7/3/20 Report - EXCITING Gold Find Made on Douglas Beach Wreck. Biker Ring Find. Lessons From Liquefaction and Water Lenses.

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

Gold Pelican of Piety Artifact
Found by Captain Bonnie Schubert

If you've been reading this blog very long you might remember reading Laura Strolia's research concerning the Pelican of Piety artifact that was found by Captain Bonnie Schubert on the Douglas Beach wreck site in 2010.  As you can see from the photo above, it was missing a wing.  Well, ten years later, in 2020, Captain Henry Jones and 1st mate Tracy Newman along with Brian Fisher working on the M/V Perfect Day, found the missing wing, along with an attached segment of chain and connecting ring.

Missing Wing Found by Captain Jones and Crew of M/V Perfect Day.

Queens Jewels LLC Photo submitted by Captain Jonah Martinez.

Thanks to Captain Jonah for sending me this news.

For Laura Strolia's research and interpretation of the Pelican of Piety artifact, see the following web site.

 https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2012/11/11412-more-revealed-on-pelican-in-piety.html 

If you want to read more about the Pelican of Piety artifact, use the search box and do a search of this blog.



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Alberto S. found this stainless steel biker ring about 10 inches deep.

Stainless Steel Biker Ring

Find and Photo by Alberto S.

Alberto also said, I also found that the heat was unbearable, good thing I carried some water with me, 2 bottles which was not good enough for a 2 hour hunt. 

If you are working out on the beach these days, be sure to take water along with you.

Thanks for sharing Alberto.

---

People talk about the sun coming up or going down.  That is how they see it.  There is nothing wrong with describing it that way - unless you really want understand or describe what is really going on.  In that case, you might want to talk about how the earth moves relative to the sun.

For a long time I've been trying to move the discussion away from objects sinking in the sand.  They do sink, at times, but it is not like an item at rest will be drawn by the force of gravity alone to lower levels, which is how I would picture objects described as sinking.  It has a lot to do with the movement of the sand, which might to the eye seem relatively stationary.

The sand can move in a very obvious or very subtle way.  Sometimes it is easy to see it moving and sometimes not so much.

As you can see from the above illustration, which really gives a good description of one way that items are sorted and resorted in wet sand, resulting in stratification of layers with successive waves of pore pressure changes.

I'll leave it at that for today.  I've been trying to put together a good description of how items become stratified (you might say sink) in wet sand, but it is fairly complex and I'm going to have to invent my own descriptions and illustrations.  None of the experiments that I've seen take into account forces such as crashing waves, which is critical in many cases. That is just one of several important factors.  A crashing wave, like the passing waves shown in the above illustration, changes the pore pressure between grains.  Think about how a pressure hose can be use to set a dock pier.  The hose creates turbulence and separates grains to create a hole into which the pier can be set.

Anyhow, I'll try to elaborate on that more in future posts.

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The surf is really flat on the Treasure Coast and there are no signs of storms forming.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/20/20 Report - Some History of Treasure Coast Treasure Hunting: Bruce Ward. Bigger Surf Coming.

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

January 1965 Issue of Argosy Magazine Containing Story of Bruce Ward's Treasure

Submitted by JaminJackUSA.

If you are interested in the history of treasure hunting on the Treasure Coast you might want to find a library copy of the January 1965 issue of Argosy Magazine.  

Several days ago I posted a nice four-reale that was purchased by JaminJack from the estate auction of Bruce Ward.  Jack sent me a copy of the Argosy article as background on the adventures of Mr. Ward.  The article describes Ward's big find, which was made in 1964, early in the history of modern Treasure Coast treasure salvage, and at a time when the Real Eight Corporation and a variety of other smaller and less documented treasure hunters were working along the Treasure Coast.  This is the type of article that no Treasure Coast treasure hunter will want to miss.

Photo Appearing in January 1965 Argosy Magazine.

Submitted to TBR by JaminJack.

Bruce accumulated a lot of treasure, which he did not sell because he planned to make start a museum.

Here is a photo of a homemade dive platform that he created and used until he upgraded.

Photo of Homemade Dive Raft Shown in January, 1965 Argosy Magazine.

Sent to TreasureGuide by JaminJack.

And here is his salvage boat, the DeeGee.

The DeeGee Salvage Boat.

Source: Jan. 1965 Argosy Magazine.

Thanks JaminJack.

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I was working in the yard this morning when I noticed that the wind had changed direction.  It is now coming more from the north, and it feels like a bit of a cool front came through, so it was not surprised when I looked at the surf predictions and saw that the surf will be increasing.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Looks like maybe up to a ten feet surf by Wednesday.  And some north winds before that.

That is a big enough surf to move some sand.  I just wish the wind kept coming from a northerly direction for a longer time.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

7/17/19 Report - Salvage Boats At Work. Difficulties of Determining Age of Dug Items. History of Swastika.

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

Salvage Boat Near Treasure Shores Beach Yesterday.

I received the above photo and following message from Gaylen C.

Attached is a photo (sorry didn't have camera, just phone) of the "C-7" just a little south of Treasure Shores beach park. Another larger boat was working just to the north. Looked like they were just scanning the bottom on the boat's console. In 2 hours they never dropped the prop blaster, and neither of the 2 on board ever went in the water. They did relocate once just about 50 yds more to the south. The northern boat appeared to have 2 divers down at one time... 

Thanks Gaylen.

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I've been thinking how the age of items can be determined.  It can be very tricky.  I always remember the case when archaeologists thought they found an old pipe in a slave quarters, and it turned out to be a Cracker Jack prize.  (There was a time when the prize in the box was much nicer than in recent years.) But if trained professionals make that kind of mistake in a scientific dig, that tells you how cautious you have to be.

There are basically two kinds of mistakes I am concerned with when it comes to that kind of thing.  You can think that it is old or significant when it is not, or you can think that it is not old or not significant and it really is.  Of the two, I rather make the first type of mistake.  If you think it might be significant, you will probably keep it and take care of it until you find out that you were mistaken.  On the other hand, if you think an item is junk when it is not, you might lose it, let it get broken or throw it away, and then discover your mistake when it is too late to undo the damage.

When you know that you don't know, you should probably keep the item and research it until you  know what it is and what you should do with it, that isn't nearly as bad as thinking the item is junk and not learning about it until after the damage is done.  Somebody recently gave the advice, "If in doubt, don't throw it out."  That is good advice.

The first time I found musket balls, I thought they must be old because they were musket balls.  That was my conclusion, but I'm now convinced I was wrong.  

I found the musket balls on Key Biscayne, probably not more than fifty yards from the old lighthouse.  You probably know that the Seminoles attacked the lighthouse in 1836.  So in addition to the musket balls more often being associated with the past, the specific history of the area also provided support for the possibility of old musket balls being found in the area.

(Here is link you can use to read about the 1836 Seminole attack on the lighthouse.

http://www.floridahistorynetwork.com/july-23-1836---cape-florida-lighthouse-attacked-by-seminoles.html)

After a while, but I don't know for sure how long it was, I decided those musket balls were not old at all. By that time I had found more musket balls and had become familiar with the typical patina of weathered musket balls. The musket balls I found on Key Biscayne didn't look the same as those other musket balls.  They didn't have the same oxidized patina.

That is an example of one kind of error.  I thought that the items were old when they were not.  It wasn't a disastrous mistake because I kept the items until I learned more about them and realized that they weren't old.

One thing to remember is things that were made many decades or centuries ago are still often made today.  People still make musket balls and use them.  Maybe you've seen battle reenactments where newly created musket balls were used.  You can buy the molds and make your own today.  In fact you can buy reproduction parts to put together your own complete working musket.  Take a look at the Dixie Gun Works catalog, for example.  You can get almost anything to go along with the musket too, including hand forged knife blades or period costumes.

Take a look at the Mel Fisher store and you'll see reproductions of old shipwreck recovered items.  Some are even made of salvaged silver or gold.  I think I've found at least one of those.

And then there are items that were made very similarly for centuries.  The Claddagh ring is one example.  A Claddagh ring from the 17th century can look almost exactly like one made today.  A simple gold band or gold cross made centuries ago might look like very much like those made today. In cases like that there are other things that might help you tell the difference.  I hope to get into that more in the near future.

I've made both kinds of error.  There were finds that I didn't recognize as significant, old, or interesting, and as a result, they were not taken care of properly.  It isn't good when you realize that you didn't properly value or appreciate an item until after it has been damaged or lost.  Again, it is best to treat all unknown items as if they were significant until you find out otherwise.  It is a process.

I plan to make an informal checklist of things that should can be or should be considered to determine if an item is old or not.  As I said, that is very tricky business, and some factors might be pointing one direction while other considerations are suggesting another conclusion.  Hopefully the exercise of thinking it through will be worthwhile.  I think it will. 

---

The Swastika Across Times and Cultures.


There are symbols or designs that are near universal across cultures and time periods. When you see a swastika, you might think of World War II or Nazis, but the swastika, like numerous other designs and symbols, has a long history and was used by many different cultures.

… For the Hindus and Buddhists in India and other Asian countries, the swastika was an important symbol for many thousands of years and, to this day, the symbol can still be seen in abundance - on temples, buses, taxis, and on the cover of books. It was also used in Ancient Greece and Rome, and can be found in the remains of the ancient city of Troy, which existed 4,000 years ago. The ancient Druids and the Celts also used the symbol, reflected in many artifacts that have been discovered. It was used by Nordic tribes, and even early Christians used the Swastika as one of their symbols, including the Teutonic Knights, a German medieval military order, which became a purely religious Catholic Order...

The word ‘swastika’ is a Sanskrit word (‘svasktika’) meaning ‘It is’, ‘Well Being’, ‘Good Existence, and ‘Good Luck’. However, it is also known by different names in different countries - like ‘Wan’ in China, ‘Manji’ in Japan, ‘Fylfot’ in England, ‘Hakenkreuz’ in Germany and ‘Tetraskelion’ or ‘Tetragammadion’ in Greece...

Here is the link for more about the swastika.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/symbol-swastika-and-its-12000-year-old-history-001312

The swastika provides one example of how tempting it can be to jump to conclusions and ignore many other possibilities.  Of course, other factors should be considered.

----

Very little increase in the surf is predicted for the next week or so, and there is no new significant storm activity right now.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/13/19 Report - New 1715 Fleet Finds Being Made. Mystery Button for ID. Putting the Puzzle Together. Tropical Storm.

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

Crew of the Bottomline Salvage Vessel 

Finding Treasure Off The Treasure Coast.

I got a couple photos of brand new 1715 Fleet finds from Captain Jonah Martinez.  Jonah is working on the Bottomline this year.  Here is an eight and some four-reales that they've found.

Reales Recently Found by Crew of the Bottomline.

Congratulations!

Thanks Jonah.

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Here is a two piece button bearing a lion and crown.  I'd like help if anyone can identify it.

Unidentified Two Piece Button Find.

The back of this button is missing, but the front is in good condition.

It is just a little less than 3/4 an inch across.

Any help is appreciated.

---

Putting Together the Pieces of the Puzzle.

Yesterday I showed what I think is a piece of soldier art.  That is one piece of a puzzle.  I think it is a very interesting piece, but yet it is only one piece.

The puzzle is of one place and time in history.  A lot of the pieces are there.  I showed the island, the landscape, the fort, where the cannon were, and some of the other things found there, including some buttons that tell us some of the regiments that were there.

On the island you can still see some of the stone walls where the parts of old buildings still stand.  You can see the paths that were undoubtedly the same paths used hundreds of years ago.  And we can read much of the history of the island, including about the battle.

That is a land site that hasn't changed much.  Relics can be found at about the same place where they were dropped.  That is one of the advantages of land sites that haven't been much disturbed.

Putting it all together you get a pretty good picture of that one time and place in history. There is layering.  One era rests on another.  There were the times long before when the indigenous populations used the island, and there were times later.  The different time periods are like individual picture puzzles that have to be put together, each one on top of the other.  \

On Pigeon Island, the late 1700s is the most evident time period.  Many of  the large pieces are still there, including some of the buildings and forts, but there are pieces of puzzles from other time periods still there as well.

Occasionally a piece of the puzzle from one era will get mixed in with the pieces of another.  That happens at some places more than others, like on the side of a steep slope where erosion occurs and things fall towards the sea, but there are a lot of pieces from that one period that you can put together to form a pretty good picture.  That is the way it is with some land sites, but it is much more difficult on a constantly changing beach.

---

The topics are getting active, and it is time to start keeping a close eye on the weather.  We might get a storm that produces some nice erosion, and you want to be ready for that.

We have had so much flat surf, and it is continuing for now, but the systems are beginning to come off of Africa.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

You can see Barry down by Louisiana.  The yellow system will probably fizzle out by the time it gets into the Caribbean, but you can't say for sure yet, and there will be other systems developing out there.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/12/19 Report - South Hutchinson Island Beaches. Salvage Activity. Mystery Item. Old Fig Syrup Bottle.

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

John Brooks Beach This Morning.

I went out to the beach this morning.  It looked like a summer beach.  Sand is accumulating and the water was near flat.  Very nice, but hot.

Most beaches looked the same.  I didn't bother to photograph Frederick Douglass.

South of Blind Creek.

South of Blind Creek it looked like someone had been blowing holes near shore (above) so I took this photo.  Just a short while later a small boat with a mailbox showed up and parked north of the Power Plant.

I did a little beach metal detecting and was surprised by the number of modern coins found.   That was the first time I'd done any detecting for a while.

I also picked up a few of those tent stakes.  I'm glad to have them because I use them to stake Christmas decorations.  I'm always glad to get something useful at the beach.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Park This Morning.

There were a lot of new turtle nests.

---

Changing channels I ran across one of the Curse TV programs last night - Curse of Civil War Gold.  I managed to watch it for a few minutes before they started with the same old stuff - making random bits of rusty junk out to be kin to the Holy Grail and putting very dubious dates on items.
---

Joe R. said, I picked up $100 in rolled quarters today and found four with the "W" mint mark.

Neat!

---

Old Iron Mystery Object.

 I posted this one some time back and got some answers, but am not sure yet, so put it out there for any additional opinions.

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Cracked California Fig Syrup Company Bottle.

If you find any old bottles with small cracks, it seems sitting around in the Florida heat can make the cracks grow.  That happened to his bottle.

The California Fig Co. opened at Reno, Nevada, in 1878, selling its only product, Syrup of Figs.  The firm had a rocky beginning, reorganizing twice before it achieved success with the final 1897 corporation.  The Sterling Remedy Co. purchased the California Fig Co. in 1912, and it remains in business to the present.  California Fig packaged its products in a total of six different embossed bottles as well as at least one variation used in England.  In addition, the different incarnations of the firm used generic bottles with paper labels both before and after the adoption of the embossed containers – an apparently common phenomenon in remedies successful enough to remain popular from the 1870s to the 20th century...

The above bottle appears to me to be post-1917.

Here is a link for more about that.

https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/CaliforniaFigSyrup.pdf

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/6/19 Report - Salvage In Process. Scoop Assist Handles. Odd Find. Million Dollar Chess Piece.

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

Here are two salvage vessels DJ photographed working off Turtle Trail.  Thanks Dale.

Thanks DJ.

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E. From Weathervane.
Find and photo by John E.

John E. said, Never ceases to amaze me what you can find on a beach...... about 10 inches down, aluminum .

That is for sure. There are a lot of surprises out there.

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Scoop Assist Handles
Submitted by Warren d.

Warren D. said, This type of handle gives you easier control of a full scoop of sand to tilt, sift, lift the sand and move the target back into the bucket.

Thanks Warren.

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$1.3 million Chess Piece
Source: See CNN link below.

When an antiques dealer in Scotland bought an ivory chessman for £5 ($6) in 1964, he probably had no inkling that he had taken possession of one of the most famous chess pieces in the world.

Stored in a drawer for 55 years, the Lewis Warder, as the piece is known, could now fetch up to £1 million ($1.3 million) at auction after the late owner's family took it to Sotheby's auction house in London for assessment...

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/lost-lewis-chessman-scli-intl/index.html

Thanks to DJ again.

---

You can see the calm seas in the photo at the top of the post.

75th Anniversary of D-Day.

Happy hunting
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/3/15 Report - Super Moon Reshapes Beach. Salvage Boat At Work. EMDM Story. Vintage Lures.

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

Treasure Coast Beach This Morning Near Low Tide

I found a beach this morning that had really been reshaped by the Super Moon tides.  Sand had been washed down from higher up on the beach and into the water.  Then it was washed back up onto the front of the beach.

The sand now extended out much farther into the water than before.  The sand that was washed in shows as darker in the above photo.  That sand extends out into the water a good distance.  Previously there was a drop off near the water's edge but that is now filled with sand.

Maybe this will make it a little clearer.  A lot of sand was dragged out into the water (blue arrow), and then some of it washed back up onto the front of the beach (orange arrow).  The sand that washed back up stopped about where the arrow stops, and you can see the change in the color of the sand.

There were some shells to be found and sea glass and small fossil bits.  There were no good metal targets on the front beach where the sand washed back in, just a few thin aluminum pieces.

The water was bath tub flat this morning.

Salvage Vessel At the Nieves Site This Morning.

---

I first mentioned the Enviromental Metal Detecting Movement (EMDM) a few weeks ago.  At the time it seemed like there was no response and no interest.  A few weeks later I received an email from someone on the topic.  It now seems that it is catching on and gaining momentum.

I just received the following email from Larry.

Regarding EMDM stories, here's one that fits the bill I think.

I guess there's something about a guy swinging a metal detector on the beach that makes people think you are the one they should hand the hazardous floating object with 9 sharp hooks to. 

Makes sense to me. 

I looked up from the sand to see a middle-aged woman in a conservative black one piece swim suit emerge from the waves heading in my direction, and she's gingerly holding onto a diving plug with 3 treble hooks and a length of broken mono.

She walked right up to me and handed me the lure, which I gingerly lifted from her fingertips. I thanked her. She smiled and she and her husband continued up the beach to their umbrella.

Here's a case of just regular folk identifying me, an anonymous metal detectorist that she knew from Adam, as an EMDM figure. It just goes to show you that the MD image in the public mind may be more positive than we think, and it may just be that they see us as performing a sort of volunteer adjunct safety and sanitation service. If I were wearing an EMDM t-shirt, how much more jetsam and flotsam might I attract from the general public?

Later, with a magnifier lense I read on the plug's lip "Pflueger Mustang." I noticed that it's in pretty good condition. I knew that Pfleuger stuff can be worth a few bucks so I looked it up on ebay. Turns out its a vintage collectible lure, and recent sales  had ranged from $15 to $35.

Some kid probably didn't realize dad's old plug was a collectible. Thanks, kid. And thank you, ma'am.

Thanks for sharing Larry.

---

I've often suggested keeping your eyes open for all kinds of things and being familiar with a wide variety of types of objects and collectibles.  You never know what you might find.

I've accumulated a lot of fishing lures, bobbers, sinkers, etc.  Most were found without a detector.  A very few are old enough to be vintage collectibles.  The others I use.  That way I get to try out different types of lures that I would never buy. Often I put new hooks on them, but otherwise they work fine.

I always look for wood lures and bobbers, but don't find many.  They generally don't hold up well if they've been lost a long time.  I found one that is made of a plastic that glows in the dark.  It is very much like the old vintage glowing plastic ice cycle Christmas tree decorations.  I doubt if most of you remember those.

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Expect smooth seas this weekend, and poor beach detecting conditions along the Treasure Coast.

Fred is still out there, and not coming any way near us.  There is one other disturbance coming off of Africa.  Nothing for us to be concerned about yet.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/5/15 Report - Salvage Boat At Work. Little Surf and Beaches Still Sanded. Gold Disc and Emerald Cross.

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

Salvage Boat Near The Nieves Wreck Site This Morning.

Just over a week ago, on the 27th to be exact, I posted about a bunch of treasure including a great 8-escudo royal recently found by a salvage crew on the Treasure Coast.  After seeing pictures of the finds, I thought I probably knew where they came from.  Well I was down that way today and took a look.  The thing that surprised me was that the salvage boat was exactly where I thought they would be.

Here is a closer view.

Salvage Boat This Morning Near The Nieves Wreck Site.

You can see the blowers are up.

While the salvage crews are having some of the best hunting they've had since back in the eighties, the beaches are about as bad as I can ever remember.  It just has been a really long time since we've had anything to move the beach sand.

Here is Walton Rocks Beach As Seen This Morning.

Walton Rocks is pretty typical of what you will see on the Treasure Coast.  Big wide flat beach fronts.

John Brooks Beach This Morning.

John Brooks is a little steeper on the front beach.  The sand is more coarse.  Mushy.

Detectorist Out For A Morning Hunt by Fort Pierce Jetty.

There were about as many detectorists as beach goers this morning.  Not many targets on the heavily hunted beaches.  Poor conditions too.

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Really Nice 82+ Ounce Gold Disc Up For Bids In Mel And Deo Fisher Collection Auction.

If you've been watching the auction, this gold disc has a bid of $60,000 already.

The gold and emerald cross that I showed the other day has eleven bids already.  The current bid is $70,000.  I think that item has the most bids of any item in the auction.  No doubt the post helped.

Here is the link again.

http://www.invaluable.com/catalog/searchLots.cfm?scp=c&catalogRef=LCOZ5LM9LU

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KT wrote and sent this link.

http://www.lostmystuff.net/index.php

It is a site where people can post about lost items. Volunteer detectorists in the area will then go and hunt for the lost items.

KT also said, keep up the good work on the blog. as a landlocked geologist, i have really enjoyed your discussions of classification and attendant diagrams. took me back to my college days. if you havent already, you might want to study up on how crossbedding is formed in rocks. its basically size/density and migration of small geophysical structures. kinda gives you a 3D mental picture of how stuff is moving.

Thanks KT

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Keep watching for the latest Treasure Coast 1715 Fleet Finds.

You can see from the photos what the beach detecting conditions are like.  

Expect several more days of one or two foot surf.

I can't wait to see something that stirs up the beaches.  It has to happen someday before long.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net