value it if it is old or made of silver or gold, but there are treasures that aren't obvious to the eye.  There are treasures that you might not recognize at first.

I feel like I'm talking in code or symbolism here, but that was unintentional.  It is still there.  There are multiple levels to what I am talking about.

I'll bet that you have found better things than you know. I'll bet that you've seen and passed over or even thrown away some valuable treasures.  I have.  As they say, knowledge is power.

What you bring to a treasure is important, and adds value.

----

The surf on the Treasure Coast is a little rougher now.  It increased today and will be something like three of four feet for several days if the predictions are correct.

Ida is still out at sea, but that disturbance that has been slowly moving north should be affecting North Carolina.

I actually got a recent video clip from GoldNugget who is finding reales and other old coins on a North Carolina beach.

Here is the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToHgfXtNytI&feature=youtu.be

---

A package of pot was found on a Fort Pierce beach yesterday.

Some years ago, I found three large (4x4x4 foot bales) on a Fort Pierce beach early one morning.

---

Here are some good sea glass web sites.

This one is about uranium sea glass.

http://www.findseaglass.net/vaseline-uv-ultraviolet-and-uranium-treas-glass/

And this one presents a table showing the rarity of different colors of sea glass.

http://seaglassreinvented.blogspot.com/2012/02/sea-glass-color-rarity-chart-how-rare.html

---

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/13/15 Report - Extensive List of Most Valuable U.S. Coins. 1890 Swiss 2 Rappen. A "Wash-Up" Located This Morning.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Typical Treasure Coast Beach This Morning Near Low Tide

I didn't see any cuts today.  Even cuts that existed a few days ago are now gone.  At high tide the waves came up over the berm and far back on some beaches.

You can see how smooth this beach is.  This beach front was fairly mushy.  I did find one front beach that was firm.

There was a lot of sea weed on some flat beaches.  You can see a little in the above picture.  Some beaches had much more.

I found a surprising number of new coins in the dry sand after taking a good walk away from the park.

I also found a "wash-up" coin hole at one location where an accumulation of rocks was observed down by the swash.   A shell pile was near the berm above that.  There was nothing else remarkable about the spot.  The slope and compactness of the sand was about the same for hundreds of yards, yet the coins were washing up at this one spot.  The highest ones were less than half the way up the slope.  The only tip-off was the rocks and shells.

Here is a nice short video showing the beach and waves this morning.

Below is a nice old coin found by Dan B.

This is a 2.5 gram bronze coin, 20 mm in diameter.

It is a 1890 Swiss coin.

The denomination is 2 centimes or 2 rappen.

Super condition!

Congratulations Dan.

The value in VF20 condition would be about $8.  I'd say this is way above that.

MS63 would be worth more like $45.













-----


See if you can match these four coins with their realized prices.

1926 S Mercury Dime
1913 Liberty Head V Nickle
1921 S Morgan Silver Dollar
1944 Steel Wheat Penny

$4,500,000
$100,000
$3,100
$1,260

The order of those coins from most to least expensive follows.
1913 Nickle, 1944 Penny, 1926 Dime, and 1921 Silver Dollar.

Here is llink to an extensive list of the most valuable US Coins if you want to see the prices of many besides those four.

http://cointrackers.com/blog/11/most-valuable-coins/

That is a handy list.

---------

On the Treasure Coast the surf is decreasing.  Expect it to be down to around 2 or 3 feet by Sunday.

We got some good size waves but the angles were not good.  Just goes to show that it takes more than big waves to cause cuts.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/6/14 - Most Valuable Artifacts Ever Found! Eye-balled Sports Memorabilia Find. Lots of Wind But Very Little Erosion Found Today.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.BlogSpot.com.



One Treasure Coast Beach This Afternoon Before Low Tide

We got a good bit of wind the past couple of days - even some small amount of wind damage, yet not much happened to the beaches.  Above you can see a pretty typical Treasure Coast beach this afternoon.  Not very good detecting conditions at all despite the increased surf.  When I was there the water was hitting from the East. 

There was one beach that had about a four foot cut.  It was getting down close to some of the older sand layers in one spot, yet most of the erosion was in only in renourishment sand.  That erosion was caused by a renourishment project and the tons of sand that was dumped just to the north of heavily eroded spot.  As a result of the artificial beach, the wave energy was redirected.  That happens a lot.  You dump sand in one spot and an adjacent area badly erodes. 

To sum it up, despite all the wind we had, beach conditions remain poor.  There are a few eroded areas, but those are mostly caused by recent renourishment projects, and they are generally not where shipwreck items would be uncovered.  It is possible that a very few older items might pop up in rare spots.

I'm not expecting any significant improvement in overall beach detecting conditions anytime soon.

-----

3.25 Inch Limestone Sculpture
Source:wikipedia Gruennel Lioness

What would be the thing you would most like to find?  Would it be gold, platinum or diamonds?  How about this 3.25 inch tall limestone figure? 

Take a look at this little beauty.  It is Guennol Lioness.  It is 5000 years old, and was found near Bagdad.  What do you think it is worth?

It sold at auction in 2007 for $57.2 million dollars.  It is one of the most valuable artfacts ever.

There are two sculptures by famous sculptures that have sold for more. One by Picasso and the other by Giacometti.

The next most valuable artifact of all time is could be Artemis and the Stag, a Hellenistic bronze sculpture that sold in 2007 for $28.6 million.

Artemis is just over 36 inches tall.  It was found in the 1920 during a construction project at a Roman site.

So if you ever wondered what the most valuable artifacts are, I just showed two of the top ten contenders.

You can learn more about those two and eight more of the most valuable artifacts by using the following link.

http://www.theartwolf.com/articles/10-most-expensive-antiquities.htm

That should be a good reminder to keep your eyes open for non-metallic items while metal detecting.  You never know what you might find.

------

One fellow was picking up aluminum cans in Lexingon Creek when he found an interesting piece of sports memorabilia.  It was metallic, but it was eye-balled.  It was coin-like and had the 1955-56 basketball schedule for the University of Kentucky on it. 

Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/UK_fan_finds_rare_coin_in_Lexington_creek_131027803.html

-----

Too bad all of that wind didn't do more for us.

They are getting ready to dump more sand on South Inlet Park at Fort Pierce.  

They only get a dozen tourists there, and a few fisherman.  They must spend about a million dollars per tourist to dump sand there very year.  I'll be curious to see if this sand is filled mangled aluminum junk like it was the last time.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net