6/3/19 Report - Tips For Scooping in Shallow Water. Jars Give Good Dates. A Storage Solution.

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

Scooping Tips.

If you work in shallow water, there will probably be times when you have trouble getting an item scooped up.  There can be various reasons for that.  One is strong currents.

When you lift a scoop, that will create currents that will cause sand and objects that are not firmly in the scoop to fall out, with or without strong cross currents.

Lifting your scoop more slowly can help.

Gold chains can be very difficult to get in your scoop.  Even when you get some of a chain in the scoop, there can be enough hanging out, to pull the entire chain out as you lift the scoop.

Of course light objects can also get swept away as you lift your scoop.

Too much sand in the scoop will cause more sand and other objects to fall out as you lift. Be careful to not over-fill your scoop.

Here is something I have found helpful.  When you stick your scoop in the sand, tilt the handle farther back so the front of the scoop is angled up more, but don't lift yet.  Before lifting, vibrate your scoop.  Shake it in very short quick strokes.   That will allow some of the sand to sift through and the object will fall deeper into the scoop before you lift.

In three words, it is tilt - sift - lift.

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Among the more common bottles you will find are Bromo Seltzer and Vaseline.  I've found a lot of embossed Vaseline bottles.  I usually don't keep bottles with screw tops, but the Vaseline bottles are so heavily embossed that I did keep some of them.

Embossed Vaseline Bottle.

This bottle is not one of the older Vaseline bottles that I've found.

The first known reference to the name Vaseline was by Robert Chesebrough in 1872 (U.S. patent 127,568).

As you would suspect, the first containers for Vaseline were not screw top bottles.

As always, doing your research can make your finds more meaningful.  I found out, for example, that the bottles for Vaseline were made in a factory where my father worked in his early teen years.  It is possible that he actually packed the bottle above.  I'll have to do some additional research.

Like anything that has success, there are copies.  Moroline was a competitor to Vaseline.

Embossed Moroline Bottle.

Surprisingly, Vaseline bottles have been thoroughly studied and inspection of the bottle can provide a very good estimate of the age of a site.

A Tour Through Time in Vaseline Bottles is a 30 page document with references written by John Lockhart and presented on the Society for Historical Archaeology web site.

Here is the link.

https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/Vaseline2015.pdf

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I've been trying to store my bottles more compactly and safely.  Here is something I'm trying, and it seems like it should work.

Large Plastic Container That Once Held Animal Crackers.

I looks like I'll be able to store three layers of ink or other siunukarkt small bottles in this plastic container.

Cardboard strips separate the layers.

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It looks like we'll have at least another week of one foot surf on the Treasure Coast.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/6/15 Report - A Different Way To Use Your Scoop Very Effectively. Swimming Beach Finds Today. Intuition Experience By One Reader.

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

This Mornings Finds.

I went out to the nearest swimming beach this morning to test out new ear phones.  I spent about an hour.

You want to have things in tip top shape or when we get a change in detecting conditions.  It is a good time for testing and experimentation.

You can usually find something at that beach, but usually cheap stuff.  That is the type of beach it is.

As in real estate, metal detecting is very much about location, location, location.

I did a post on metal detecting math one time.  That is very relevant here.  This beach is the type of place where the quantity is OK but the quality is poor.

Anyhow, the water was nice.  Good visibility. Gentle swells that increased a little after the sun got a little higher.

After hunting a little while, I turned my threshold down to silent.  That may have cost me a smidgen of depth, but nothing to be much concerned about.  I just liked the silence.  It was very pleasant with the gently rolling swells.

The shells that were visible on the sand were in little depressions.  The water movement was sufficient to move the sand where the water increased as it flowed around the shells, but was not sufficient to move shells of a certain size,

There were a lot of dive boats out today, as well as divers going in from the beach.   Lobster season began today.

Most people use their scoop something like a shovel.  I often use it more like a hoe.  In the water today the hoe method was uncommonly effective for some reason - I assume the currents.   It seemed to be working better than digging in and lifting.

If you have a deeper target and a decent size hole and still have not retrieved the object from the hole, you might try this method.

Put your scoop upside down in the far side of the hole.  Push down on the scoop with your foot.  And pull the scoop back towards you.

That was working uncommonly well this morning.  You might think that the object would fall out of the scoop but the sand and currents and upward movement tend to keep it in.  Even when it does not stay in the scoop, the object will probably end up outside the hole where it can easily be retrieved with the next scoop.

Also, if you need a really deep hole and can let go of your detector, use both hands on the scoop, and hoe like crazy.  That will get you a big deep hole in a hurry.  It combines fanning and scooping.

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At the beach I was at today, there are some spots where you can usually find some things.  One of the best spots is right in front of the central life guard station, the other is down at another walkway.

You can usually find recent drops in the wet sand and in the water at those locations.  The wet sand coins can be a tip off to where the better water spots might be.  That does not always work, but sometimes it does.

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Chattanooga (WDEF) - Federal Judge Curtis Collier sentenced two East Tennessee men to jail time for digging up Civil War artifacts.

39-year old Kenneth Fagin, Jr. from South Pittsburg and 61-year old Terry Tate from Manchester will serve 30 months in federal prison.

They were convicted of illegal archaeological excavation on federal property...

Here is the link for more of that story.

http://www.wdef.com/news/story/Men-Get-Jail-Term-For-Digging-Up-Civil-War/hGD8jydVg0uD3nYfogozpA.cspx

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The other day I talked about intuition and such things and asked people to send in any personal stories.  Larry sent in this one.

One afternoon after working at home, I asked myself, "what must I do to find a gold ring within the next hour?". It was a positive intention such as I had never felt in my gold hunting experience before.

I pulled up google maps, centered it over my favorite park field, wherein I had already found 4 gold rings. I cleared my mind of all thoughts while simultaneously moving my hand over the monitor. My purpose was to lose all conscious thought of my hand. It was almost like going to sleep, as directed thought slips out of your control and you start to dream. At that point my hand stopped, seemingly without conscious intervention. I triangulated the spot with trees and light poles, all of which I was intimately familiar with already.

I walked directly to the spot, checked the landmarks just for confirmation, found a signal, dug a hole, and pulled out a nice gold band with 3 diamonds about .2 carats each. I went right home. I'd been in the field no more than maybe 5 minutes.

Was this supernatural? Had I willed the find to occur? Had the remote digital dousing actually "worked" by means that we are not aware of? Or was it all just the random lining up of all those events in a way that humans are evolved to interpret as connected and meaningful by assigning causation to hidden, metaphysical "forces"?

I think the later is true, though I prefer believing the former.

Larry

Btw, I later found gold ring #6, no dousing involved.

Thanks Larry.

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Expect another week with the same kind of beach detecting conditions along the Treasure Coast.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/29/13 Report - Water Spout, Sea Weed, Recovering Targets in Strong Currents & Tropical Waves

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

Really Amazing Photo of Water Spout Off of Pepper Park
Photo submitted by Michael E.

That is a great photo Michael.  Thanks for sending it in.

That is one of the things about being out there on the beaches.  You'll see some beautiful and amazing sights.

I wish I had photos of some of the things I remember seeing.


I was using a White's Dual Surf PI this morning.  It is not my primary detector, but I do use it occasionally, depending upon the conditions and what I am trying to do.

I seldom complain about detectors because they all have their weaknesses and strengths, but one thing I really don't like is the very buoyant coil on the PI, which in my opinion is ridiculous.  You'd think it was meant to be a life preserver.

Anyhow, I've mentioned the buoyant coil before.  Some people add a sock full of sand or something to weigh it down.  It is bad enough in calm water, but it was really a nuisance today because I was working in a strong long shore current, and not only did it want to lift, but the current wanted to take it.   That was really a pain when I was focused on digging a target under difficult conditions.

Where I was the current was fast.  When I first got there and took my first look, it looked like the water was high, but it wasn't - the sand was low.  The current had moved a good bit of sand narrowing the beach.  There was a steep drop off (not actually what you would notice as a cut) in the water at the front of the beach.  Good targets were found on the face of the sloping drop off and just below.

I thought I'd mention a few things I do under those conditions when recovering targets.

When you dig into the sand, tilt the front of the scoop up and shake it so that the sand settles down into the bottom of the scoop more.  Otherwise when you lift the scoop up the top layer of sand and possibly the target will be lost, especially when the current is rushing by.

Sometimes you'll want to face the slope or cliff as you dig into it.  Things will tend to stay in the scoop better that way.

When the currents are strong, you might want to face the current so that the current will be pushing into the scoop instead of across the scoop or from behind it.

Place your coil down the slope or down current from where you are digging, so that a target that rolls down the slope or falls off with the current will have a good chance of being heard.

If visibility is good, watch carefully for signs of the target as you dig or lift the scoop.

If you lose a signal as you dig and you think you might have moved the target so it is either deeper in the hole or now on edge, foot fan and then scan the hole again.

Sea Weed in Shallow Water.

I've mentioned before how sea weed accumulating on a beach can be a bad sign.  It can also be a bad sign in shallow water if it is washing in.  On the other hand it can be a good sign.

It can be a good sign in the water if it is live.  Or in the water it can be a good sign if it is being caught in a low dip that had recently been created but hasn't yet filled.  That might happen just after a change in the currents.

Dug Gold Band.

There are now a couple of tropical waves in the Atlantic.  There is some chance they will form.  I'll keep an eye on those.

Low tide was just after 9 AM this morning.

The surf is only 2 or less feet.  It looks like that will not change for a few days.

The low tides have not been real low lately.


I did something other than continue my series on secondary sites again today.  I think I'll probably get back to that topic tomorrow.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net