6/26/19 Report - Some Cleaned Silver Coins. Jackie Robinson Bat Found. Metal Detecting Around People: Tips and Precautions.

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

Silver Coin Cleaned by Muriatic Acid 

Yesterday I posted photos of the surface of a couple coins that I was going to clean using Muriatic Acid.  I immersed three silver quarters and five silver dimes about a 10% solution for about a day.   All eight coins were in the same container together for the same amount of time.

Above you see the cleaned 1942 quarter,.  Below you see part of the same 1942 quarter (right) before it was cleaned.

Surfaces on Recently Dug Dime and Quarter That I'll Be Cleaning.

That quarter came out better than the others.  Below is another 1942 quarter that I cleaned in the batch.  It didn't come out as well.

Another 1942 Quarter That Was Cleaned.

It looks like the second 1942 quarter might benefit from additional cleaning.

And below is the third quarter that was cleaned in that batch.  It is in worse condition.

Cleaned 1947 Quarter.

The surface on this one is very rough.

I also cleaned some Roosevelt and Mercury dimes in the same solution.

1946 Dime After One Day in Diluted Solution of Muriatic Acid.

This dime (above) still has some surface scale that I think will come off with additional cleaning.

I'm going to put it back in the solution for a while to see how the surface corrosion reacts.

Here are a closer views of the surface of that dime.

Closer View of Surface of Same 1946 Dime.

We'll see the effects of additional time in the solution maybe tomorrow.

Another 1946 Dime

I did another 1946 dime.  That one (above) has a badly pitted surface.  I don't think additional cleaning will do much for it.

Here is a Roosevelt dime that is nearly unidentifiable.

Roosevelt Dime - Date Unknown.

The third Roosevelt dime came out just as bad as the Mercury dimes.

Now to the Mercury dimes, which did not come out very well.

Mercury Dime - Date Undetermined.

Additional treatment of this Mercury dime might remove some more surface materials, but I don't think the appearance will be improved,

Almost Unidentifiable Mercury Dime.

The last Mercury dime is terrible as well.

The first quarter turned out fairly nice, but the rest are bad.

None have any numismatic value.  Coin collectors are very particular about condition, and these ones aren't even close.

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A man found a valuable Jackie Robinson baseball bat in with a bunch of worthless bats and tells the seller.  They quickly removed the bat from the garage sale.

Here is the link.

https://news.ntd.com/man-realizes-baseball-bat-at-garage-sale-is-worth-more-than-its-price-tag_305473.html

If I was the owner I would reward the man for his honest kindness.  He could have easily bought the bat for almost nothing and kept the profit for himself.

Kindness is often not rewarded.  I don't know how many times I returned a found gold ring or something and received not so much as a thank you.  You have to wonder about people.  Are the not capable of showing gratitude?

I'm not saying you should return items and show kindness for the reward, but I'd think that people would like to reward those that freely do things for them for no particular reason other than being honest and kind.

In fact, as I've told before, I've had people on multiple occasions try to claim finds that did not belong to them.  If they see you find something, they'll say that they lost it.  Or they'll tell you I lost a ring, if you find it, it belongs to me.

Here are some things I do.

First, get a good description of the item, including details that would not be obvious to any casual observer, such as a date inscribed in the ring.

Define the area you are going to hunt, and if in sand, draw a boundary and keep everyone out of it while you search.  Explain that you have to be able to swing the detector and have to cover every inch and you want to be able to see where you have and haven't been.  You can't have people in the way.  That also helps makes it possible for you to get a look at found items before everybody else.

When hunting in the water, if other people are trying to see what you are digging up, when you raise your scoop, as it nears the surface, shake it violently, raising a cloud of sand that will conceal the item until you stick your hand in the scoop and find it by feel and put it in your pocket before anyone else sees it.  You can then move away from people and inspect it when you can do it privately.

The goal is to get items for the rightful owner - not for crooks.

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A couple days ago I heard from Captain Jonah.  He has been having boat problems, but expected to get out soon.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/19/18 Report - Examples of the Lost and Found Service Provided by Detectorists. Lions Club Eye-Glass Program.

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

Nearly Five Gallons of Lost Keys.

Have you ever lost your keys?  If so, you are not alone.  I've found tons of keys.  Those shown above are a small portion of those that I've found.  Today I'm going to talk about just a few of the things that were found and returned to the original owner.  People don't hear about many of the items that are found and returned by detectorists.

People often ask detectorists what is their most valuable find.  One answer I give is this one about the time I found some keys.  I was in the Florida Panhandle doing some consulting for the Naval Air Station and after work went out to a remote beach to do a little metal detecting.  I encountered a family just leaving the beach.  No one else was around anywhere.  When they got to the car, they discovered they had lost their keys.  I won't tell the whole story because I told it before.  But they told me they lost their keys, and I followed their tracks to where they had their blanket and found their keys in short order.  This is in the days before cell phones, and if I wasn't there to find their keys, I don't know how long it would have been before they could have got a locksmith or whatever.

I remember only two times that I received a reward for finding an item for someone.  I never asked for a reward and usually don't accept a reward even if it is offered, however there was this one time when I was offered fifty dollars if I could find the keys for the beach concession business at the Fountainbleau hotel.  The fellow lost the keys before he opened the business that morning.  It was a big bunch of keys.  He was out of business until the keys were found.  It didn't take me long to find them, and I received the fifty dollars.

Many of the hotel keys have been replaced by magnetic cards, so there aren't as many keys out there to be found.

Of course there are other kinds of things that I've found for people. Over the years I've found buckets  of eye-glasses too.

I was metal detecting in the shallow water in front of another resort one day when a fellow told me he lost his eye glasses.  He was a tourist staying at the local hotel.  I looked for the glasses and found them.  The surf was rough, and it took some time though.  The fellow offered to buy me a drink, but I thanked him and declined.

Tourists don't realize how easy it is to lose their glasses to an unexpected wave.  And glasses are light enough that they'll drift along the bottom in a rough surf.

Here is something you should know about.  Eye-glasses can be recycled.  The Lions Club has boxes at various locations where you can leave used eye glasses that they will pick up and recycle.  I dropped the eye-glasses that I found into a box at a local hospital.  They have a web site that tells how they can use your old eye-glasses to provide sight for people in need.  Here are a couple sentences from their web site.

If you have used eyeglasses you no longer need, you can donate them now. Lions accept prescription and reading glasses, sunglasses and plastic and metal frames. Children's glasses are especially needed. 

You can use the following link to learn more about the Lions Club program and how you can donate used eye-glasses to help someone in need.

http://www.lionsclubs.org/EN/how-we-serve/health/sight/index.php

Sometimes the lenses will be scratched up from the sand.  I don't know if they can regrind those or not.  It doesn't matter if the frames are messed up.

I've been asked to help find a lot of things.  One day I was asked by young girl if I could find her dental retainer that she lost in the water.  That is something I knew nothing about.  I asked her if it had metal on it and she said yes, so I gave it a shot but was unsuccessful.

As you know, people also lose coins and jewelry.  I'll talk about some of those some other time and give some additional tips.

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With the beautiful weather and snow-birds in town, there is a good chance you'll be able to find something for someone.

The surf remains around two feet.  There will be a moderate low tide.  The wind is coming out of the east/southeast.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/22/17 Report - Public Service Provided By Detectorists Remains Largely Unknown And Unappreciated. Bigger Surf Coming.

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

We don't do a good job of letting the world know how much of a service that detectorists provide. One of the ways that detectorists provide a public service is by finding and returning lost items.

I woke up last night and was thinking of some of the items that I returned over a brief period when I was doing a lot of hunting a few decades ago.  Here are a few of the examples that came to mind.

There was the young girl that lost her sister's high school ring in about four feet of water.  Her sister didn't know she had the ring and she was in for big trouble if she lost it.  I found it in a short period of time and returned it.

A tourist from another part of the country lost his eye glasses in a few feet of water in front of one of the hotels.   I found his glasses after a short hunt, and he offered to buy me a drink.  Being soaking wet and dressed only for the water, I declined his offer.

There was the high school ring of a young man that was lost in about three feet of water.  He promised twenty dollars to anyone who found it.   I just happened to be wondering through the area shortly after it was lost and saw the people hunting.  I found it and gave it to him, but he made no attempt to deliver on the reward.

There was the nice gem stone ring returned from about a foot of water near the Pompano Pier.  Not so much as a thank you was offered.

The same for a nice gold gem stone ring recovered from a submerged sand bar in front of a hotel.

I've mentioned this one in this blog before.  The fellow that ran the beach concessions in front of one of the major Miami hotels lost a key ring with about twenty keys on it before he opened for business early one morning.  He couldn't run his business without them.  He offered fifty dollars if I would find them.  I found them in the dry sand in a short amount of time and he was back in business.  That was the biggest reward anyone ever offered, and about the only one that I accepted.

That reminds me of the fireman from New York that lost his 20 year ring or something like that from the fire department in front of the same hotel.  I hunted that one for a long time, but never found it.  He gave me his address, and I hunted it a few times after he left town and wrote to tell him that I still didn't find it.

Another one I've mentioned before was on a remote beach outside of Pensacola back before cell phones.  I stopped at this remote beach and an elderly couple and their grandkids were just leaving the beach when they discovered they had lost their car keys. I found them.  There was no one else on that beach, and they could have been stranded a long time if I hadn't found their keys.

I don't tend to remember the ones I spent a lot of time trying to find but never found.  There were a number of those.

There was the gold chain and pendant that I found for the young man that did a handstand in the shallow water.  It was found relatively quickly.

Then there was the gold chain in a lake in Minneapolis that I couldn't find.

Probably the most expensive was a huge diamond engagement ring I found in the dry sand.  I was walking down he beach when a frantic woman stopped me and said she lost an engagement ring and asked me to find it. I found it after a short hunt I walked off into the sunset as they celebrated.

Other than the fifty dollars, the only other reward I recieved was when I found a nice emerald ring that a nice young lady lost in a couple of feet of water.  After presenting the ring to her, she ran up and got something and ran back down into the water and stuffed a twenty in my pocket and ran off again before I could give it back.

 The list goes on and on.  Those are just a few that came to mind last night.

If it wasn't for detectorists I dare say hundreds of thousands of cherished lost items would still be lost.  From the number that I personally remember returning from that one brief period of time that I was thinking about last night, I can only assume that the total number of items returned by detectorists must run at least into the hundreds of thousands and probably more if you think of the decades that this has been going on.

We should publicize returned items more.  Any park ranger or government official that is against metal detecting would quickly change his mind if his wife lost her engagement ring or family heirloom.  Then it might hit home.

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Warren D. has sent in reports of nice returned finds that he has made.  I'd like to see more or that kind of thing from others.

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There are other services that detectorists render as well.  Detectorists work with archaeologists and police, uncover bombs and dangerous items on the beach, return coins to circulation as well as precious metals and other items, and  remove trash.

I have no idea how much the return of coins to circulation saves the country, but I'll bet the amount is very large.


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Warren D. alerted me to the upcoming Marx lecture.


Sir Robert Marx lecture


Tuesday, March 28, 2017


7:00 PM - 8:00 PM (ET)


Gleason Performing Arts Center


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The surf today tomorrow and Friday is supposed to be up to something like 5 - 7 feet.  Unfortunately the tides will be fairly flat.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net