3/27/19 Report - Seven to Eleven Foot Surf Predicted. Notes On Identifying Fake Coins: One Example. An Inexpensive Handy Scale.

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

Surf and Wind Predictions.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

It has been quite a while since we had an eleven foot surf, but the current prediction is for a seven to eleven foot surf.

That is definitely enough to improve beach hunting conditions if other factors are favorable.  It looks like the wind will be from the north later today and into tomorrow.

Dale J. subscribes to a hurricane weather service and received this forecast for Wednesday.

Wind direction will be North-Northeast to Northeast at 20-35 knots starting on Wednesday afternoon and continuing through Wednesday night and Thursday.  Winds on Friday look to shift to a more East-Northeast direction and gradually diminish to 10-20 knots.

Thanks Dale.

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Dan B. sent me a link to the CoinCommunity forum, which had photos of what appeared to me to be the same mounted coin that I showed in this blog a couple days ago.  While I never feel comfortable making judgements about finds from photos alone, the photos that were posted on the other site seemed a little better than the ones I had, and those other photos seemed to show what I thought could be evidence that the coin was made in a mold, which, if true, means that it is probably a reproduction.

Enlargement Of The Photo Shown On The Coin Community Web Site.

The photo appears to show suspicious raised areas.  If I am seeing what I think I am, I would think that the coin was made with a mold rather than struck.  Pictures can be tricky - especially the lighting and reflections.

You can't get true depth perception from a two-dimensional photo, and you obviously can't hold the coin to get a feel for it or inspect it at different angles.

Mounted coins present additional complications.  The mounting hides the edges, for example.  A mounting can also hide other markings, such as a "COPY" mark.  And you can not weigh the coin.

Reproduction coins are often made for jewelry and some are made from shipwreck recovered silver and sold mounted.  

Maybe a numismatic expert such as Ernie R. will be kind enough to confirm or disconfirm my suspicions. 

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On a related subject, I purchased a nice little scale at Harbor Freight for under $10 that is supposed to measure accurately to the tenth of a gram.  It can weigh in grams, oz., troy oz, dwt., and more.  It has features that I haven't yet explored.

It is useful for weighing coins, nuggets and other small  items.  If you think a coin is on the wrong planchet or made of the wrong type of metal, weigh it.

Handy Little Scale.

The scale has a nice compact cover and you can easily slip it into a shirt pocket. I've already found it very handy.

One way to tell if a coin is made of one metal or another is to weigh it.  If you want to test that, weigh a zinc penny and a copper penny.  The zinc penny will weigh less.

You can easily find online the proper weight for various coins, although there will be small acceptable tolerances.

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I'm eager to see how the surf shapes up the next couple of days and what happens to the beaches.  It is always interesting.

Cooler air is already starting to arrive on the Treasure Coast.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

  

5/18/14 Report - Carpet of Treasure and Rare Windows of Opportunity & Poll Results and Conclusions

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

There is an old saying that goes make hay when the son shines.  That makes an important point for metal detecting.   There are times when the window of opportunity opens and the conditions are just right and there is treasure everywhere.  The thing to know is that the same window of opportunity can slam shut just as quickly as it opened.  The window can slam shut in hours or even minutes.

I posted what Clint L. told about one of those times when there was a carpet of treasure in my 5/7/14 post.  He told about when the long shore currents uncovered hundreds of coins.  If you haven't been lucky enough to stumble onto one of those rare events, you might find it hard to believe.  I understand that, but there are times like Clint described, rare as they are, when it seems there are more targets than you can dig.  That is how thick the targets can be.

In my years I've run into about a half dozen times when there were so many targets that I couldn't recover them in a few hours.  I've told about at least one of those times when in a four hour period I picked up over twenty dollars in face value of quarters alone.  That doesn't count other coins or targets.  That was in the shallow water and I quit after four hours and came back the next day and worked the same area again for four hours with very similar results. 

It all came to an end though when I was working the water the second day and as I got ready to quit for the day, even though I was far from cleaning it all out, and the sky got dark, the wind changed, the waves picked up, and that changed everything.  When I returned the next day, it was all gone.  The carpet of targets had disappeared.  That is the way it works some times.

When I told the guy that made my detector, he said I shouldn't have quit until I got it all.  He was right.

There was much more to be found.  What I should have done is worked as fast as I could as long as I could until it was cleaned out.  I only put in two four-hour days, and I knew there was a lot left.  I know I didn't get near half of it.   I should have dug as fast as I could and worked as long as I could until it was cleaned out or the window closed.   I shouldn't have been so casual.  I should have known that the window of opportunity would close, and it did - way before I had picked up anywhere near all the targets.

That is the lesson I learned and want to pass along today.   There are those rare opportunities.  They might only come along every few years, but they do happen, and when they happen you need to be ready to make the most of it. 

Those rare events don't always come after a hurricane or big storm.  The one I just described above was not after a big storm.  That is something to remember.

Some of those that I've seen have been after hurricanes though.

I'd say I've encountered about six of those rare events over about thirty years.   Some are bigger and better than others, but it is truly something to experience when it does happen.

The carpet of targets that I just described I had pretty much to myself too.  I didn't see anyone else working that area at the time.  There was a big cut, but it wasn't the biggest cut I'd ever seen by far, but it was in the right place, and the results were amazing.  You seldom see a carpet of targets where the targets are so thick that you are temped to quit detecting and start scooping, but you need to realize that it does happen and it can all disappear as quickly as it appeared.

The thing that gives you the best chance of discovering one of those rare events, is being in the field a lot.  The more you are out there the better your chances will be.  You also need to be very aware of beach conditions.  That will help you to make the most of your time and give you the best chance of hitting those rare events.  That is one reason I do this blog.  If you keep on top of conditions as much as possible, you will be able to pick your times more effectively and be in the best position to be there when the window of opportunity opens.



The most recent poll has concluded and the results are in.

The most obvious thing is that for the first half of 2014, the most favorite find for most people has been modern jewelry (42%).   That isn't at all surprising given that we haven't had good beach conditions for finding older things. 

One thing you have to remember about my polls is that some people who live and detect outside of the Treasure Coast and Florida are included.

The second most favorite find this year has been US coins (19%).  I've shown some nice coins that have been dug this year.

Third was the "other" category (16%) which can include anything that isn't listed, such as foreign coins other than treasure coins, tokens, etc. etc. 

Next were US relics or artifacts.  I've posted some of those this year too.  A previous blog poll showed that a good number of readers have been working inland sites. 

Only two people reported finding a treasure coin as their favorite find, and two a shipwreck artifact as their favorite find this year.

One of the things I am most interested in looking at when I conduct a poll on finds, is how my beach conditions ratings match the finds that are made.  This poll seems to me to validate my beach conditions ratings.  The beach conditions ratings in 2014 so far have mostly been "poor."  Since the ratings are meant to give an idea of the chances of finding old treasure coins and artifacts, they seem to have been fairly accurate.  Conditions have routinely been poor and there have been few of that type of find.

I did a poll back after Sandy, and then we saw that good numbers of treasure items were found in a relatively short period of time -  much more than have been found all of this year.  Again, that supports my ratings, which were up to at least a 3 for a good number of days during and after Sandy.

Overall, I think the poll was very helpful and generally supported what I have been saying in this blog.  I'm pleased with the extent to which my conditions ratings are reflected in reported finds.  I'm still working to further refine my beach conditions rating system.  

You probably realize that when I don't post a beach conditions rating, that means that there is no significant change.  I get tired of posting "poor" ratings for weeks on end, and that has been how it has been this year.  If I see that there is sufficient reason to post an upgrade, I'll certainly do that.


The one thing I'm watching right now is the predicted six foot surf for Monday and Tuesday.  The high tides are still pretty high too.  The only problem is the predicted wind and surf direction, which I wish was going to be more from the North.


I noticed that the blog hit counter now shows over 3/4 million hits.

At the end of this post are the raw poll results.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Modern jewelry.	33 (42%)
US coin.	15 (19%)
Shipwreck cob or treasure coin.	2 (2%)
Spanish shipwreck artifact.	2 (2%)
US relic or artifact	9 (11%)
Non-metallic find.	4 (5%)
Other	13 (16%)

8/3/11 Report - Emily and the Beach Detecting Conditions Scale

Emily Forecast.

If you compare this track with the one I showed yesterday you will notice that the track is now a little farther to the east and only the East Coast of Florida is now in the cone.

If this track is correct, that would put the center of the storm over the Bahamas, quite a few miles away. They do show it turning into a hurricane, but not until it is much farther north.

The wind is now from the northwest and the waves, what there are of them, are coming in directly from the east.

The surf web sites are now, once again, predicting an increase in waves for this weekend, but not peaking until Sunday.

They are not predicting the eight foot seas that were predicted earlier this week. They often predict high waves and then back off as the time approaches. I've talked about that a lot in the past. I think their models have a systematic error.

Anyway, if the surf web sites are right this time, we'll be getting 3.5 foot seas on Saturday and 4 foot seas on Sunday. That isn't nearly what they originally predicted, but it still could produce some erosion if the waves hit the beach at the right angle.

It is worth watching. You never know. Things could still change very significantly.



AFTERNOON UPDATE

THE SURF WEF SITES ARE NOW PREDICTING SIX FOOT SEAS ON SUNDAY. THAT SOUNDS A LITTLE MORE PROMISING.



I haven't been giving daily beach conditions ratings lately. Things haven't changed enough to bother. I'd be getting tired of issuing "1" ratings everyday. But since I haven't even referred to my rating scale much lately and with the possibility of some new storms coming during the hurricane season, it is probably a good time for me to go over my scale for those of you who haven't been reading this blog since I last explained it.


First I refer to my scale as the Treasure Beach Detecting Conditions Scale (TBDCS)* . It is a five point scale indicating how good conditions are for finding old shipwreck treasure cobs or coins on a beach. When referred to in this blog, I am usually talking about the Treasure Coast treasure beaches and refer to the scale as the Treasure Coast TBDCS.

The scale describes current conditions for finding old treasure cobs or coins, but also includes other small items composed of precious metals, such as shipwreck jewelry. The scale does NOT provide an estimate of the probability of finding other types of items, such as those made of other materials, such as iron, glass, pottery, wood, etc.

The beach detecting conditions rating is always specific to a geographic area. The Treasure Coast is just one example.

When applied to a particular location, the scale will usually be preceded by the name of the area for which it is being used, such as the Florida Panhandle or Florida Keys.

Using the TBDCS, a rating of "1" indicates poor conditions, "2" indicates fair conditions, "3" good conditions, "4" very good, and "5" excellent.

Poor conditions are defined as virtually no cuts or erosion, with building beaches and mushy sand extending east into the water. When I say virtually no cuts or erosion, there can be small (less than one foot high) superficial scattered cuts on some beach fronts.

Fair conditions and a "2" rating means that there is some scattered cuts or erosion confined to the front beach areas, usually three feet or less and only found on some of the beaches.

Good conditions and a "3" rating indicates extensive three foot or greater cuts cutting back into the middle beach area either on several beaches or very extensively on one or more well known treasure beaches.

Very good conditions and a "4" rating indicates three foot or greater cuts moving far back into the middle beach often with some water hitting the back dunes and possibly some slight erosion of the back beach or dune areas in a few areas.

Excellent conditions and a "5" rating indicates extensive movement of sand from both the front beach and middle beach with significant erosion of the back beach or dunes at many areas.

The above descriptions are general and an represent an average. As you probably know, one beach can be very cut while another builds. I average conditions, weighing the primary treasure sites most heavily. There can be site-specific special situations in which one site is considerably different than the others, but that can affect the overall rating.

The rating scale can be used to rate other beaches that are not shipwreck treasure beaches. In that case the scale is different because it takes a lot less to open the door to modern treasures.

When the scale is used to describe beaches where the primary target is not shipwreck treasure, the "Treasure" is dropped from the name of the scale. It is then simply the Beach Detecting Conditions Scale (BDCS).

I'll describe the modifications to the scale for coin and jewelry hunting some other time.

NOTE: Treasure Beach Detecting Conditions Scale and TBDCS are trade marked, as are Beach Detecting Conditions Scale and BDCS.


Gold is over $1670 per ounce today and seems to be heading for $1700.


I'll keep watching Emily.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net