5/1/19 Report - Florida Fort Found. Antiquarian Book Treasures. Victorio Peak. Numismatics.

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

1615 Bible Stolen and Recovered.

I used to be amazed by the valuable treasures that you could find on the shelves of lending libraries.   Library staffs were not always aware of value of some of their books.  Back twenty or thirty years ago I noticed a very old book of Durer prints that was very valuable on the shelves of one library.  Someone was making photocopies of each of the valuable full-page Durer prints.  They evidently knew they were of value, but in the process of spreading the prints out on the photocopier were damaging the old book. I hated to see valuable antiquarian books like that being ruined.

It would have been easy for anyone to walk out of the library with an antique book worth tens of thousands of dollars and never return.  If they were to be charged with late fees, they could have probably paid a ridiculously low fee for "losing" such a rare book.  I was amazed that such books were on the shelves and that they didn't disappear.

The Bible above was part of the $8 million dollars of books stolen by one group, including an library archivist so I guess that some of those old books did disappear.  The stolen Bible shown above, and printed a hundred years before the wrecking of the 1715 Fleet was recovered in the Netherlands.

I noticed a rare collection of valuable books at one local library that was going to get rid of the entire collection of valuable books for essentially nothing.  I told one librarian what they were worth and that they should be saved.  Several of the books were worth hundreds, and a few, thousands of dollars.

Here is the link for more about the stolen and returned Bible.

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/400-year-bible-stolen-us-found-netherlands-62627071

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Hurricane Michael uprooted trees in north Florida and revealed artifacts from 'Negro Fort' where 270 escaped slaves died.

Here is the link for more of that story.

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2019/04/27/hurricane-michael-unearths-artifacts-historic-apalachicola-river-negro-fort/3472717002/

I always like to check in the roots and in the hole created by uprooted trees.

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I posted a link the other day to the Doc Noss Victorie Peak treasure story.  Here is another.

https://dailyoddsandends.wordpress.com/2014/03/29/victorio-peak-treasure-milton-doc-noss-biggest-con-of-the-20th-century/

Thanks to Norbert B. for that link.

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Here is a great video and discussion of some of the earliest ancient coins ever created.  It is very educational.

https://coinweek.com/ancient-coins/watch-talking-ancient-coins-with-mike-beall-and-mike-markowitz-part-i/

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I once created a video while I walked along a good shell line and picked up a sea glass and fossils that I saw.  It wasn't a very good video.  It was my first attempt at doing something like that and every time I bent down to pick up a piece of sea glass the camera didn't catch a good picture of the item I picked up.  If you wanted to get a real good look at the find, you could stop the video and get s somewhat better look at it.

Yesterday I got notice of a comment on the video.  The comment was, "Horrible video."  I wouldn't argue with that.  My reply to the comment was, "Thanks. Great comment."

Another person had commented on the video a long time ago, and said that I was being intentionally evasive and I "wasn't fooling anybody."  I think I fooled him, but not intentionally.

I don't know what those people were looking for, but I  suspect the second person wanted to gain something from the video that he failed to get from it.  He was evidently unhappy about that.  People reveal a lot about themselves from their comments.

Those are the only two comments that the video received over maybe a year or so.  The video did get a lot of "thumbs up," and almost as many "thumbs down."  Some people evidently got something out of the video, and some people didn't.

Rightly or wrongly, I expect treasure hunters to be able to take advantage of small signs, and anything that might be provide a hint or clue.  I don't think a treasure hunter of any type should expect somebody to tell them exactly where to go and where to dig.  That would not be treasure "hunting."

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/27/5 Report - New Poll. Dynamics of Pebble Covered Beaches. Detecting The Past. Why Today Is The Day.

Written by the Treasure Guide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

I added a poll to the blog.  It might be worded a little awkwardly, but there are reasons for that.

Try to answer to the best of your ability.  This poll should only be answered by those that detected Treasure Coast beaches during the last half of October.

Thanks for your participation.  It is always good to get a realistic estimate of what was found, and therefore an idea of what you can expect during conditions such as those we recently had.

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Here is a great illustration.  I lost the link, and I think the web site changed.  It used to be something like www.seafriends.org.nz, but I can't find the source web site now.



That illustrates a lot of different things that I talk about from time to time, such a the different trigger points of different objects, the importance of the shape of objects, etc.

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If you talk to detectorists, many will tell you that one thing they like is touching history.  Another thing you will often hear is something like, "Just think. I was the first person to touch that item in three hundred years."

I think those two statements express slightly different sentiments.  "Touching history" emphasizes the time element more, while the "first person to touch x" statement is more about personal uniqueness. It emphasizes the person being "first."

The two statements are not necessarily mutually exclusive.  Neither are the sentiments mutually exclusive. The person who makes an old find might simultaneously feel both of those sentiments but just express one.  They might feel connected to history and the personal uniqueness of the moment.  I'm sure there are other times when the choice of one of those statements actually indicates the most significant sentiment for that person.

There are definitely detectorists who prefer to find old rusty items more than more valuable modern items.  The two reasons given above are among the most common,

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Today is the day!  You've heard it, and it is true.

If you live to be a hundred years old, that would be about 36,500 days.  That sounds like a lot, doesn't it?  The problem is that if you are fifty, you've already used about 18,250 of those days.  And if you only live to 80 instead of a hundred (still a lofty goal), knock off another 10,300 days.  Now you,re down to around 8000.

A lot of people don't want to think about the passing of time and how short life really is.  Maybe that is the best way to go, but for me looking at it numerically is a bit of a reality check.  It makes it clear how finite life (or should I say a "lifetime") is, and how precious every day is.  Knowing that it is so short and precious, make the best of each and every day and each and every moment.

How do you make the best of it?  You'll have to determine that for yourself, but it might be worth thinking about.

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The TV news is going on and on about the Super Moon.  The water will be a little higher, but I'm not expecting that to help beach detecting conditions much.  The surf is only predicted to run around 2 or 3 feet and the wind will be out of the southeast.

I did see a lot of plastic junk on one beach at the high tide mark yesterday.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/23/14 Report - Six Pound California Gold Nugget For Sale. New Sedwick Blog.

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



Six Pound California Gold Nugget
 

A six pound gold nugget found in Northern California is up for sale.  The nugget is expected to bring around $450,000.

The photo shown here was published in Kovels Komments but original source of the photo is uncertain.

Below is the link to an article about the nugget.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/10/22/6-pound-gold-butte-nugget-up-for-sale-in-california/

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In 2008 I started this blog.  Over the years it has changed, as have I.  The hobby has changed too, of course.

New detectors have come to market.  New finds have been made.  And we all got a little older and hopefully wiser.

Since I began this blog a variety of other blogs have been started.  Many started and ended almost as quickly.  

Some of the ideas that I expressed in the early years now show up everywhere and some of those new ideas have become common knowledge. 

It is hard to trace the dissemination and evolution of knowledge, and I can't prove it, but I'm pretty certain that I've made a contribution.

Pulling out just one example, back around 2008 it used to be near universal practice to post finds along with a coin for size comparison.  I used to receive comments reminding me to do that.  Now, however, it seems to me to be nearly as common to see finds displayed on a hand or finger.  Notice the picture of the nugget above. 

Can I attribute that change to this blog?  Not entirely. 

Another thing that has happened during the same time is the proliferation of "selfies."  I would call that a cultural thing.  It happened as trends in technology and society collided.  The younger generation, which seems to me to be very self-centered, are obsessed with social media. 

Picturing an object in your own hand could be seen as an off-shoot of the selfie obsession or as the result of technology change, or a combination of both.

On the technology side, people have digital cameras, iPhones, etc. that make good close-up photos.

Some commercial sites tried to post articles or create blogs to draw attention to their commercial activities.  Many of those have not been successful and quickly died.  They found out how difficult it is to continually produce new posts with new information.  It isn't easy.

One new blog associated with a commercial site that I'll point out today is a new blog by Sedwick Coins.  They have knowledge and they have something to say.  I expect them to present a series of quality articles.

The first post I saw from their new blog is entitled Assayer P Coins Minted Under Charles and Joanna From The Mexico City Mint.  You might have read some of the Sedwick articles before, but I expect their blog posts to include some fresh information. 

That blog might be a little specialized for the average detectorist, but I am sure it will be very interesting to those who study or collect cobs. The posts will undoubtedly authoritative.

Concerning the subject of the first post that I saw in the new Sedwick blog, and as you might already know, cobs produced during the reign of Charles and Joanna were the earliest produced in the New World. 

Here is the link for that blog and post.

https://sedwickcoins.wordpress.com/

I'll see how frequently they post new articles and keep you up on the topics, and if it goes well, I'll list the blog in my reference link list.

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Tomorrow (Saturday) morning we'll have another cold front come through the Treasure Coast.  Expect a little rain in the morning.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net