Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Source: Sedwick Coins Auction. #24. |
Yesterday I reported on a $100,000 plus gold coin and a $70,000 plus silver coin that was sold in the recently completed Sedwick Treasure Auction. Here is something less exotic, but which still brought a very nice price. The winning bid for this circulated mercury dime was $2300. Not bad for a U. S. dime. Below is the lot description.
USA (Denver mint), 10 cents "Winged Liberty," 1916-D, NGC VF 30, key date. Popular key date with just 264,000 coins struck by the Denver mint in 1916, the design's first year of issue. Circulation wear evenly throughout with good detail on the fasces and leaves on the reverse, light purple toning around design elements but mostly silver gray in color, slight die rotation (typical for this date). NGC #4703569-010.
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You know that feeling when something is in your eye and hurts like blazes but you can't quite see it or get it out. That is how it is with treasure hunting sometimes.
People often want the deepest seeking detector. Some people are obsessed with depth. Depth is OK. I want a detector that does a good job on little objects at some depth, but I don't always go for depth.
I've said before, even if not lately that my strategy is mostly to find objects that because of the current conditions, are not real deep. What good is it to detect something if you can't recover it?
Let's say I'm working near the water line and detect an object that is a couple of feet deep. So you detected it, but can you get it.
As you probably know, it isn't easy to dig a hole a couple of feet deep in the sand, and if you can, and it is still deeper, is it below the waterline?
Maybe you've been there. Dig, dig, dig, and then you think you're almost there, and a wave fills the hole, or the hole just collapses. (I have talked about a few techniques for dealing with those situations, but won't repeat them now)
There was one big target north of the Seagrape Trail access that could be easily detected. It was there for over a year, at the least. While I'm not up that way a lot, I've seen quite a few people trying to get it. I've observed two or three people working at it together. One guy must have worked on it for hours.
You can only move so much sand with a scoop or shovel, and if the item is below the water line, its even harder. You can spend all kinds of time and not get it. Treasures often have dragons to guard them.
One strategy is to wait until the dragon falls asleep and the beach moves enough so that the target is uncovered or nearly so. That strategy has its risks too. You might not be there at the right time and somebody else might get it. That is the way it goes.
The point I want to make is that there is little benefit in detecting targets that you can't get to. I said "little," not "none." It can work against you if you don't focus on manageable targets.
If you can get a permit and use heavy equipment on the beach that is one thing, but a lot of the time, that kind of treasure is like an persistent itch in the middle of the back that you can't reach.
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Yesterday I put a proof 1990 silver coin from the US Mint under magnification. What a beautiful coin! A real work of art! The surface had a perfect mirror finish. All of the details were magnificent. I was awe-struck.
I'm usually looking at dug coins that are either corroded and black, or if in very nice shape, still nothing at all like proof encapsulated silver coins. They are worlds apart.
It made me think. Would I have appreciated those proof coins so much if that was all I ever saw? What if all coins were so perfect and beautiful? I don't think I would have been so impressed. It would have been just one more and nothing really special.
That could be the basis of a sermon, but I won't go on.
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The tides are pretty big on the Treasure Coast now, but the surf is only in the range of two or three feet.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
