7/20/19 Report - Artifacts Found by Kayaker. Super Bowl Ring Pawn Attempt. Battle of Waterloo Artifacts. Apollo 11.

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

Items Found by Kayaker.

Source: See TheGuardian.com link below.

Objects from a possible Roman shipwreck have been found off the coast of Kent in one of the most unusual archaeological finds in living memory.

The chance discoveries were made by a kayaker in the sea off Ramsgate. The tide was low enough and the water clear enough for him to reach down and pull out beautiful cobalt blue glassware and high-status Roman pottery, called Samian ware.

Mark Dunkley, a marine listing adviser with Historic England said it was the sort of find which just did not happen in the UK. “It is the rarity of the material and the quality of the material that is really significant. In my experience this stuff just does not exist in an underwater context anywhere around Britain...

For more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jul/17/kayaker-finds-rare-roman-glass-and-pottery-off-kent-coast

One good thing about glassware and potterys is that you can often find it when conditions are not good for finding things like coins.

---


An employee of a Tempe, Ariz. hotel was arrested trying to sell stolen Super Bowl rings belonging to Mark May at a pawn shop in Las Vegas, according to Joe Enea and Shane Dale of ABC 15...

Behnert allegedly tried to sell the pair of rings for $12,000, which raised immediate questions by the staff. Considering a single 2006 Indianapolis Colts Super Bowl ring issued to defensive lineman Montae Reagor is currently listec by the store for $80,000 and a 1989 Denver Broncos AFC Championship ring issued to defensive lineman Greg Kagan is listed for $60,000 the asking price for the rings was understandably curious...

For more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/pawn-stars-shop-helps-nab-thief-trying-to-sell-mark-mays-stolen-super-bowl-rings/ar-AAEvu09?ocid=spartandhp

Asking too little can raise suspicions, yet I suspect there was more to it than that.

---

The first ever excavation of the main allied field hospital at the Battle of Waterloo has uncovered sawn-off limbs and musket balls fired during a previously unrecorded fight on the steps of the farm where the Duke of Wellington’s medics worked...

The heavy concentration of balls found at the site, fired both from the allied Brown Bess infantry muskets and the smaller calibre French weapons, suggests that a fight also took place there, potentially after Napoleon’s generals ordered a cavalry charge on the grounds of Mont-St-Jean, now an orchard, which lay about 0.3 miles (600 metres) behind the main allied line...

For more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/17/excavation-of-waterloo-field-hospital-unearths-limbs-and-musket-balls

---

Soldier From Battle of Waterloo Identified.

Source: See Archaeology.org link below.

,,,  “I think this is a unique case,” he says. “We excavated 120 trenches in this area, covering more than half an acre, and found almost nothing and no other remains.” In fact, the soldier is not just the only one to have been found in this area—he is the first and only British soldier to have fought and died at Waterloo ever discovered on the site. (Another soldier was supposedly found in the early twentieth century; however, later DNA analysis showed that the remains came from two different people and that that “soldier” was a forgery.) Although the soldier’s head and one of his knees were destroyed by a bulldozer, and some of the bones of his hands and feet were damaged either by a plow—the area has long been a wheat field—or perhaps by a battlefield explosion that tore them away, the skeleton is remarkably intact. Bosquet is able to say that he was between 20 and 29 years old, about five feet three inches tall, with a slender frame.... 

Source: See Archaeology.org link below.

For more of that story: https://www.archaeology.org/issues/79-1303/features/535-waterloo-british-soldier-dominique-bosquet

---

The Apollo 11 takeoff was projected onto the Washington Monument.  Would have been nice to see.

Here is the link.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=video+of+apollo+on+washington+monument&view=detail&mid=BE0EC691C7688123122BBE0EC691C7688123122B&FORM=VIRE

Here is more about that.

https://www.tmz.com/2019/07/18/washington-monument-apollo-11-50-anniversary-moon-landing/

---

No new storms forming and no significant change to Treasure Coast beach detecting conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/28/17 Report - Couple Mystery Finds. Old Pottery Site. Popular Posts of the Year. Bigger Surf Coming.

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

Brooch That Held Gem Stones
Find and photo by Chris N.

Chris N. sent the following message with the two photos.

Just wanted to share some more items found near St. Augustine area.

Copper Salt Shaker Top I thought was different and unusual for a find in the sand on a salty shore. No pun intended.

Some type of Broach copper material in which there was some sort of set points in the middle and top where decorative stones or jewels must of been places at one time, but were not present.

I dug both items in loose sand, by water line about 8-10 inch down, strong signal on my machine.

Find and photo by Chris N.

I told Chris I didn't think it looked like a salt shaker top and pointed out the two arrows at the top and bottom.  

Chris then added the following.

The object is about the size of a Salt Shaker Top. Sorry! for not using Ruler. I found it at the waters edge in loose sand which was not corroded, when pulled it out.. That probably means it was washed down from the bank which it probably laid for some time till the Hurricane and Nor east'er came last few weeks ago.

From my understanding talking with some folks who live in and around area where I found objects, one said there as an shipwreck in that area.

I know that the British camped out on the Northern end of Anastasia Island, but the dune areas is off limits to foot traffic and especially digging.

Another good friend of mine informed me that the British marked each item made of copper, or any other precious metals because it belonged to the Crown.

What do you think?

---

...It remains a mystery why so much pottery from such a wide time span have been found at this site.

Some speculate a settlement was submerged by a rise in the water level or the pots were sunk there in obscure rituals. Others sidestep romance and suggest it was just a dumping ground for used ceramics....

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201712270033.html

---

Yesterday I started to list the top ten most read posts of 2017.  I gave you numbers 10 and 9.  Working up the list towards the most popular of the year, today I'll give you numbers 8 and 7.

The eighth most read post was not from September like so many of the top ten.  In fact it was from January of 2017.  It was the 1/18/17 post with the heading, A Few Tips For Finding Modern Jewelry On Dry Sand Beaches.

Here is that link.

http://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2017/01/11817-report-few-tips-for-finding.html

The seventh most read post is a much more recent post.  In fact it has only been out there a couple of weeks.  It is the December 12th post, which included one of my very popular Ole Timer Talks.  That one was about a crate of dishes, possibly Kang Hsi, uncovered by heavy erosion on one Treasure Coast;

That post also showed the heavily eroded Fort Pierce South Jetty beach.  It would probably be higher on the list if it was not so recent.

Here is that link.

http://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2017/12/12817-report-erosion-at-one-renourished.html

---

For Tuesday a 3 - 5 foot surf is predicted for the Treasure Coast along with a north wind.  That could do something.

A 6 - 9 foot surf is predicted for Tuesday.

Another year is about to fade into history.  I clearly remember starting the year and it doesn't seem that long ago.

Happy hunting.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/18/16 Report - Civil War Ordnance Uncovered by Matthew. Kang-hsi Of Manila Galleons. TCBDCR= 2.

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

Pot Shards From Manila Galleon
Source: Xinhualin link below.

The first thing I want to mention today is the big tides that will be combined with a 4 - 6 foot surf today and an even bigger surf tomorrow.  Unfortunately the winds will hit straight on, but there could be enough water action to help, especially tomorrow.

High water can result in a few scattered cobs on the beach even if there are not much of any cuts. However, you can almost always find some erosion if you look around enough after high water, especially around rocks and other natural or man made obstacles.

---

4PM update: I was out this afternoon and as a result am giving a Treasure Coast a beach detecting conditions rating of a 2.

---

Hurricane Matthew uncovered Civil War ordnance in South Carolina,  One corroded clump of grenades was exploded.

Trae R. sent the following link.

http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/great-white-nursery-discovered-off-new-york-old-civil-war-ammo-on-south-carolina-beach-ocean-oddities-east-coa_142415/

Here is another link about the same thing.

http://www.livescience.com/56458-hurricane-matthew-uncovers-civil-war-cannonballs.html

That reminds me of the grapeshot I found in the Carribbean, but left there because to take it on the plane could have meant hefty fines or other troubles.

---

Mexican archaeologists have uncovered thousands of fragments of a 400-year-old shipment of Chinese "export-quality porcelain" that was long buried in the Pacific Coast port of Acapulco.

The shipment of rice bowls, cups, plates and platters dates from the reign of the Ming Dynasty's 13th emperor, Wanli (1572-1620), and is believed to have arrived in Acapulco aboard the China Galleon, which regularly sailed between Asia and the New World...

Evidence even shows that starting in 1565, the return trips to Mexico were manned by Chinese crews, said Fonseca.

Here is the link.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-10/17/c_135761246.htm

I've talked a good bit in the past about Kang-hsi porcelain, which is sometimes found on 1715 Fleet beaches.  I've posted pictures of shards in the past and even provided information on how to identify Kang-hsi (See photo above.).  My 3/29/13 post is one that talks a little about Kang-hsi porcelain.

Obviously not all blue on white shards are Kang-hsi.  There was other pottery shipped in the Manila galleons that was not as fine as the Kang-hsi.  Lower quality pots were used for storage.

You can learn to easily distinguish between lower quality pottery and Kang-hsi.

Here is a link to a great but brief overview of the archaeology of the Manila galleons.

http://www.themua.org/collections/files/original/61b274c68e00272c5e50f0af53f5b140.pdf

That is all for now.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/23/16 Report - Various Beach Shards. Frozen Gold TV Program.

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

Variety of Beach Sherds.

Yesterday I showed some pottery.  I thought I'd follow up on that today.

Glass and pottery can be one of your first hints of a land site.  They can be very plentiful on the surface.

On a beach, there are times when they might be found, but most often you won't see any shards.

The picture above shows a wide variety of beach pieces.

The three big orange ones could be from olive jars or something similar.

It is easy to confuse more modern pieces with older pieces.  You can learn to tell the difference though.

Modern pieces are often extruded.  If you carefully inspect them, you can see how they were extruded.  They look different than pieces that were wheel thrown.  For one thing, they won't show the marks of the potter's hands or fingers.  The surface might be more perfect, the clay more consistent and the surface more heavily glazed.

If you want to learn to tell the difference, study modern items such as drain pipes, roofing tiles, etc.

The top left piece in the picture above shows some fairly large inclusions.  The other two pieces of similar color show some encrustation or other signs of sea life having been attached.

The one at bottom left corner, shows the ridges typical of wheel thrown pottery.

The two light colored pieces are actually more beige than they appear in the picture.

The lower of the two is a bottom piece and is very chalky and worn but shows only a touch of remaining glaze.

Directly below that is a small red/orange bottom piece.  The glaze, which is darker, remains only in the more protected corners.

There are both Spanish and Native American pieces in that group.

The blackened beige piece second from the right side in the bottom row is incised.

Kang Hsi Porcelain

Kang Hsi porcelain was transported on 1715 Fleet ships and has been found on Treasure Coast shipwreck beaches.

At left is a small piece of Kang Hsi porcelain. Note how white it is, how thin it is and how the blue is sinks into the top layer.   That is typical.

It isn't difficult to distinguish Kang Hsi from the more common types of blue on white pottery that you will often see.

I've talked about how to identify Kang Hsi and other porcelain before.

Seal Mark Of The Kang Hsi Dynasty

If you are lucky enough to see a marked piece, the mark shown to the left woul indicate the Kang Hsi dynasty.





---

Here is another TV show you might like - Curse of the Frozen Gold.   You can also watch it online.

http://www.history.ca/curse-of-the-frozen-gold/

Thanks to Dean R. for the link.

---

The surf will be decreasing a little.  Expect another day of south wind on the Treasure Coast.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/22/16 Report - Pottery: Whole Vessel and Small Piece.

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

Nice Old Conserved Pot.

A few days ago I was talking about artifacts as being more than objects.  I was talking about how there is always a story behind an object.  And it is a detailed and often personal story.

Who made this pot?  Why?  Who used it?  And how did it end up where it was found?

Those are all good questions, and I'm sure the answers would be interesting.  Unfortunately we can't answer those questions in this case, but we can start down the path.

One nice thing about this item you can see the imprint of the fingers or hands of the person who made it.  Those markings were preserved in the clay when it was made.

This particular pot is about thirteen inches high.

This pot was formed on a wheel by hand.  Notice the grooves around the sides.  You can also see the grooves inside the pot.

Bottom of Same Pitcher.

You can see that this area near the bottom has deteriorated some.

Tools were used on some pottery like this, but in this case, it looks like it was formed by hand.

Marken, in his book on shipwreck pottery, shows a number of olive jars with shoulders that were smoothed over.  The grooves were not apparent on the shoulders even though they were on the rest of the jar. 

A big part of it is knowing where an item was found.   

Put together whatever facts you can to narrow it down and then use your imagination.  After that enjoy doing some research.

---

Sometimes you don't have the entire artifact.  Pots are fragile and if you see something washed up onto a beach, it would likely just be a sherd.

Not all sherds are the same.  Some provide more information than others.  And it isn't always the biggest pieces that tell you the most.

Shown here is a small sherd - or shard if you prefer.
It is a beige color but is has been blackened on the surfaces.

This piece shows some of the rim, which is thickened towards the inside.

You can get a good idea of the circumference of a vessel from the rim.

This small piece provides even more diagnostic information than that.

The outside is more heavily darkened than the inside. Could that be from being over a fire?  I'd guess that is the reason.

Also notice the incised design.  It shows one incised line slanting up and to the left on the left side and two lines slanting up and to the right on the right side.

I'd say this is a Native American sherd.  It is surprising how often you can see those if you keep your eyes open when you are on a beach or out in nature.

In my experience, you are lucky to get a piece that is decorated.

What story does it tell?  As you know objects found on a beach get washed around.  They may be a long distance from where they were.  They would have no context.  It would be nothing like an archaeological site that you could excavate to unravel the story behind it.

If you find object, there is higher probability that there are more similar objects in the same area. That isn't very specific information, but it tells you to keep your eyes open.

I'm sure there are some people who might be able to tell you a lot about even a little piece like this.

---

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/11/15 Report - Mystery Pot For Age Determination. Variety Of Great Old Coin Finds. Diamond Ring Recovered From Inside Dog.

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




I got this message a couple of days ago from Jonah M.

Jonah said, I went out last night to a beach that I've found really good treasure on with no ties to our 1715 beaches. And this is what I found . We find a lot of China and all sorts of pottery on our wrecks but this piece looks older I could be wrong ,but after a light cleaning this is as good as I could get it. It's about 4 inches tall with no marks on the bottom.  Please feel free thoughts on age.






Let me know what you think about the age of the pot.

Context is often one of the better indicators of the age or source of an object.

Remember, when beach conditions aren't right for one type of material, it might be a good time for other types of material.  I've said that in the past, but not recently.







Michael E. has been putting in a lot of field work.  That is one of the biggest determinants of finds.  If you want to find a lot, you have to put in the time.

Michael said

Message

Contact

Contact Group

Folder

... still land hunting for me to begin the new year. Last 2 hunts have resulted in many items, and some nice coins. 1943 half dollar, 1891 v nickel, 1870 centimos, 1918 buffalo, all first for me, which most things still are. Still have a gift for you in my truck, hope to catch up one day. This is my gold from 2014, less 3 pieces found after this photo. I dedicated to swing hard, Long and often in 2014, really to see what could happen. My goal overal was 100 rings and 10k pennies. Only made 5.6k pennies but dug over 10k individual pieces of clad. With minimal time at local parks. Didn't think I would reach the ring goal, but amid a few other hunters at my usual beach on December 31, I recovered #100, 18k band...


Below are some of Michael's recent old coin finds.

Coins Found by Michael E.
Photos by Michael E.
 

Very nice.  Thanks for sharing guys!


Did you hear about the dog that swallowed an expensive diamond ring and wedding band?

Here is the link to a video on that.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/video/dog-with-expensive-taste-swallows-wedding-rings/381520963608/Comcast/StrangeVideos?cid=hero_sf_weird
 

Maybe you should run your detector over the animals you come across.


I got word of some reale finds from a couple of days ago. 


Looks like the Treasure Coast will get something like a three or four foot surf for a few days.   The wind won't be out of the North until Tuesday.

I'll put my beach detecting conditions rating back down to a 1.


That is all for today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

12/24/14 Report - More On The Mystery Find. Metal or Ceramic? Smooth Surf For More Days.

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

Another Picture of The Mystery Object.
Find and photo by Robert H.

Mystery objects, or what I call "whatzits," can be a lot of fun.  You can learn a lot while doing the research to figure them out.  I've already learned some things from this one.

If you didn't see the pictures of this object that I showed in yesterday's post, take a look.

The first thing that struck me is what appears to be an ornamental design that you can see in the top picture of yesterday's post.  I'd never noticed that on an olive jar before. 

Then Robert told me something else.  Here is what he said.

I was also very convinced it was some sort of pottery but now I'm not so sure. On the CTX it gives off a silver reading and tone. I scratch tested it when I got home. 3 different corners. It all seems to be metal but I could be wrong. I'm thinking pewter or bronze possibly. I would say it was 8 to 9 inches or more deep in the sand. It gave off such a nice strong signal the whole time. Could be the shape the reason why it sounded like it did. I've found gold rings that have sound like silver items or copper/zinc pennies or reading on the detector. All depending on the different metals alloyed. I guess the real question would be how does bronze or pewter react with my detector.

Interesting!  The new picture, which I posted above does appear to show a metallic shine on some of the edges and corners.  He said that It gives a silver tone on the CTX.   Now, like Robert, I started to think it might actually not be a sherd.  But then I got some more good information.

William B., who has been working on the Capitana for a couple of seasons, provided some great  information.  Here is what he said.

I work on the Capatana out of Sebastian. Regarding the shard ...  most of the olive jar pieces found on the 1715 fleet wrecks will ring on a detector, as will ballast stones. They obviously have some metal content, probably iron.  I have only been diving for 2 seasons but I have found hundreds of pottery shards and I have never seen a pattern as the one posted by Dan. Also, it looks a little too thin to be an olive jar shard.

Thanks much William.

OK.  So now I don't know if it is pottery or metal.  It evidently gave off a detector signal, but I just learned that olive jars shards found on the 1715 Fleet wrecks can cause a detector signal. 

I guess the signal could be the result of mineral deposits, such as leached iron, or maybe he signal is from clay or paste bearing mineral deposits or something that was added to the paste. 

It could also be something in the glaze.   Iron glazes, for example,  are common and have been used for centuries.

When I first learned that the piece emitted a detector signal, I wondered if there might actually be something embedded in it - possibly something being smuggled.  That seems very unlikely.

Even if the piece is a type of pottery, it does not appear to be an olive jar, since according to my reading, and more importantly, William's experience, it would be rare for an olive jar to have such a decoration.

So at this point, I don't know if it is pottery or not, but if it is a piece of an olive jar, it definitely seems to be an unusual one.  Maybe it ornamentation was applied later, or maybe it was manufactured as some other object or type of container from the beginning.

It is always more difficult to identify an object from pictures when you can hold or test an object for yourself.

Even though we haven't yet solved the puzzle, I've learned a few things in the process.

I love hearing the thoughts and opinions of the many knowledgeable readers of this blog.  I didn't mention all of the excellent comments that I received relevant to this object in this post.

-------

On the Treasure Coast we'll have a smooth surf at least until this weekend when the surf might be a touch bigger.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/2/14 Report - February Finds, Chevy Bowtie, Fisher Finds and Look and Tremble Falls

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

Michael E., who hasn't been detecting but about a year but still did very well in February, especially  considering the poor beach conditions on the Treasure Coast.  Here are what he found.

Feb. Finds by Michael E.
Photo by Michael E.

Pandora 925 bracelet, only 5 rings for the month, 2 of which are children's 14k rings and 1 diamond chip in a 14k post, the necklace is in tact, 22.4g of 14k, found again in the wet sand but this time with the detector. 

Thanks for sharing Michael!

Michael also mentioned that for him, being relatively new to the game, my material on beach dynamics is confusing at times.

I understand that.  There are many factors involved.  I haven't even gotten in too many of them yet.  But I know it can be confusing and it takes me quite a while to try to write it in a way that is clear.  

Some of the more advanced long-time detectorists told me that they are interested in hearing it all and the more advanced the better.  So I'll try to add some from time to time, maybe repeating some of it in different ways to help make it clearer.  It takes a lot of time to try to make it clear and so some days when I'm in a hurry I don't even try.

Down in the Keys, the Fisher organization reports, The weather has never been better in February and the good work that Captain Papo and the crew of the Dare have been doing proves it. The dive crew reports finding glazed earthen ware, pieces of pottery and a fully intact olive jar neck. They have also been finding many encrusted objects including what appears to be a part of a dagger or sword.


I picked up a nice piece of melted titanium the other day.  It reminded me of how long ago the shuttle disasters were.  There are a lot of pieces still out there.  Just like cobs there are tons of them still to be found.  People sometimes think that it is all gone.  That happens form time to time and then more shows up.

Miscellaneous Relic Finds

Copper Chevy Center Hub Cover.

Here are a couple finds from the relicsphere.  The group on the right includes a mason jar cap, key hole cover, and steering wheel center ornament.  Those were eye-balled on a walk through a woods and provided good clues to an older site.

Notice the two Chevy bowties.  That is what the Chevy emblem is sometimes called.  It was first used in 1913.  I suspect the copper hub cover is older than the steering wheel ornament if that is what it is.

Let me know if you can tell me if that is what it is or not.

Also, I'm trying to discover any differences in the bowtie that might give a clue to the date.

The hub cover has block letters with a small underline.  I don't know if that is diagnostic at all.

Anyhow, junk like this can point you to detecting sites, so even though they might not be worth much of anything, they can still provide clues.

Any info on either of those two Chevy items would be appreciated.


If you are one of the many snowbirds visiting Florida or just like doing a little travel, you might want to drive by some other historic areas.

Look and Tremble Falls
Source: Link below.

Did you know that you can find Class II rapids in Florida?  Well, sometimes, depending upon the water level.

The surprising thing is that there was a time when a steamboat made its way over those rapids.  And at one time the Corps of Engineers made a deeper passage on one side but it wasn't economical and wasn't maintained.

Here is a link for more information.

http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/lookandtremble.html

Use your thinking caps detectorists.  What all happened here?  Think back to Precolonial days.
Portage, maybe?  And then up to present time.

And where would items be dropped and then end up?  Consider the landscape, cliffs, rocks, water flow, etc?

I'll bet if you spent enough time walking around there you would be able to see a few surface items.



The predicted surf for the Treasure Coast shows another bump out about a week.  I wish they would fix the model and quit predicted bigger surfs that don't show up.

At least the tides are nice and big now, but that won't help much except in a few specific spots.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/17/14 Report - Mystery Item and 18th or 17th Century Pewter Fork Handle Find

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

Holed Piece of Pottery.

Some things you never figure out.  No matter how much data was being collected they never figured out what the Boston bombers were up to until it was too late.

To the left is a photo of an item I saw on a Caribbean Island along with a variety of 18th Century and earlier items.  I never figured this item out.

It is about one inch square and a little less than half an inch thick, with an obvious round hole made in the middle.

I don't  think I ever received any guesses on what it might be.  There was more than one of these types of whatzits at the site.

My feeling is that maybe a rope went through the middle or that it was used something like a washer, but that is just a wild guess.

Anybody have any other ideas?

Battles took place at that particular site and there was a fort nearby right around 1800.  Of course there was activity in that area hundreds of years earlier, and it could be much earlier.  I don't know.

On the other hand, it might take a while but eventually some items do get identified.  I feel fairly confident about the following item.

Pewter Find.

See if you can guess what it is?

It was found on a Treasure Coast shipwreck beach quite a number of years ago.

It is pewter, about five inches long and 3/8 inch across and deep.

It is hollow.

What I think it is, thanks to the input from others who I am pretty sure know more about it than I, is a fork handle.  The handle, according to those others, was likely filled with plaster.  I think that is right.

I never would have guessed, but I have seen other similar  items identified as 18th or 17th Century forks since, and they are very similar but more complete.


I can hardly believe that it was all the way back in June that I talked about the massive NSA data collection efforts and referred to George Orwell's novel, 1984.  In the past few days, not only has the President decided that changes needed to be made to the NSA data collection efforts, but I've been hearing a variety of Orwellian references.


On the Treasure Coast we've been having a succession of cold fronts.  Nice chilly weather, but the West winds haven't been doing anything for beach detecting conditions.

Tomorrow the surf will get up to a lofty two or three feet!  Wow!

Maybe we'll get some change eventually.


A few days ago I posted some bottles that were found on the Treasure Coast and I heard from at least one fellow that was out giving bottle hunting a try.

The winter is still young and hopefully we'll get some improved detecting conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net