3/23/20 - Tokens and Conductivity Numbers. More on Cleaning Coins.

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

Selection of Tokens Used in Experiment.

As I mentioned not too long ago, I took my Equinox detector down to a very trashy spot along the Indian River Lagoon and started picking through the trash.  There is so much trash that it is very difficult to metal detect there at all.  If I was conducting a serious hunt there, I would do some site preparation and remove a lot of the trash, but picking through the trash provided a couple of benefits.  I learned more about the detector and especially the conductivity numbers by going over so many different types of targets and so much trash.

The conductivity numbers aren't of much use when you have a great hot spot -  you just dig every target.  But if you are trying to pick through trash and don't have much time, or you have some type of physical problem or limitation, you might want to do whatever you can to make the best use of your time and energy.  You probably know that I generally recommend digging everything (I won't get into all of that again now), but there can be times when it pays to discriminate.

I know the common conductivity numbers for most common coins as well as silver cobs, so I decided to experiment with a category of targets that are similar to coins, but not exactly the same.  I selected the tokens shown above from a bag of found tokens for the experiment.  The sample included (left to right and top to bottom) the following tokens: Time Out, Cloverleaf, Ice Machine, Say No To Drugs, Chuckie Cheese, Parking, Race O Rama, Cine Mark, Zone, Metro Transit, Garden State Turnpike, and Broad Causeway.

Here are the conductivity numbers I got for the test targets listed in the same order - 26, 22, 22, 22, 24, 24, 22, 23, 22, 21, 14 and 19.  Of course there was some variability.  Not all the numbers were rock solid.  But that is a fairly small range considering the differences in size and metallic composition of the tokens.  The largest token gave the highest number, but it also seemed to be made of a lighter metal.  The smallest token did not give the smallest conductivity number, although it did give the second lowest conductivity number.  Nearly eight percent of the tokens fell within the range of 21 - 24, which is a small range, and all of the tokens resulted in numbers ranging from 14 to 26.

I can think of a larger token that I could have and perhaps should have have tested.  I bet it would have produced a higher number.  Maybe I'll do that.

The range of good targets that you can encounter in the field is huge.  Gold rings can produce anything from single digits to very high numbers.  The gold ring numbers overlap with the numbers produced for coins, silver cobs and tokens.  Overall, I find the conductivity numbers somewhat useful in some situations, but when I want to make sure I don't miss anything that might be good, they are of little use.  If you are searching for a specific item or specific category of items, the conductivity numbers can be helpful.

---

I didn't know the silver coin cleaning topic would run on for so long.  I've personally used the procedure described by Bill P. for a long time with excellent results, but there are some little tweaks that people sometimes make.

A Coin Cleaned By The Muriatic Acid

Photo by JamminJack.

JamminJack said electrolysis wasn't working well on the coin shown above, but the Muriatic acid did the job.

Like with electrolysis there are a lot of  little differences in how people use the Muriatic acid .  Containers are one thing that people play with.

JamminJack said The best way I found was getting a wood clothespin and clip on edge of coin. Lay it in container so you can retrieve and stir the coin.

I often use the top of a spray paint container, as shown below.

Top of Spray Paint Can 

For Cleaning Coins With Muriatic Acid.

There are some things I like about using a spray paint can top.  One is the small inner cup.  If you have one or two half reales, just fill the small inner compartment.  You normally don't need any more acid than is necessary to cover the coin - at least to start.  No sense using a lot of it when you don't need it.

The inner cup also allows you to separate items if you are doing more than one.  That can be important if you are not absolutely certain of the metallic composition of one of the items and want to keep it separate.

But the thing I like most is you can lean the coins against the walls so that every surface of the coin is exposed to the acid.   I've just always found that type of container available, disposable and convenient.  I have a pair of needle nose pliers with rubber coated tips that I sometime use to remove the coins, but it is just as easy to pour the acid into another cup, and then rinse the coins before removing them.  The same acid can be poured right back into the cap if you want to continue the acid immersion and don't need to change the acid.

JamminJack said, The best way I found was getting a wood clothespin and clip on edge of coin. Lay it in container so you can retrieve and stir the coin.  

Good idea.

I'll just add one or two more thoughts on this topic today.

Below is a closeup view of an acid-cleaned four-reale.  I just began use of a baking soda paste but hadn't done much of it, maybe rubbing just a very few times before taking the photo.

If you look at the high (shiny) surfaces you can actually see the direction of my last swipe.  It is most clear on the finger just below center pointing right.  The stroke was top to bottom or bottom to top.  You can see the streaks of some of the soda paste that I hadn't wiped off.

Closeup of Surface Of Silver Reale After Acid Cleaning and A Little Rubbing With Baking Soda Paste.

You might think of it as a good thing or a bad thing, depending upon how you want your coin to look, but when you rub the coin with a baking soda paste, the most pressure will obviously be applied to the raised areas.  You might like that because it creates a shinier surface on the high spots and brings out the details more.

One thing I very recently discovered is that by covering the coin in a baking soda paste wrapped in aluminum foil and leaving it overnight (which I did by accident), the brightening was more uniform than when it was rubbed.  I was impressed by how well that worked, but it is up to you if you like that better or not.

---


I've been looking for pictures of centuries old screws.  Anyone know where I can find some photos?

Have you noticed that on the Yes To The Dress program that the popular mermaid style dresses often look more like manatee style dresses when they try them on?

It looks like nothing but 2 - 3 foot surf on the Treasure Coast beaches for a few more days.

Be well,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/20/20 Report - More Experiences Cleaning Found Silver Cobs. Sneezing Into The Infosphere. More Beaches Closed.

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

Eight Reale Found About a Year Ago.

Find and photo by Terry S.

One of the main points I want to make today is that all encrustation is not the same.

Another thing I want to mention before I really get started is that Bill P's method of cleaning silver coins first appeared in this blog about ten years ago.  It somehow got deleted and so I was glad he wrote it up again for posting this year.

I have used Muriatic acid for cleaning coins for I'd guess at least thirty years.  The first instance I recall, I ruined an upholstered dining room chair, which is what made it so memorable, I guess.  Although Muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) will ruin things like that, I have never done damage to a silver coin or medallion using that acid.  Bill assured me it was safe on silver before I was sure of that.  It has proven out like Bill said, but you have to make sure the object is silver, because other metals will be affected differently.  For example, Muriatic acid will eat away at the surface of a bronze item, but my experience has proven Bill right and I have left silver items in Muriatic acid for days with no bad result.  However, just to make absolutely sure nothing bad is happening, I still monitor progress.  It is possible, for example, to have an object made of some other metal or alloy and not know it.

Terry took this encrusted eight-reale that had been sitting around for a year of so and "dipped" the coin in a 50/50 solution of Muriatic acid, followed by a water rinse and then used a baking soda paste.  Below are the results.

Same Eight-Reale Shown Above But After Cleaning.

Photos by Terry S. 

With a quick dip producing such good results, Terry was ready to try the acid treatment on his more recent find.

Terry said, Here is the early 1500’s coin after we dipped in the muriatic acid. When we put the first coin in the solution it bubbled like mad and the solution even changed color. When we put this coin in there was very little action and very few bubbles. I even tried the saliva and tin foil and didn’t see much improvement and finally resorted to a baking soda paste and a tooth brush with some results but no where near the results we got with the 8 reale.

Some more of the encrustation came off but no where near what needs to be removed...

A Recent Find Uncleaned.

Photo by Terry S.

Some coins will require a longer immersion than others.  Many, if not most, will require more than a dip.  I've had some that required days.  It depends upon the type and amount of encrustation.

I've also had coins that were not affected at all by immersion in Muriatic acid.  They had a dense clay crust that the acid would not penetrate.  But that is unusual.  When the crust was broken, it fell off nicely and showed the impression of the features of the coin as if the crust had been a plaster cast.  To repeat the point I started with, all encrustations are not the same.

I personally feel very confident about immersing coins known to be silver in Muriatic acid for long periods, but just to be sure I didn't make some kind of mistake or something, I still check the progress occasionally.

The coin shown immediately above would probably benefit from a longer soaking.  Assuming the coin is really silver, I'd be more concerned about a toothbrush than the acid.

---

Just to give credit where it is due, Bill P. is the one that wrote the detailed instructions I posted for using Muriatic acid to clean silver coins.  I originally posted those instructions about ten years ago but lost the post, so republished the instructions again in this blog not long ago.   When I was still occasionally using other methods, including electrolysis, Bill encouraged me to use Muriatic acid instead of electrolysis.  After years of additional experience, I can say Bill was right all along and deserves much credit.

Thanks Bill!

---

Social media sneezes words, images and ideas into the infosphere.  Some catch on and get retransmitted and become part of the common vernacular.  Some are used only in smaller specialized communities.

I've always been interested in psycholinguistics and trends in language patterns and usage.  I've mentioned my distaste for ambiguous over-used terms such as "existential threat," for example.

I remember using the equivalent of what we now call email and forums back in the late 1970s, when I was working for a company that had a very advanced international computer network.  I remember  thinking about conducting studies on how computer networks affect how people communicate.  Unfortunately I didn't do those studies.

Since I've been doing this blog I've seen the language used by the metal detecting community evolve.  It is natural for language patterns to evolve, but I believe this blog has played a significant roll in that evolution.

I remember when I was interviewed by a reporter from CNN and used the word detectorist.  She stopped and said, "Did I hear you use the term "detectorist.""  At that time the word was not as commonly used as it is today, and I believe some of that has to do with this blog.

As I recall, most people used the word "real" instead of "reale."  I thought "real" could be confusing, and I also thought the Spanish word seemed more authentic, so I always wrote the word with the final e.  It seems that spelling is now much more common than it was ten or twelve years ago.

I also never saw terms such as "coin line" used in the earlier metal detecting literature.  It certainly was not defined in the detailed way that I defined it. I've tried to find that term used in the detecting literature before I defined it in this blog and have not found any earlier instances.

Even if I could not claim that this blog has introduced new terms and ideas, I can definitely say that it has advanced the discussion in numerous ways.

---

The Washington Post is yelling "fire" in a crowded theatre and loving it!

If you listen to the media reports - and it's hard not to - it is beginning to sound more like an unbelievable horror movie.  A recent Washington Post story, Coronavirus Will Radically Alter the U.S., describes an overwhelmed healthcare system and 1.1 million American deaths.  No matter what you think of the Post, the story stokes fear while the subtle rewording in the headline suggests a thinly veiled satisfaction that President O'Bama's promise to fundamentally transform America will finally be ushered in by a catastrophe too good to waste.

---

Every thing seems new to people who haven't seen anything like it before, which is why studying history adds important context.

The Spanish Flu (January 1918 – December 1920) was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus with the second being the swine flu of 2009.  The Spanish flu infected 500 million people around the world, or about 27% of the world population of between 1.8 and 1.9 billion. The death toll is estimated to have been anywhere from 17 million to 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest epidemics in human history. Historical and epidemiologic data are inadequate to identify with certainty the pandemic's geographic origin.

The world was very different then.  A much larger part of the population lived in rural areas, and the medical profession was much less advanced.  My grandparents survived that one.  They mostly took whiskey and sugar, and put a sign in their window or on their door saying they were quarantined.

Then the swine flu, 2009 - 2010, killed nearly 12,500 in the U.S., but we heard almost nothing about it compared to Coronavirus.

---

Many beaches have been closed.  Unfortunately I can't provide an updated list, but  I heard more were closed last night.

This might be a good time to explore new areas, do some testing or research finds.

Be blessed,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/16/20 Report - Reales Found While Sifting Peace River For Fossils. Meth? Handy Tools For Any Detectorist.

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

1784

1784 and 1805 Coins Found by Lady Sifting For Fossils In The Peace River.

Submitted by Robert H.

Robert H. sent me this news along with the two photos.
Here’s a very cool and interesting story. I belong to a Facebook fossil group and this lady found 2 reales sifting for fossils on the Peace River. Unfortunately it looks like the fossil group or she took down the post but the lady that found them gave me permission to share with you.

Other Side of Same Two Coins.

Photo submitted by Robert H.

I know that some of the readers of this blog have been fossil hunting on the Peace River.  Its always an interesting trip.

I went there once myself.  I hired one of the guides that do it for a business.  If you hire somebody to take you the first time, you'll save a lot of time trying to find out where to go.

I always like sifting.  When targets are packed closely together, there is no need to detect each and every one separately.  Just dig and sift.  And of course sifting is good for non-metallic targets.

Thanks Robert.

---

It seems we have a diversity of opinions on the mystery items I showed yesterday.  Brian F. says the crystal like items look like crystal meth.  He provided the following link.

https://chapterscapistrano.com/how-to-tell-if-someone-is-on-crystal-meth-signs-of-crystal-meth-use/

Brian also said, Meth seems to come in blue or white and i have detected two heroin bottles on TC beaches before. This would not surprise me. 

---

A detectorist will find a variety of items beside a metal detector and sand-scoop helpful.  One of the less obvious is an ultra-violet or black light.

A black light is most useful for identifying non-metallic objects such as gems or minerals.  Certain types of glass, such as Vaseline glass or depression glass will fluoresce.

I discovered that one piece of red sea glass that I found fluoresced under ultraviolet light on just one side.  I believe it was a piece of a lantern from an old buoy that was infused with uranium. I noticed some yellow in the glass, but didn't pay much attention to it until I put it under a black light and found out it glowed.

See https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2015/09/91715-report-how-one-artifact-continues.html for more about that.

Many interesting beach finds, including calcite crystals, certain fossil shells and even arrow points made of fossilized coral will glow.  I once found an old fishing lure that glows in the dark.  

Yesterday I posted a discussion of fluorite crystals, which will fluoresce.  In fact, the word "fluoresce" was derived from the word "fluorite" which was the first mineral discovered to fluoresce.

Other tools that might come in hand include the following.

Obviously enough, a magnifying glass, jewelers loop or microscope will undoubtedly come in handy.  Sometimes the naked eye just isn't enough.

A camera that will take good closeup photos is also very useful.

Another very useful item is a magnet.  Many of the questions that I receive can quickly be answered by using a simple magnet.  It is inexpensive and easy to use.  Some coins are magnetic, such as the steel war pennies and many foreign coins.

Another important item is a good scale for weighing small items such as coins.  The weight of a coin will often tell you a lot about the coin - perhaps what denomination it is, how badly it is corroded, or if it is made of the correct metal.

An acid test or test pen for testing metals is very handy, although you can take items to a pawn shop or jeweler to have the metal tested by XRF.

I'd also recommend a rock tumbler for cleaning common coins.  DON'T tumble items that could be historic or valuable.  Don't tumble encrusted objects until you know what they are.  I've made that mistake before.

---

Don't expect any more than a four foot surf this week.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/25/20 Report - Twenty-two 1715 Fleet Reales Found on The Treasure Coast On 2/22/20.

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

Coins Recently Found On a Treasure Coast Beach by Jonah and Gang

Photo submitted by Captain Jonah

This blog provides a continuous documentation of Treasure Coast beach developments and finds over several years.  Today I'm showing one grouping of reales found last weekend.

Below are photos of the individual coins shown in the above photo.  The number under each photo has no significance.  The numbers are just to help me keep track of the photos.

Although I had a lot buzzing around in my mind to talk about today, I'll address those topics some other time because I thought it would be useful to keep these photos together in a single post.   Twenty-two reales were found by the guys last weekend, not to mention other items.

Captain Jonah submitted all of the photos shown today.  It took a lot of time to photograph and send them all.   Thanks Jonah!

1,

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

---

I have in my mind various posts that relate to events of the past few days including beach dynamics, various types of finds and the Winter Beach salvage camp.

Namasthe,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/22/20 Report - Beaches Show Very Little Cutting But Produced Some Very Good Finds.

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

Ambersands Beach This Morning.

Things have been found.  Several reales have been found and a few other things.

You probably heard the wind whipping last night.  That was between yesterday evening and this morning, and that seems to be when most things opened up.

Ambersands This Morning.

The sun came out today.  I never like that.  And a LOT of detectorists hit the beaches today.  The parking lot was almost filled at one beach, and a lot of them were detectorists.

Wabasso This Morning.

I didn't see cuts hardly anywhere, but the water was hitting and eroding the dunes in some places, and there were some good dips.  In at least one location there was very little new sand over the old orange sand.

I didn't do real good with the photos today.  My mind was on the hunt, and I forgot about the photography.

The stairs at Seagrape were damaged.  I mentioned yesterday that they had just been repaired, but they were damaged last night again.

Turtle Trail This Morning.

At Turtle Trail the erosion control bags were more exposed today, and you could see some of the old cut off posts that were buried yesterday when I was there.

Bags Getting Hit At Turtle Trail.

I was trying to photograph the bags in the above photo, but it was poorly timed and the water covered the bags as I took the photo.

Erosion Control Bags Covered by Water.

I'll have some find photos for you in the near future.   I have one object in cleaning now.  

The surf was up around ten feet today.  It will be decreasing tomorrow.

Surf Predictions.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/17/20 Report - Conductivity Numbers for Reales and Other Test Targets. Winding Unpaved Roads.

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

Variety of Test Targets Including Among Other Types of Finds a Four-Reale and Half-Reale 

For whatever it is worth, I decided to look at the conductivity numbers for the recently found four-reale and half-reale.  I forgot what numbers they produced in the field and wanted to know that so I took them out to test along with some other targets for context.

Left to right in the photo above are the targets: (1) a 13 gram four-reale, (2) a 1 gram half-reale, (3) a small very thin bit of what looks like copper found at the same site, (4) a silver cross, (5) a silver ring, (6) another silver ring, (7) a copper alloy looking piece.

I used the factory presets, except I used the Beach 1 mode, which is what I used on the beach.

Below are the conductivity numbers that I got for each item using the Equinox 600 metal detector - the same detector that found the first three and the seventh item.

Item                                  Conductivity Reading

1.  13 gram four-reale -  29 - 31

2.   1 gram half- reale -   17

3.  very small copper  -    2
4.  silver cross             -   20-21
5.  silver ring               -   30-31
6.  oval silver ring       -   35
7.  copper alloy piece  -  20-21

I was most interested in knowing the numbers for the reales.  The reals consistently produced numbers that were distinct from most of the other targets, except the four-reale produced numbers in the same range as one of the silver rings.   The small half reale produced a very stable 17, while the numbers produced by the much larger four reale were less consistent.

I get the feeling that shape affects the conductivity number.  The more thin and irregularly shaped silver cross produced numbers that were between those of the two reales.  I should do a thorough experiment on that someday.

The conductivity numbers can be useful in some situations, but there is a lot of variability and overlap.   It seems that the position of the object and its depth can change the numbers somewhat.  And many different types of objects produce the same or overlapping numbers.

It does appear that reales will generally show conductivity numbers from around 17 and up.  I do find the numbers useful to some extent even though they may not always be precise or consistent.  Too much reliance on the numbers could be a big mistake. 

As detectorists we are always dealing with probabilities.  I would define skill as the ability to improve the probability of success through intentional action.

If there is one thing I regret not remembering from my college and professional years it is the math of probability theory and statistics.  Detectorists use a variety of types of clues or signals that if properly interpreted and used can dramatically increase the probability of success.   Although I don't actually need to do the math for field applications, it would be helpful for explanations

---

Some say heaven has streets paved with gold.  I don't really know what use I'd have for that.

I see it as unpaved roads winding up and down hills sparsely decorated at various distances by two or three tightly grouped small but happy homes built by struggling young families recently returned from the war and animated by children of various ages tumbling in the summer grass and exploring every nook and cranny of the nearby woods and streams, catching frogs and snakes or sledding in the snow.

That is what I see sometimes when I awake in the private threatre of night.  The gang is still there, just as it was.

In our plaid shirts and blue jeans, seven year-old David, a year older than I and a veteran at seven years of age, walks me down the road past the barns, farm fields and cows to my first day of school, neither one of us having any way of imagining what lies in the years ahead.   A special good fellow, I'd like to thank David for his company in those carefree days.

He's not the only one.  There was Eddie, Gary, Bobby, Loretta and Becky and others.  We shared the same hills, neighbors, schools and friends for our entire childhood.  We had a baseball team in summer, and a football team in the fall, even if we were a several positions short.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that awakens in the night and returns every once in a while to those green hills to meet old friends so many years and miles away. 

---

I've been eagerly watching the surf predictions and hoping that the predicted big surf doesn't disappear.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

As of this morning, it still looks good.  Rather than decreasing, the predicted surf for next weekend has actually increased another foot.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/10/20 Report - 1715 Fleet Beaches: Rings and Reales. Private Beaches. Big Surf Predicted.

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

Among other things, yesterday I posted some comments from Jammin Jack.  The following comments and photo album picture is from Jack.

Below is a page from Gary Daemer's salvaging during the 1990s. Billy Elam was involved and I think put the album together. You will see many rings been found, but no silver! Possibly, more fragile and did not survive the beating of the ocean or silversmiths did not make many because silver harder to work with. 

Jack continued saying, The rings in the above picture are all gold.  Most were low karat, except for one, which was about 14K, according to the text by the photo.

---

It is accepted that very few, if any, silver rings have been found on 1715 Fleet wrecks. (Deagan shows at least one.)  And now we have a beach silver ring "certified" as being from the 1715 Fleet.  So the question is why silver rings are so rare on 1715 Fleet wrecks.  The archaeological record of Spanish colonial land sites does document a few, but again, not many.   It appears they were not the rage at the time.  

Some people have suggested that the scarcity of silver finger rings might be made more extreme by fact that they didn't survive well in a rough salt water environment.

Despite the fact that very few silver finger rings have been attributed to 1715 Fleet ships, a lot of old silver finger rings have been found on the wreck beaches.  Being isolated finds having no substantial context, it would be really difficult to attribute such a find to a particular source without definitive markings.

We can not forget that items of roughly the same time period could come from 18th century salvage efforts and other activities drawn to the beaches by the wrecks.  I wonder, for example, if some finds might be trade goods used to pay/reward indigenous divers and other workers after the wreck.

Another question that is possibly related is why are so many half reales found on the 1715 Fleet beaches while cobs salvaged from the submerged wreck sites include such a high proportion of higher denomination cobs relative to half reales.  Below are a few possibilities.

Could it be because the lighter half reales are more likely to get washed onto the beach?

Are the half reales more difficult to find in the water as compared to larger cobs?

Do small denomination reales corrode and disappear more quickly (as some have suggested of silver rings) in submerged salt water environments?

Did contemporary salvage efforts affect the pattern significantly?


I have my opinions, but since they are nothing more than opinions I'll leave those questions to you.

One huge difference appears obvious: half reales were carried on the fleet in great numbers while finger rings were very scarce.  Nonetheless, both natural and human actions could affect the distribution and finds of both half reales and silver rings.

---  

Private beaches for the wealthy paid for by taxpayers: that is the subject of the following article, which I am sure will stir up some people.  The same subject had people up in arms a few years ago.

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/newswire/2020/02/03/privatization-coming-beach-near-you-opinion/4643308002/

You might want to be informed on that subject.  It is not a new one, but has not been settled.

---

The tides are getting bigger, as is the surf.  We are now up to around 3 - 5 feet, but that isn't the best news.  Look out to next weekend.  The predictions are interesting.

The longer term predictions have been good recently - much improved over a couple years ago.

Source: MagicSeeWeed.com.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

controversial article