6/1/20 Report - Manila Galleons and Archaeology. Porcelain. Beach Cusps or Scallops.

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

People find blue and white shards on the Treasure Coast 1715 wreck beaches and wonder if they might be Kang Xsi.  I get a lot of questions about that and in the past have posted some information about Kang Xsi, including  tips on identification.  Below are two intact Kang Xsi (various spellings) cups that sold in the recent Sedwick auction for $700 plus buyer's premium.  We usually just find shards on the beach, but they can be worth a little too, especially when attractively mounted.

Here is the Sedwick lot description for the two cups.

Intact blue-on-white Chinese porcelain cup with handle, Kangxi period, ex-HMS Winchester (1695), very rare provenance and condition. 72 grams, 2-1/2" tall and 2-1/8" in diameter. A lovely little piece with nothing missing (the handle manufactured separately and applied or possibly re-applied after glazing), the glaze worn away but with clear flowers in vase on balcony design on exterior, highly desirable as the only intact specimen found on this rare wreck. From the HMS Winchester (1695), with photo-certificate.


I found a good book with a lot of information on Chinese porcelain and the Manila galleons.  The title is Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaports and Early Maritime Globalization, Part II.

That resource contains tons of photos, including the photo below of a wreck still containing a cargo of Chinese porcelain.

Source: Academia.edu link below.

That photo reminds me of the fellow who found a stack of plates recently exposed by new erosion to a wreck beach and didn't pay much attention to them. When he learned they could be valuable, he returned to find them, but couldn't.

During the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, the Spanish navigators established and operated the Manila Galleon maritime route which connected East Asia and New Spain in the American continent. The galleons sailed across the Pacific via the hub seaports and trade centers of Manila in the Philippines and Acapulco in Mexico, forming a prosperous sea route for more than 250 years. This pioneering navigation of pan-Pacific regions promoted early global maritime trade as a new maritime Silk Road between the East and the West...

The Spanish conquest of the Philippines began with the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in March 1521 (Pigafetta 1969). When Magellan was killed in April 27, 1521 by a local chieftain in the island of Mactan by the name of Lapu-lapu, the remaining Spaniards hastily left and went back to Spain. It was not until exactly 44 years after the death of Magellan that another expedition arrived in the Philippines (Cebu) under the command of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, with specific instructions from the King of Spain to find the return route from Manila to New Spain (present day Mexico). The discovery of the tornaviaje or the return journey from Manila to Acapulco by Fray Andres de Urdaneta, Legaspi’s pilot and navigator in 1565 completed the maritime route that was later utilized by the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade (Schurz 1985). The first few galleons left from Cebu until Legaspi transferred his capital to Manila, leaving Cebu in economic disarray (Fajardo 2018). The galleon trade represents one of the earliest manifestations of economic globalization where Asia, the Americas and Europe were linked together through maritime high ways. 

The Galleon trade fostered both economic and cultural exchanges between the Philippines and Mexico, which can be observed up to this day (INQUIRER.net US Bureau 2017). The Manila-Acapulco galleon trade route was operational for 250 years (1565–1815) where merchant ships traversed more than 18,000 km across the Pacific Ocean from Manila to Acapulco and vice versa. At the western terminus, Manila became the world’s premier entrepot during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that linked peoples, cultures and material goods between Asia and the Americas (Schurz 1985; Fish 2011)...

I highly recommend reading this lengthy document.

Here is the link.

https://www.academia.edu/41712660/The_Chinese_Porcelain_from_the_Port_of_San_Blas_Mexico?email_work_card=title

Not only did the Manila galleons distribute items that ended up on the 1715 Fleet and Treasure Coast beaches, but Spanish colonial items also ended up in the ports of Asia.

Source: See academia.edu link above. 

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In the past I received questions about how scallops or cusps are formed on the beach.  Here is an illustration that explains that.

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Gold has been doing well.


The stock market is up this morning, which is really a statement for all of the positive things going on with economy, space exploration and pharmaceutical industry.

The surf is small today but will increase tomorrow.  The wind has already changed.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/1/18 Report - A Look At Some Beaches. Cocoa Beach Hunt. Magic Black Quarters and A Friendly Wave.

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

John Brooks This Morning.

I took a look at a couple beaches on South Hutchinson Island this morning.  I didn't feel any throat irritation from Red Tide.  It was much better today.

Surveying at John Brooks This Morning.

EPA Vehicle At John Brooks.

On arriving I saw an Environmental Protection Agency vehicle in the parking lot.  They were doing a survey.  


The beach was scalloped irregularly.

There were a few cuts.  The biggest cut was in one scallop.  That one (shown above) was about three feet high, but only ran about ten yards.

The sand on the slope was mushy.  I did a quick check and saw no evidence of good targets.

I didn't see any dead fish.

Scallop With Three Foot Cut at John Brooks This Morning.

Beach Front At John Brooks This Morning Around Low Tide.

I also took a look at Frederick Douglass Beach.

Frederick Douglass Beach This Morning Near Low Tide.

Frederick Douglass was very mushy.

I also stopped at Fort Pierce South Jetty just to take a look.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach.

The slope there was very mushy.  I did another quick check and didn't find much.

By the way, those aren't my foot prints.  I took the photo before walking up the beach.

Dan C. sent me this report of his recent outing at Cocoa.

After a month of no hunting I decided to try yesterday since low tide coincided with sunrise-perfect for me.  I parked 200 yards from the beach, and when I got out of the truck, immediately my throat began burning. The closer I walked towards the beach, the worse it got.

I saw many people wearing dust masks or handkerchiefs, although I doubt that would work. I tolerated 3 1/2 hours of detecting but had to give up.

A small cut produced one tiny half inch diameter 14k religious medallion and a few "greenies", but otherwise the beach is not ripe for detecting.

My nostrils were inflamed for hours afterwards and the red tide toxin deposits on my face caused my eyes to burn if I rubbed my eyes. The beach also smelled like a combination of decay and dirty socks.

At least I have something to show for the 1.5 hours of driving and 3.5 hours of hunting, but I would have accepted getting skunked, as is usually the case at that beach. 

Thanks for sharing Dan.

When I stopped at Fort Pierce Jetty I met a fellow that asked if I had any spare change.  It reminded me of one time many years ago that I met a fellow when I arrived at a Fort Lauderdale beach just across from Bahia Mar.  The fellow asked if I could spare any change.  I had been detecting at another beach earlier and had a pocket full of change.  I pulled out about two dollars of black quarters and give those to him.  He said "God helps those who help others."  

I started detecting, and about two steps into the water after turning on my detector got a hit, dug it up - diamond ring.  Not bad.

I continued, maybe three more steps, got a hit - bingo - another diamond ring.

Call it coincidence or a message from God or whatever, it has been probably nearly thirty years and I still remember the experience.

Today I had a single dollar bill in my pocket, and very little change, so I handed the fellow the dollar bill.  I hoped he wasn't going to buy booze or drugs.

I should have given him some of my magic found change, but I didn't have any this morning.  And I found no diamond ring, but there was something better.  There was the absolutely beautiful day and the hope the fellow would be a little better off.

When I left, I was driving down the road and saw the fellow come out of a small store and throw a small wrapper in the trash can.  As I drove by he waved, and so did I.

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Looks like the surf, which isn't big now, will continue to decrease for a few days.

At least it looks like the Red Tide is subsiding.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

10/5/18 Report - Fort Pierce Ring Found and Returned. Movement of Sand and Beach Scalloping. Mining Cremations.

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

Dug Encrusted Object.

The surf has decreased, but that isn't all bad.  While I like to detect while items are being washed out of the bank, the rough surf will make it impossible to detect the entire beach.  When the surf decreases you can get to areas that were impossible to detect when the waves were breaking higher on the beach.  The above encrusted object and a few other encrusted objects were found after the surf decreased a little.

I didn't check all of the beaches, but I think they were pretty much all the same.  There could have been some exceptions, but I didn't see any.  I even took a look at some beach cams, like the one for Jupiter beach, and it looked pretty much the same too.

Jupiter Beach Cam Image From 10/4

The water didn't get near the dunes there.  Also note the sea weed.

We had a long period of good surf but just east winds.

The water can move sand and other items onto the beach or off the beach.  When the waves are hitting the beach straight on, the flow decreases as the water goes up the slope until it stops.  That is obvious.  As the flow coming up the slope decreases in force, sand is dropped.  If the flow back down the slope continued uninterruptedly with enough force, the sand would be washed back into the water, but when the sand is dropped without washing back into the water the beach builds.

There are a variety of factors that determine if the beach is going to build or erode.  Remember that it takes more force to get settled sand to start moving than it takes to keep it moving. When the force decreases to a certain point, the sand or objects will settle once again.  There is a certain amount of force required to get it moving, but less force required to keep it moving.  When the force decreases to below what is required to keep it moving, it will settle out.

Illustration Showing Two Dips on a Scalloped Beach.

When you have a scalloped beach, the water coming in can bring sand as usual, however the incoming water washes off the slopes on the sides of the dips and is directed towards the middle of the dip.  Sand is dropped at the higher edges, building the slopes, and sand is washed out of the middle of the dip where the returning water gathers with more force.  There are a lot of factors, but that is a big part of it.

Sand differs in size and shape, as do other objects.  Different objects require a different amount of force to get them moving, and they'll also drop out at different points.

A few days ago I asked you to think about if the weight or shape of an object has more to do with how quickly or deeply an object will sink into beach sand.  I forgot about that question when all of the weather and high surf was in the news, but I'll talk about it more tomorrow or sometime soon.

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Here is a story about a long-time Fort Pierce detectorist, Jennifer Gregory, who found and returned a wedding band lost by a kayaker in knee-deep water along the Fort Pierce.

https://www.wptv.com/news/region-st-lucie-county/fort-pierce/woman-with-metal-detector-finds-lost-wedding-band-in-water-in-fort-pierce-inlet

Thanks to Jorge Y. for sending me that link.

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Gold and precious metals filtered from cremated bodies are being sold.

Here is that link.

https://www.thelocal.ch/20181002/zurich-crematorium-starts-to-trade-precious-metals-filtered-from-peoples-ashes

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The Treasure Coast surf will run between three and six feet for the next few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/27/18 Report - Very Nice Cuts Found On Some Treasure Coast Beaches. Seas and Winds To Remain High.

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

Treasure Coast Beach Tuesday Morning.

I saw one stretch of the Treasure Coast that had some nice cuts this morning.  Unfortunately it wasn't one of the treasure beaches.  Nonetheless I was glad to see the cuts and did about an hour of detecting - my first this month. I've been eye-balling lately instead.

I checked both John Brooks and Frederick Douglass beaches first this morning.

John Brooks Beach Tuesday Morning. 

John Brooks Beach Tuesday Morning.

There were very small scallops at John Brooks and Frederick Douglass.  The water had been back about half way to the dunes.

In the second picture you can see a couple people in the distance.  They were both detecting.

John Brooks Beach Tuesday Morning.

Frederick Douglass was very much like John Brooks.

Walton Rocks was not cut.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach was cut way back.  They are about ready to start dumping new sand there.

There was one stretch about a mile long that had intermittent cuts.  The photo sat the top of the blog hows one.  The next \photo shows another.  The one shown below was about six feet high at the highest.

Six Foot Cut In The Distance.

The cuts were not close together.  I checked about four, that were distributed over about a mile.

There were other detectorists there when I arrived.  I found some coins and stuff, but nothing great.
I'll get them cleaned up and photographed and post them sometime.  I don't think there was anything really old.

I talked about how some beach trends are of a longer term.  This beach was one that cut back some weeks ago.  I haven't seen any good cuts on John Brooks or Frederick Douglass all year.  Maybe I missed them.

This is the most improvement in beach conditions I've seen for a while.  I haven't seen the Vero or Sebastian beaches, so I don't know what they are like and I can't give an overall beach conditions rating, but based upon what I did see, I'd give it a 2 on my five point scale.   One indicates poor and five indicates excellent beach conditions.

I wanted to alert you to the improvement in beach conditions even if it the improvement is minimal and only to be found at a few spots.

The surf is supposed to remain high for a couple of days, getting even a little higher than today.  Unfortunately the wind will be more from the east/southeast.

Yesterday's post was one of the all time best, in my opinion.   It represents a lot of work and is an exceptionally thorough study that shows how much is in the ground and how much will typically be missed.  As some people say, "A site is never totally worked out."  Well this is one case when it came very close to being worked out.Re

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/1/15 Report - Saturday's Wind Did Nothng Good For the Treasure Coast Beaches. Neat Shell Gorget.

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

Yesterday was a rainy windy day from beginning to end.  Unfortunately the wind was from the East.  I went out this morning to check out the beaches.  The wind didn't do anything good.

One beach (shown in the photo) had some rounded scallops.

Some beaches showed the remains of old cuts.  Some of those types of beaches had wide flat front beaches but were filling.  

There are very few targets out there along the Treasure Coast now.  The beaches are as clean and over-hunted as I've ever seen.  There are very few easy targets.  I suspect a lot of people will get discouraged.

I saw a few guys wandering around with detectors.

One beach had only shredded aluminum junk.  As I've said before, many beaches have only one or two types of junk.  This one had only shredded aluminum - no iron, bottle caps or pull tabs.  That tells you that some one has been detecting that site heavily and only discriminated thin aluminum.

Take notice of that type of thing.  If you do find anything at a beach like that, except for things just dropped, the best chance is for small gold that might be discriminated out with the aluminum.

Like I said, you can tell what others have been doing or not doing at a beach, and you can adjust accordingly.

One thing I'd say today is that instead of sticking to the same old over-hunted beaches and doing the same thing over and over with no success, you might want to spread out and try some different sites and strategies.

When will we ever get some good erosion?  It has been a very slow winter season, and it is nearly over.  Then we'll have to wait for some summer storms.

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Shell Gorget
Photo source: wvxu.org link.

Contractors digging a trench for a fiber optics box found human remains and a neat carved shell gorget.

Here is that link.

http://wvxu.org/post/rare-native-american-artifact-discovered-newtown

On the Treasure Coast from time to time people looking for shells on the beach find arrow heads or shell tools or artifacts.  Keep your eyes open.

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I mentioned the ATX detector a few days ago.  One reader who does a lot of water hunting down South gave up on the ATX because the stem locks kept getting filled with sand and froze.   Seems to be a weak spot on that detector.

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That's all for today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

1/8/15 Report - Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Conditions Upgrade. Cut Scallops All Along Treasure Coast Beaches. Signal Finds.

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

I have a lot to report today but will hold much of it for some later time.  Today I'll get to the most important and timely information.

I took a look at a number of beaches this morning just after high tide.  All of the beaches that I looked at looked very similar.  There were similar scallops and cuts from South Hutchinson Island to Wabasso.

Douglass Beach This Morning After High Tide.

Seagrape Trail Looking South.

Seagrape Trail Looking North.

 Notice the detectorist between the two sets of stairs.

Wabasso Beach Looking Towards Disney

It isn't very often that the beaches look so similar from Fort Pierce to Wabasso.

The sand in front of the cuts was mushy.  Cuts were about three foot high at the highest.

The water didn't get very far back on the beach.  That was disappointing.

The waves were highest at the Fort Pierce buoy around 5 AM this morning, decreased after that, and then have been increasing again.

This NOAA web site shows the data coming from the Fort Pierce and Sebastian buoys.  Take a look.  You can get a lot of information from this web site.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=41114


My increase in beach detecting conditions rating is only up from a 1 to a 2.  I only expect a very very few scattered cobs to be found.

The Turtle Trail access was closed.

North of Seagrape Trail there was a lot of very small iron pieces just below the cuts.   Pulse machines will be detecting barely visible pieces of iron.

I've talked about "signal" finds before.  I found some of those today too.  See photo below.

Lead Bullet "Signal" Finds

These small caliber lead bullets appear to have been shot into sand.  Sorry - not the best photo.

I've found many of these at Turtle Trail when the back dunes were eroding and found them in areas and at times when cobs were found on the beach.  I take them as one indicator that detecting conditions are improving.

I know for sure that many of these come from the dunes.  I've tracked them.

The surfing web site is predicting a higher surf through tonight and then decreasing slightly through tomorrow.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/1/15 Report - Happy New Year! First Beach Day of the New Year. Viking Finds.

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



Silver Viking Cross
Source" Archaeology.org linked article.

More and more of the big archaeological stories that I read include a note stating, often very inconspicuously, that the discovery was made by a detectorist.  Those discoveries attributed to detectorists are most often made somewhere other than the US.  I would not be surprised if the laws and attitudes towards detectorists in the US are a factor. 

The story about this Viking silver cross is just one example.  The article began as follows: Metal detector enthusiast Derek McLennan found a hoard of more than 100 Viking artifacts on land owned by the Church of Scotland.

Here is the link for the rest of the story.

http://www.archaeology.org/news/2620-141014-scotland-viking-silver-cross

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In 2008, workers digging trenches for electrical cables in the tiny island town of Salme uncovered human bones and a variety of odd objects that they unceremoniously piled next to their trench. Local authorities at first assumed the remains belonged to a luckless WWII soldier, until Konsa arrived and recognized a spearhead and carved-bone gaming pieces among the artifacts, clear signs the remains belonged to someone from a much earlier conflict. Together with a small team, Konsa dug a little deeper and soon found traces of a boat’s hull. Nearly all of the craft’s timber had rotted away, leaving behind only discolorations in the soil. But 275 of the iron rivets holding the boat together remained in place, allowing the researchers to reconstruct the outlines of the 38-foot-long craft.

http://www.archaeology.org/issues/95-1307/features/941-vikings-saaremaa-estonia-salme-vendel-oseberg


If you are wondering about the relevance of these discoveries, there are often very useful clues in articles like that.  For example the discovery described in the paragraph immediately above was made while electrical cables were being buried.  How often have you seen something like that while driving around town?  Did you think about what might be uncovered?  Did you think about returning later with you detector?

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I took a look at the beach this morning before low tide. It was a little different than yesterday but not a lot.

There were scallops, as you can see.  The biggest cliff was about three feet at one beach and about one and a half feet at the other beach.

There were few targets but I found my first coin of the year, a zinc penny and first jewelry, a pendant.

Here is a video showing the surf and beach.

A Couple Treasure Coast Beaches This Morning Before Low Tide

The above photos show beach conditions this morning.   The sand in front of the cuts was mushy.  Very few targets there.

It was still rainy.  Not many people were on the beach this morning, just a few people fishing.

Happy New Year,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net