11/3/19 Report - 1715 Fleet Cobs Dated 1715 Bring High Prices. Half Reale and Famous Four Escudo. Erosion at Jupiter Beach.

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

Lot 379 In Sedwick Coins Treasure Auction No. 26.

You can learn a lot from auctions.  There are all the items to inspect, and you also find out what people are willing to pay for things.  The Sedwick auctions are among the most informative for those of us interested in treasure coins and related items, including those from the Treasure Coast and the 1715 Fleet wrecks.

The live bidding for all but one session of the current Sedwick Coins Auction No. 26 has concluded.  I'd have to say that the auction was a big success.  Extremely few items did not sell, and the bidding was enthusiastic.

Above is one item that caught my attention.  It is a half reale from the 1715 Fleet that brought a winning bid of $1,150, not including the buyers premium.  That is a lot of money for a half reale.  So what made it so special?

First of all, it, like many other half reales included in the second session, was dated.  You can see the date (1)715 in the photo above.  Most half reales do not show a date, snd this date is unusual as it is the same as the year of the wreck, being very recently minted before making it onto the ship and being lost off the coast of Florida shortly thereafter.

This reale, in my opinion, other than the fact that it does show a rare date and is pedigreed to Real Eight and the Pullin collection, is not very exceptional.  Below is the lot description.

Mexico City, Mexico, cob 1/2 real, (1)715(J), rare, ex-1715 Fleet, ex-Real Eight (Ullian). S-M22; KM-24; CT-1828. 1.37 grams. Bold full 15 of date above full but weak crown, nearly full cross despite flatness, minimal surface corrosion, toned all over, desirable as the date of the wreck. From the 1715 Fleet, with original Real Eight Co. certificate signed by Lou Ullian. Auction lot-tag personally signed by John Pullin. The John Pullin Collection of Dated Mexican Cobs.

The other dated half reales from the Pullin collection mostly sold for between $200 and $400.  Those are still high prices for half reales.

Take a look at the undated half reales in the one internet-only session (Session VI) of the same auction that will close Monday.  The half reales in that session could still increase in price but will probably sell mostly for well below $100.

If you take a look at those lots and the lot descriptions, including the photos, you can learn a lot.  Many of the reales and escudos are from the 1715 Fleet, so you'll get a good idea of the kinds of things that have been found and are still out there to be found on the Treasure Coast.

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Among the higher priced coins was lot 7, which is also from the 1715 Fleet and dated 1715.  The winning bid for this one was $24,000.

What is surprising is that it is a four-escudo - not an eight-escudo, as you might expect from such a high-priced escudo.  So what makes it so special?   Below is the photo and lot description.

Lot 7 In Current Sedwick Treasure Auction No. 26.

Mexico City, Mexico, cob 4 escudos, 1715J, NGC MS 62, ex-1715 Fleet (designated on label), Practical Book of Cobs Plate Coin (3rd edition), ex-John Pullin (stated on label). S-M30; KM-55.2; CT-235. 13.26 grams. It is hard to imagine a nicer example of this desirable final year of 1715-Fleet cobs (and in fact there may not be any nicer, as it is tied with two others for finest known in NGC census), for this coin shows a 100% full and bold date and oMJ while still bearing a full shield and cross, all with muted luster and no doubling or wear. Little wonder Frank Sedwick chose this piece for plating in his Practical Book of Cobs! From the The John Pullin Collection of Dated Mexican Gold Cobs from the 1715 Fleet, pedigreed to our Auction #8 (lot #6) and plated on page 106 of the 3rd edition (1995) of The Practical Book of Cobs. Auction lot-tag personally signed by John Pullin. NGC #5705323-001.

So it is also a late and rare date for a 1715 Fleet escudo, but it also has a lot of other things going for it, including being one of the finest of its type known, according to the NGC census.


There are other lots in the auction that brought even higher prices, including some of the ingots and bars.

Session VI, which is an internet-only session, will conclude tomorrow.  That session will include a wide variety of lots.  A number of less expensive half reales will be included - mostly undated.

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John B. sent the following photos of Jupiter Inlet beach.

Eroded Beach At Jupiter Inlet.

Photo by John B.

John said there weren't many targets.  As you can see it is very mushy sand.  You can tell that from the footprints and the coarseness of the sand and the shape of the beach.

Cut At Jupiter Inlet Beach

Photo by John B.

Despite all the big surf we've had the past few months, there have been few good finds.  Conditions just haven't been good, and I blame that on all of the renourishment sand.  Beaches like the one shown here are covered with renourishment sand, and even when you get erosion, it is just the renourishment sand moving around.   When it leaves the beach, it piles up in front of the beach covering anything old and protecting the beach against the force of the surf, and eventually gets washed back in again.

Unfortunately, I think it is going to take a lot to create good beach detecting conditions.  There is a lot of sand on the beaches.

Next week we'll have mostly two to four foot surf.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

The way they keep dumping sand



https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-50186758

9/22/19 Report - $30,000 Find by Detectorist on Melborne Beach. Another Tropical Storm. Other Finds.

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

Eroded Melborne Beach

Photo by Jerry P.

I received this message from Jerry P.

I had an interesting day on the Treasure Coast yesterday. I found the conditions much as you described them in your Friday Post. The Big surf had beaten up the dunes pretty good, but it was mostly renourishment sand that was knocked down. Then because the waves were hitting square on to the beach, that sand wasn’t moved off the beach. I didn’t find any shipwreck items but did find the most expensive item I’ve ever found.  It’s a one-kilo brick of cocaine (See below.) that washed up on the beach in Melbourne. Not my best find but definitely the most valuable. After turning it over to the local Sheriff deputy, he told me the wholesale value is about $30,000! My jaw hit the ground😎

  

Regards,

Jerry P.

$30.000 Brick of Cocaine

Photo by Jerry P.

That reminds me of the morning I arrived to see three huge bales of pot washed up on John Brooks beach.  Each bale was a cube of about five feet.

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Plaque Washed Up On Melborne Beach

Source: FloridaToday.com

Talking of things washed up on Melborne Beach -

Bobbing amid then-Tropical Storm Humberto's swells, a wooden wall plaque bearing Jesus Christ's image reached the beach just as former professional surfer Bryan Hewitson and his daughter, Olivia, approached carrying bags of litter.

"It was still wet. It had just washed up," Bryan recalled from their beach cleanup walk shortly after sunrise Saturday...

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2019/09/17/mystery-jesus-plaque-washes-ashore-near-melbourne-beach-tropical-storm-humbertos-waves/2343070001/

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My Friday Finds.

I've done more detecting in the past three days than I've been able to do in a long time.  I went out three times and spent an average of about an hour detecting each time.  I also spent time scouting beaches that I didn't detect, but I averaged about 25 modern coins per hour detecting by working eroded renourishment sand.  That is not what I'd prefer to hunt, but it was easy, and I was also getting to know the Equinox detector so I wanted to hit a good number targets.  If I had a lot more time I would have spent time detecting for shipwreck items too, but that didn't look like a good bet under the circumstances.

If you look at that ring shown above, you'll notice it is broken.  It gave a much weaker signal because of the broken band.

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Now a correction:  Yesterday I posted a photo of a watch that was like the one found by Joe D.  The way I mistakenly labeled the photo, you would have thought that the brand new watch was the one found by Joe.  It was not.  Joe's find was beat up.   Rather than taking the time make that clear in yesterday's post, I just removed the incorrectly labeled photo from that post.

Joe provided this handy link to a database on pocket watches, which provides detailed information on any watch that you can find in the database.  I've found a few pocket watches over the years that I have never researched, so when I get the time I'll be using that link.

https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/

And here is the link to the particular make and model found by Joe.

https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/hamilton/1752320

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John Brooks Beach Saturday Evening Near Low Tide.

Notice all the sand between where the waves are breaking and where the water is on the sand.

The beach is still mushy even though the water has been getting pretty high.

John Brooks Beach Saturday Evening Near Low Tide.

The coins I picked up Saturday were not the easy ones.  They were deep in wet sand where the water was still coming and going at low tide.  That makes recovery more difficult.


Now we have another tropical storm - Karen.  Looks like she'll pretty much follow Jerry.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

For the next few days the surf will be decreasing.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/21/19 Report - Pocket Watch Finds. Hurricane Jerry, Weather and Beach Conditions.

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

Recent Watch Find by Joe D. After Cleaning.

Photo by Joe D.

After cleaning this pocket watch, Joe did some successful internet research on his watch and had fund doing it.  The internet makes research so much easier than it used to be.

Joe was able to get all the necessary information off the watch and locate the detailed specifications online.  He enjoyed the internet research.

I've often said that a lot of the fun comes after the find.

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Sebastian Steve offered the following comments relative to pocket watch finds.

So far as Joes's pocket watch "Congratulations Joe!."  __Like Things Attract__ and it should not be too long before you find another!  The pattern looks quite old, maybe not quite Victorian.  I remember finding my first gold watch... only the little ring on top for the chain was sticking out of the debris pile.  I thought I was reaching for a gold man's wedding band, but when as I tugged and tugged, finally out came this heavy gold pocket watch circa 1850 !!!  WoW!!!  Like things attract?  Not five minutes had passed since I reached for a beautiful English Sovereign.  The size and weight of our $5 gold piece.  These Sovereigns were very common in U.S. Commerce in and around the Civil War era.  The Sovereign was a known and trusted coin the world over, and Britain had been minting them since the 1830's I believe.  You were far more likely to find a Sovereign than a $5 U.S.  On an amazing ratio of 20 to 1....Sovereigns to U.S. $5.  Amazing, it really was.  The Sovereign is a beautiful coin, loaded with intricate detail, not at all easily forfeited.  

Now listen up Joe... I'm sure at this point, the last thing on your mind is selling it.  But if and when that day comes, when gold hits $5,000, __and it will__ know this...these gold outer watch cases bring -Big Dollars- just in scrap.  __Don't let anybody cheat you.__

I recall selling two of mine for a little folding money, and being handed $1400.00.  Yes, that zero is in the correct place.  When you get it open, with soaking with lots of running warm water, and plain ole dishwashing soap (lubricant) over and over, --do not rush it-- the hinge will gradually open for you.  Don't break it...you will hate yourself.  

Inside the lid, once you have cleaned it well, you should see the "jeweler"s hallmark."  It will be a very little box, like 1/16th "x 1/16th with the karat weight.  You should see a little "14" or even an "18" in this box if old enough.  By law...somewhere on that case you will find the assayers mark!  Almost all of the old Victorian jewelry was 18 Karat.  And a heavy watch case will amaze you with the layers of gold!  Also you may see little notations scratched in by jewelers, as was the custom in the old days, to signify repairs that they performed and when.  Just initials and like the month digits and last 2 year digits.  You can often get a good idea of the age of the watch from this.   

Maybe there is more there?  Remember...LIKE THINGS ATTRACT.  I found a beautiful pair of a man's and woman's hand crafted matching pocket watches with elaborate etchings carved in by hand, oh how many hours of craftsmanship?  A hundred hours for the pair?  Easy.  Both these from out the same steamer trunk.  Sad..this loving couple most likely went down with the ship, as their pouch of gold was still nestled in with the watches.  Hopes and Dreams... now dashed upon the proverbial rocks.  Who is to know such things?  Which ship to take, which to avoid?  Is a calm sunny day always your safest time to travel?  Words to Ponder...

God Help the Perishing Mariner Tonight

We Fear the Pall of Darkness

Shall be the Precursor of their Doom. 

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Joe was indeed able to find all the identifying information.

By the way, where he found it, the ground was littered with broken glass and trash.

Here is the photo.

Littered Ground Where Pocket Watch Was Found.

Photo by Joe d.

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By the way, the photo at the top of yesterday's post showed a lot of erosion at Jupiter.  That was all renourishment sand that got washed into the surf.  That, along with the east swells, is why we are getting much old stuff being uncovered on the beach.

The erosion is not getting down to the older sand in most areas, and the old stuff in front of the beach is being covered by old renourishment sand that was washed into the surf.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

There is still a lot of weather to watch and still a chance for us to actually get some better beach conditions.

Jerry is still on the north/northeast path, but there are two other systems out there that could develop and eventually affect us.

The surf is expected to decrease now for a few days.  That could be an opportunity to detect out a little farther than has been possible lately.

I got in some detecting time the past two days and dug a lot of targets.  I was interested in testing the Equinox, but tried not to stress my back.  I was most happy with the fact that my back held up.   I was also learning more about the Equinox, which I'll study more and report on at a later date.

I'll have to go back and research some of my pocket watch finds, which, for some reason, I never really looked at much.  I guess I never opened them up.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/3/19 Report - Saddle Ridge Hoard Article. Treasure Coast Coin Club. A Find. Dealing With Laws, Technicalities and Inconsistencies.

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

I gave a link to the Coin World article entitled Who Buried the Saddle Ridge Hoard.  If you went to the web site, you found out that you had to sign up to read the article.  (Sorry about that.)  The Coin World article is very good.  You seldom see that depth of research on a hoard.

I actually read the article in the print version of the March 18, 2018 Coin World Weekly, which I received from the friendly people from the Treasure Coast Coin Club that were at the recent Vero Coin Show.  Members of the coin club were giving out old issues of various numismatic magazines.

I much enjoyed the magazines I received, including the one containing the article on the Saddle Ridge Hoard, and so I'd like to give the coin club some free publicity.  See the banner above, and visit http://treasurecoastcoinclub.org/ or facebook. for more information.

There are yearly dues, but they were handing out coupons at the Vero show good for one year's dues.

You should be able to get the March 18, 2018 issue through your library.  If they don't have it, you can request an interlibrary loan.

Dean and Marie R. sent me this link for a little info on the Saddle Ridge Hoard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddle_Ridge_Hoard

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Dale J. was checking out some of the renourishment sand being pumped out of the Sebastian Inlet and found these bones.

Finds and photos by Dale J.








The one is definitely bone, and maybe the others too.   I'm pretty sure the large one is a joint.

If someone can give more information, let me know.

Dale said others were also checking out the renourishment sand.

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Someone asked me where you can metal detect in the water along the Treasure Coast.  Unfortunately that is a very difficult question to answer for a variety of reasons, so I won't even try, except to say that you are not supposed to detect in the water in leased areas.

It is not easy to say where the lease boundaries are or to know where there might be new leases.  I have given information on the location of some of the leases in past years.  You can still find those posts if you search the blog.

There are federal, state and local laws.  There are a lot of legalities and technicalities, but there are also often inconsistencies.  There are some areas where you will be told that you can't even detect on the dry beach, but at other times you will be told that it is ok.

On occasion life guards or others will simply decide that they will not allow people to metal detect a beach or area without any specific legal authority.  Generally, I advise simply cooperating.

There are some places where it is technically illegal to metal detect, but where it is routinely done and no one really seems to care.

Some places you can legally detect but can't dig or recover old items.  It is really too tricky to summarize.

You also have to be careful to not harm protected plants or animals too.  Sea oats is one protected plant that covers much of our dunes.

I was once told by a lifeguard that I could not detect a specific area.  I just moved on, but later called the county officials so I would know what I legally could and couldn't do, and they told me that I could detect there.  Subsequently I did detect there numerous times, but not when the lifeguards were present.

On another occasion I started metal detecting in the water at a county park and was told by the lifeguard that I couldn't detect  there.  I simply put my metal detector away, but later called the county officials who said that there were regulations against metal detecting in that park, but they were going to be changed soon.  As a result  I was one of the first to know when it became legal to detect in that park.  It turned out to be very worthwhile.

There are simply too many technicalities and inconsistencies to simply say where you can and where you can't metal detect.  Sometimes it is legal but you won't be able to do it without conflict, and other times it is illegal but is done routinely (within limits) with full knowledge of the authorities.

I might have said something that isn't 100 percent accurate above, but what it comes down to is being smart and exercising good judgment.  Some people tend to create problems for themselves when they don't have to.  Don't be one of those.

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On the Treasure Coast we still have a few days of one-foot surf.  The tides remain small.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/8/17 Report - Erosion at One Renourished Beach. Ole Timer Talk: Crate of Dishes. Benefit of Reading Broadly.

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

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Erosion
Photo by Gaylen C.

You might remember Gaylen's find that looked something like a Marlinespike or maybe an engraving tool.  Galen sent a message and some photos from his hunt yesterday.  Here is what he had to say.

Went back to the same area as my relic find. Found another nail or spike, but it may prove to be fairly modern. Lots of signals. Picked up a few things. The dunes look like this from the south jetty for a long way and then gets a little more slope. High tide was within a foot or so of dune. Really undercut in some places, with lots of sand falling to the foot. Several different layers showing. The piece I got was among larger rocks at the base.

The following photo shows how high the cliff is and the various layers.  Note the rocks at the bottom of the cliff.

Thanks for the report and photos Gaylen.

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Brain M. sent the following Ole Timer Talk.

Here is a quick little treasure story that happened to an old friend of mine 20 + years ago on the treasure coast. He was out metal detecting after a storm . Big cut on the beach and if I remember correctly it was at night. He noticed something that stood out as strange. There partially exposed in the wall of the cut was a stack of dishes. He told me when he saw it he figured that someone had a pic-nick back in the 1930’s   and must have left them on the beach. He didn’t mess with them he was looking for coins and metal. Days later he was talking to another treasure hunter and was told of Chinese porcelain dishes were cargo. I don’t remember what dynasty he said it was from. He told me they looked like they were stacked and the crate must have rotted away and left the stack of dishes in the wall of the cut. From what he told me they were worth a fortune had he only known what he was looking at. When he went back the sand was in and the cut was gone. We wonder if they are still there waiting to be found intact or did the incoming sand and surf knock them out and smash them to bits.

We most likely will never know.

Thanks Brian.

A stack of well preserved Kang Hsi porcelain would indeed be worth a lot.

I've been very much surprised by how often I already know something about these accounts that go back twenty years or more or the people involved.

I knew the fellow who found the eight escudo in Clint's account, for example, and I also heard about these plates.  I don't remember now when or where I heard about the plates, but I think I might have even posted something about them in this blog years ago.

The lesson Brian's account provides is that you should get to know as much as you can about various types of treasure so you will recognize them and their possible significance when you see them in the field. There have been a lot of times when I failed to recognize something good.  I regret some of those failures to this day.

One example that came to mind yesterday was the time when I was on Pigeon Island at a battle site from right around 1800 when I dug a rusted twisted piece of metal that I later realized was the hammer from a flintlock.  Right beside that piece was a squared piece of flint.  I can see it in my mind's eye today.  I was hanging on the side of a steep cliff, with an old Tesoro detector, which I fitted out with a short board as a rod stem.  ( The short stem helped since the face of the cliff was right in front of my face.)  I was using a screw driver as a dig tool.

I didn't pay much attention to either the rusted metal item or the flint when I dug them.  I wish I had realized their significance and kept them.  If I found the same items today, I know I would have kept them, and better realizing their significance, I also would have hunted the immediate area more thoroughly to find other pieces of the musket or other items.

It is easy to get so focused on coins or some other particular kind of target that you miss other types of items that can actually be more valuable, not to mention being significant clues.

Those dishes, as Brian pointed out, could have been worth a lot, but they were ignored because of a lack of that realization.  They could have also been a clue that other good things might have been buried in the area.

I didn't know what my first fossil find was, but I kept it.  I just kept it out of curiosity.  I didn't find out what it was until probably at least ten years later.  I undoubtedly passed up other fossil finds before that one, not knowing what they were.

I also failed to recognize the first enameled ring I found from a 1715 Fleet wreck site.  I thought it was modern because I incorrectly thought that enameling was a modern process.  Even though it was gold and very attractive, I didn't pay very much attention to it when I dug it.  I just slipped it into my pocket not thinking much of it because I was targeting shipwreck items.  How wrong I was!

Enameling is actually a very old process.  In fact it is believed to go back to at least the 13th century BC. (See https://www.ganoksin.com/article/earliest-cloisonne-enamels/)

I used to hear people say that if something is plated, it is not hundreds of years old because plating is a fairly modern process.  That might be true of some types of plating, but gold and silver gilding is a very old process.

I think you get the point.  Knowing something about a wide variety of types of objects can be very helpful.  The failure to recognize items you see in the field can be a big mistake.

I'm sure I sometimes talk about items that a lot of people are not interested in.  You might not have any interest in iron artifacts, for example, but those rusted old items might provide important clues to a site and other types of treasure.  They might also hold more economic value than you think. 

You might not be interested in sea glass, but a piece of black glass washed up on a beach might be a good clue to the presence of other historic items nearby.  If you do a lot of reading, you might be better prepared to recognize various kinds of treasure when you see them and be better able to interpret what the item is telling you about the site.

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We're going to be getting a cold front.  The wind will be coming from the north for a couple of days, but the surf will be small.  The tides are pretty good yet.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

12/1/17 Report - Devil Dogs: Mystery Solved. New Mystery Find. Skeletons on Ghost Ships.

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

Recent Find.
Find and photo by Gaylen C.

Other End of Same Item.
Find and photo by Gaylen C.

Point of Same Object
Find and photo by Gaylen C.

I received the following message from Gaylen C. who found the above object.

Found this item at the foot of eroded dunes on Sunday....  Have had no luck identifying it. Certainly looks to be very old. Sent photos off to U of F for help. Thought perhaps you might have come across something similar. Of course with sand being artificially moved around so much there's no telling where else it could have been. I found it buried in 6-8 inches of sand that looks like it had fallen from a vertical dune 6 or 7 feet above the beach. My guess, as well as some others, is that it is a needle or punch of some kind. It appears to be hand hammered, with a long taper. No idea if the curve in the opposite end is intentional or accidental. Could be an eye under the accumulation. Since this is only my 3rd beach detecting experience I don't know the advisability of chipping away at an artifact. . Probably would not be if I had found real valuable treasure first. 

Any help you may render in the identity and preservation of this thing would be greatly appreciated.

Gaylen told me the item is 13.5 inches long and no wider than .25 inches.   I sent Gaylen information concerning perservation.  

 What do you think it is?  Notice particularly the curved top, and what appears to be the bulbous shape on that end.

I want to comment on one of Gaylen's sentences.  Nor do I have knowledge about how to best conserve it. Didn't think finding little "treasures" would be so involved and such fun.

I often talk about how the find is often just the beginning.  Then comes the questioning, cleaning, and researching.  That is when you learn a lot.  You get into the history of the item, and it changes you to some extent.

That is not always so true of items that are obviously valuable, like a gold coin that a person might not think much more than its value.  They'd read the marks, and then look it up and find that it is worth X amount, and that is about it, other than the bragging.  

Those who do not detect for old items don't understand what it is all about.  They always ask, "What is the most valuable thing you found."  They often don't realize that a rusty artifact has any value at all.  That is the big difference between someone who hunts and cherishes rusty things and those who don't.

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Going from a mystery to an answer, I recently posted a USMC ring found by John C.  We couldn't tell what the image on the face of the ring was.  Thanks to Sherry Y., we now know.

The image is known as the Devil Dog.  Wikipedia says, According to United States Marine Corps legend, the moniker was used by German soldiers to describe U.S. Marines who fought in the Battle of Belleau Wood in 1918. The Marines fought with such ferocity that they were likened to "Dogs from Hell." The "Devil Dogs" nickname for Marines first appeared in newspapers in the United States in April 1918...

Super job Sherry!  Thanks much.

That also helps with dating the ring.  The image means the date of the ring is later than 1918.

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Ghost ships washed up on the shores of Japan with skeletons aboard.

Here is the link.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/28/asia/north-korea-japan-ship/index.html

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This might be the last of Darrel's beach photos for a while.  I'll miss that.  It was a big help to me.  I don't get around to all the beaches that much and like to keep you up to date on beach conditions.  He says he is off to other adventures for a while.  Thanks and good luck Darrel.

Turtle Trail Looking North Yesterday.
Photo by Darrel S.

Darrel said, Beaches are really leveling, but are dips near low tide. Low 10:40am.  

The photo was taken yesterday.

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The Treasure Coast surf is down to around two or three feet today, but the tides are increasing.

I have a lot more to talk about, but that is all for today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/27/17 Report - Ambersands Report. Renourishment Sand. Copper Finds. Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach.

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

Ambersands Beach 11/26
Photo by Eric H.

Eric H. sent in a report with photos.

... I am relatively new to metal detecting but you can’t say I don’t work hard at it. I went to Turtle Trail at dawn this morning but it looked sanded in, so I went to Seagrape Trail but it looked the same. So I went to Ambersands and it looked better- some shell lines and low spots- so I got out my Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II (I incorrectly referred to it as a Garrett Surf Master in my last email). It’s a PI machine which explains all the junk targets I dig but I’m there to dig targets, not walk around lol. I hit it hard for several hours and found a great shell line right in front of the mcLarty museum but it only produced junk targets. I’ll send some pics in another email.

Thanks Eric!

You can see the erosion at the back of the beach.  I can't tell for sure from the photo, but that could all be renourisment sand.

If it erodes down to the renourishment sand that came from the Sebastian Inlet swimming area, there were some silver U. S. coins in that sand.  As I recall it was a darker sand than what was put on the last time.

I like Eric's attitude of being out there to dig - not walk around.  As you know I encourage people to dig everything.  I've gone over the several reasons for that in the past.  One reason is to see what is there and to identify the different zones. 

Similar types of items tend to be found in different areas.  There can be some intermixing, but if you find aluminum in one area, you might find denser items such as lead sinkers in another.  There will also be times when you find older items in one area and newer items in another area.  It is good to know where those items are.

I mentioned sampling not too long ago.  By sampling different areas, you can tell what types of items are accumulating in those areas, and that can tell you where to focus more of your time.

Very often the older items are associated with a particular type of sand.  You might find that the older sand is a more brown/red sand.  That is often where the real old items are found.

Most of the renourishment sand spread on the Treasure Coast in recent years is a light color - almost white.  It is good if you know where it came from.  That can help you tell if something old might be in it.

So pay attention to the sand and the different layers as well as the types of objects that are being found in different areas.

Eric also said, ... is a small shell line north of McLarty. I found a few better lines but didn’t pull out my camera until I had dug targets. I also forgot to mention that I met a nice young German couple on holiday here. They had purchased a cheap $80 detector and were asking me about the area. Oh yeah, one more thing- I did see a refurbishment bag exposed slightly south of Ambersands.

Targets Dug by Eric
Photo by Eric

Here are the targets dug by Eric.  As you can see there are lot of nails, some sinkers, a fish hook, aluminum, etc.

Among the more interesting items are the following copper items.

Copper Items Found by Eric.
Photo by Eric.

The copper finds look to have some age.  The bottom one looks like a lid.  The smaller round item is interesting.  Don't know what it might be.

Thanks for the report Eric.  That should certainly help everyone assess that beach.

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Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach.
Photo by SuperRick.

SuperRick was at Fort Pierce South jetty beach and found it cleaned out.  It gets detected frequently.  If you catch it right after it erodes you can find modern items there.

There are also a few fossil pieces being found with the larger pieces of gravel and shells.

Thanks for the report Rick.

There is a wreck in shallow water near the area shown at the top of Rick's photo, but it has been well picked over and whatever is left could be buried under renourishment sand.

I've also found WW II items on that beach in the past.  A lot of training exercises were done there.  One nice hat badge came out of the renourishment sand a few years ago.  If you get down to the older sand you might find dog tags, shells etc.

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Today the surf will be small.  It will increase to about three feet during the middle of the week.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/6/17 Report - Metal Detecting and Renourishment Sand. Amazing Archaeological Find by Detectorists. Treasure Auction 22 Now Online.

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

Here is the link to the new auction catalog.

http://www.sedwickcoins.com/ta22/catalog.htm

There are some nice bids already.

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The other day I mentioned a few older finds I made in renourishment sand.  Joe D. wrote in about metal detecting renourishment sand.  Here is what he had to say.

I'm glad you brought up the subject of how important the original location of the renourshment sand source is when surveying beach locations to detect, since that is what many of us end up detecting when there is little erosion going on. 

I wanted to give you a few examples of the locations of the last several I've had knowledge of and detected often as they were put down and subsequently eroded out.

The most recent of which was the beach South of Jupiter inlet, from the inlet to the end of the public beach. The sand source was a little inside the inlet in front of Dubois Park. An area with quite a bit of history, but not the original inlet location, which was a little south. Nevertheless, my thinking was that it might turn up some good stuff if it was not overly filtered for size; which I believe it was based on the composition after the fact. I have found nothing old or fossilized in this stuff, which looks more like shell rock than beach sand, and barely moved at all compared to the regular beach sand from when Irma came through. 

On another renourshment project in the South end of Palm Beach a year or so ago, they dredged from offshore about a quarter of a mile and were nice enough to dump the larger filtered items in a nice pile in Phipps Park for a couple of months. It was all shells and rocks and anything of size that didn't meet the sand size specs. I found many piece's of copper sheathing and several brass spikes over that period. And there were many shell collectors there all the time.

Another two renourshment projects in Palm Beach at the main beach were not productive. The most recent came from directly off shore, which is now gone. And the one before that was trucked in from a sand pit on the other side of Lake Okeechobee! They, and us, paid big bucks for that one, only to watch it wash away in a year or so.

One of the most important things I learned about this process is that the sand is filtered for grain size, and I guess, secondly if at all, is quality of sand, which probably differs from each location based on the governing body, and how much it will cost, and how much the state will cover. If you can find out or get access to the filtered material before it is hauled away, that is where a lot of the good stuff is.
If you have anymore knowledge to add, it would be interesting to hear of any other observations besides my own.

   

Thanks. Joe D.

Thanks for sharing your experiences Joe.  I hope others will as well.

Joe brings out some important factors: the source of the sand and the filtering.

Just a few days ago I mentioned how I found a WW II cap badge in  renourishment sand just south of the Fort Pierce inlet.  That wasn't from the most recent renourishment project.  It was one or two projects before that, but the point is that good old stuff can be dumped on a beach with renourishment sand.  At that time, there was also a bunch of garbage in the renourishment sand, including a lot of mangled aluminum cans.  They didn't bother to filter a lot of the garbage out that time.  

Renourishment sand can be tricky.  There can be a variety of layers form different times that get mixed together in no discernible order.

There is one place on the Treasure Coast where new sand was dumped a year or two ago.  It is a fine white sand, and near the dunes they planted sea oats in it. Under that sand is a thick layer of sand from fifty or more years earlier that was dug from in front of the beach and dumped on the dunes and beach.  That time they dug down through sand that is recent and down through sand that contained millions of years old fossils.  When it was dumped on the beach, it was not dumped in order, but spread out so that Styrofoam cups and plastic garbage bags were mixed together with ancient fossils.  Despite the mixing you can easily tell the difference between this sand with older items spread through it and the most recent renourishment sand.  The point being that renourishment sand can be  either homogeneous or a varied mixture.

I tend to do a little sampling of any renourishment sand to see what might be in it.

Observe the different types of sand that you can see on a beach.  If you carefully observe the sand, you'll be able to see how it is moving.

Notice when different layers are exposed.  Different layers can be associated with different types and ages of finds.  The sand can tell you a lot about where you should spend your time.

Tell me about your finds and experiences with detecting in renourishment sand.

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A breathtaking hoard of ancient Roman bronze artifacts, described as the first of its kind in British history, has been unearthed by a pair of metal detector enthusiasts.

The 4th century hoard found by Pete Cresswell and his brother-in-law Andrew Boughton in Gloucestershire includes a sculpture of a "licking" dog never found before in the UK.

The licking dog is an example of a healing statue, and may be linked to a Roman healing temple at Lydney, near the Forest of Dean...

Here is the link for the rest of that story.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/27/roman-licking-dog-never-seen-britain-found-metal-detector-enthusiasts/

Thanks to Dean for that link.

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There will be a nice high tide today.  The surf will be decreasing a foot or two.  The wind will be shifting to a more southerly direction.

Looks like Nate will be a hurricane, but won't affect us in any significant way.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net