11/24/19 Report - Viking Hoard Stolen by Detectorists Mostly Still Missing. The Grandissimes by George Cable. Time to Consign.

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

Part of Viking Hoard Stolen by Detectorists.

Two metal detectorists stole a £3m Viking hoard that experts say has the potential to "rewrite history".

George Powell and Layton Davies dug up about 300 coins in a field in Eye, near Leominster, Herefordshire, in 2015.

They did not declare the 1,100-year-old find, said to be one of the biggest to date, and instead sold it to dealers.

They were convicted of theft and concealing their find. Coin sellers Simon Wicks and Paul Wells were also convicted on the concealment charge.

Here is the link for more about that.  (Thanks to William K for the link.)


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-50461860


I hope you'll read the rest of the article, but today I wanted to comment on some of the statements and issues raised by in the article.

First and foremost, I want to say that the dectectorists made the wrong decision by deciding to conceal their find and sell it for whatever they could get on the market.  They did the wrong thing and will pay the price.  Their actions also hurt the hobby and will give those who are against metal detecting ammunition to blast and additionally regulate the hobby.  The detectorists would have been better off to properly report the find.  They would have been compensated for the objects and would have received additional opportunities and been able to share in the process of discovery and knowledge produced by the finds instead of becoming criminals.

All that said, I believe that the claims made the archaeologists are, as is commonly the case, exaggerated.  Can you really rewrite history based upon a group of related coins like that?  I don't think so.  My standards are more demanding.  Are they absolutely sure about their conclusions?  I believe it would take more than one grouping of coins showing something to which there was previously no evidence.

When you watch the video you will see that they show a lot of pictures of the treasure, including the coins and gold, however the video barely goes into the evidence and conclusions.  Why is that?  Why is the newly rewritten history and the evidence not featured?  I'm afraid the fact is that the "new" knowledge ( if it qualifies as such ) is tenuous at best, being based upon a surprising juxtaposition of two kings on one group of coins - the one king being unknown to the vast majority of the people on this earth.  While the new knowledge might seem monumental to those few people who make their livelihood out of trivia that most others would never encounter in a lifetime, how earth shattering is the conclusion if it is found to be correct?  If this is the only evidence of the newly rewritten history, I'm still skeptical.  I'm sure there are other possible conclusions that should be considered.

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A few days ago I mentioned a book I was reading. I just finished it and highly recommend it to anyone wishing to gain a better understanding of history, culture and the human condition.  The book is The Grandissimes, by George W. Cable.

George Washington Cable was born in 1844 in New Orleans, Louisiana, to George W. Cable, Sr., and Rebecca Boardman Cable; his parents were wealthy slaveholders, members of the Presbyterian Church and of New Orleans society, whose families had moved there after the Louisiana Purchase

In 1880, Cable published his first novel, The Grandissimes, A story of creole life portraying multiracial member and different classes of society in the early 1800s shortly after the Louisianna Purchase. It had first been serialized in Scribner's. The plot follows the adventures and romances of several members of the Grandissime family, a French Creole family with mixed-race members. He used this historical romance as a way to explore society and its racial injustice, as he addressed European Creoles, the mixed-race class, placage, slavery and lynchings, In the same year, the United States Census Bureau commissioned Cable to write a "historical sketch" of pre-Civil War New Orleans for a special section of the 10th United States Census' "Social statistics of cities". He submitted a well-researched 313-page history, which was greatly reduced for publication in 1884.  Source: wikipedia.

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The recently concluded Sedwick auction realized over $2.3 million dollars.

You can now consign for the March 2020 auction.

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Minions.

The impeachment hearings could provide the basis for a new Minion movie in which Sondland, Taylor and Yavonovich join Bob in Revenge of the Minions.

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It is a rainy Sunday morning.  The high tides are nice and high, but the surf is small.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/20/16 Report - Tiny Viking Pendant Found By Detectorist May Rewrite History. Emails From Readers.

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

Small Viking Pendant Found By Detectorist.

NEWSER) – Denmark's Dennis Fabricius Holm got off work early on March 11 and decided to go for a stroll with his metal detector near the town of Aunslev. "Suddenly I hit upon something," he tells national broadcaster DR, per the Local. "Ever since I turned over the clump of earth and saw the cross, I've been unable to think of anything else." Holm had indeed made "an absolutely sensational discovery," says archaeologist Malene Beck of the Ostfyns Museum. The 1.5-inch-tall pendant, complete with gold threads and filigree pellets, features the image of an open-armed man and is almost identical to a silver crucifix found in Sweden, visible here. A release speculates it was worn by a Viking woman. The Independentcalls it "one of the most well preserved Christian artifacts found in Denmark," but its date, AD900 to AD950, is what most intrigues experts.

This tiny Viking pendant found by a deteector hobbyist could rewrite history

Here is the link for the article that will tell you how..

http://www.newser.com/story/222257/this-tiny-viking-pendant-could-rewrite-history.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=foxnews&utm_campaign=rss_science_syn

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Robert H. wanted to clarify about the ring that came up like a penny on the CTX.  He added the following.

The sound came up like a penny on the CTX with that gold ring yesterday but a different number meaning the CTX is pretty accurate when it comes to determining targets. I knew it was going to be something different other than a penny because of the odd number on the ID. If it were the same number as the penny comes up I would have passed it knowing I didn't skip more than a penny. 

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In response to my post on why I dig pennies, Bill P. wrote to say, Copper pennies have close to 2 cents worth of copper in them too, 1982 and older I believe...95% copper. 

That is another good reason.  I always heard that if you watch the pennies the dollars will take care of themselves.  I believe that is true, but it is also a broader statement about taking care of details.  I certainly do understand that if you are hunting modern stuff on a beach where there is a lot of competition, you might need the advantage of  trying to cherry pick the higher value targets.  .  

There are additional reasons I didn't mention.  One is that I can't see detecting the same targets time after time when I visit the same locations.  That won't happen if you are in an area where a lot of people detect, but I don't do that much either.  I tend to find my own holes.   That was my specialty when I was hunting modern stuff.  Believe it or not there are still very productive holes that are in places that are almost never detected.  

Also if I detect an area frequently, I prefer to clean it up.  There is a bit of a environmentalist element to it.  I don't like to leave beaches or other areas littered, and I like the idea of recycling copper,  aluminum or whatever can be recycled.

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P. Bishop wrote and said, After reading your article on 3-15-16, I decided to check some of the targets that nulled ( I was hunting in discriminate mode ) out on my detector. This is what I found when I checked one of the targets, after minimal cleaning, a fully functional lock blade knife. Thanks.

Knife Found By P. Bishop
Photo by P. Bishop.

There are many types of items that will never be correctly identified by a detector unless you dig it up.  This is just  one example.  The artifacts I showed yesterday are other examples.

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IT looks like we'll have something around a two-foot surf on the Treasure Coast for several days.  

I hope to get out on the beach again someday soon.  Haven't been able to get out for a while.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/31/14 Report - Detectorists Correct History Books, Calm Surf On Treasure Coast. Fronts Coming. Gold and Silver Prices.

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

Calm Surf On Treasure Coast This Morning.

We've been having a calm surf lately.  This is what it looked like this morning.  Easy water detecting.  Too much sand though. 

Expect one more day of calm surf and then it will start to build a little.  A couple of fronts will come through, which should mean north winds, and then next week the surf will be a bit rougher, but probably only something like four feet.

The Treasure Coast beaches are poor right now, as they have been nearly all summer.  Most have been heavily hunted too, so you'll need to search for one of the better spots.  If you just visit the most hunted beaches, don't expect much. 

Even though it is Halloween, it is not worth beating a dead horse.  No sense wasting time where there isn't much to be found anyhow.

If you are patient enough you might find something, but there are times to move on and find a better spot.

Don't expect much from the main treasure beaches.  Conditions are poor and most have been hunted to death.

I'm reminded of the 80/20 principle which says that 80 percent of all results in business comes from a mere 20 percent of our efforts.  Much of our efforts are wasted or, at best, are not very productive.

When you go out, you don't have to stick with your first choice.  Be willing to move on to the next spot, and maybe two or three after that.

Feel free to fight the odds and hunt for that rare remaining find on a beach that isn't producing anything if you want to, but it is often a better strategy to move on.   If nothing else, you'll know the condition of two or three beaches instead of just one.   And there is a chance you'll run into one that offers a little more.

After visiting a beach, remember what it was like.  Keep a log (maybe mental) of various beaches and what they are like and watch for any events that might cause a significant change.

And don't forget the option of going off-beach. 

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Gold ended at about $1224 per oz. yesterday.

To the left is a five-year chart.  You can see the peak in the fall of 2012 when the price was nearly $1900 an oz.  That is quite a drop in the last two or three years.

Silver was down 3.7 percent at $16.41 an ounce on Thursday, having earlier hit its lowest level since March 2010 at $16.30 an ounce.



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Detectorists proved the experts wrong and helped rewrite the history books.  The actual battle site was found by detectorists who found the special "armor piercing" bullets used by cavalry during a battle that was fought in 1594. 

Here is the link for more on that story.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-29825787



Find and photo submitted by Jeff C.

Here is a picture of a find sent in by Jeff C.

Looks like a cap badge similar to the one I showed a few days ago.

From the picture I'd guess this one might be silver.


UPDATE: I'll have more comments on this one in my next post.







NOAA isn't showing any tropical activity in our part of the world now.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net