Showing posts with label sea shells. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sea shells. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

6/9/20 Report - Fossilized Sea Shells. Fenn Treasure Found. One Mistake I've Repeated.


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

Fossil Shells.
Photo and Find by Melissa B.

I received these photos and the following email from Melissa B.

I found your article on fossil shells with unique crystals yesterday. I was searching the internet after some interesting finds I stumbled across with my kids in an estuary in Florida. These shells were exposed after the heavy rain we’ve had and I believe they were brought in with the parking lot fill. They were all in the parking lot area of the estuary especially in the eroded areas from heavy rain. Here are pics of what we found. Can you help me to identify? There were some interesting crystals on a few of the shells also.

Fossil Shell
Photo by Melissa B.

I've done a few posts on fossilized shells.  Here are a couple.

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2015/05/52815-report-unique-beach-treasures.html



Fossilized shells can be fascinating treasures.  Some are fluorescent and some have nice gem crystals.

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As I reported yesterday, the Forrest Fenn treasure has been found.

Millionaire art collector Forrest Fenn was told he would die of cancer in 1998. And wanting to leave his mark on the world and help others get into the outdoors, he devised a plan: Fenn decided he would take his 10-by-10-by-6-inch bronze Romanesque chest and load it with his best treasures — ancient jewels, gold, jade, diamonds (now estimated to be worth 2 million dollars)—take it into the mountains, and die beside it.

But, before dying, he would “architect” a poem that, if solved, would lead an explorer exactly to the treasure.

A twist of good fortune kept Forrest alive, and he now resides in Santa Fe where he writes books, gives hints, and frequently engages with those on the chase.

That comes from this Fenn Treasure web site (link below).


Forrest Fenn received the treasure of life for more years than maybe he was expecting.  Despite the prognosis, Fenn is still alive, and has mixed feelings about the treasure being found.

It took years for the puzzle to be solved and the treasure found.  It undoubtedly took a lot of persistence to solve that problem.

The person that found the Fenn treasure has chosen to remain anonymous.


A treasure chest full of gold, jewels and other valuables worth more than $1m (£790,000) is said to have been found in the Rocky Mountains.

Antiquities collector Forrest Fenn says he hid the bronze chest more than a decade ago, creating a treasure hunt for people to find it.

Thousands of people searched for it, many quitting their jobs and using up their savings. Four people died.

Now, Mr Fenn says, a man from "back East" has finally tracked it down.

"It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago," Mr Fenn, an 89-year-old millionaire from New Mexico, said in a statement...


Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52966449

It took ten years and a lot of persistence.

The Rockies offer many treasures, natural and otherwise.

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I'll describe one more of my mistakes today.  I often learn from my mistakes, but some take more repetitions than others.

This mistake doesn't apply to small finds like coins, but this is a mistake I've made more times than I care to remember.

When walking a long distance and expecting to return the same route (along the shore, for example), I'll often leave larger finds to pick up later when I am on  my way back.  Several things can happen.  One is that I get focused on my metal detecting and pass up the item on the way back.  That is easy enough to do.  Someone else can also find the item, but sometimes I just forget about it on the way back.

One thing I often do is take the item up to the dunes and put it where it is not likely to be noticed. Since there is a good chance I'll have my nose to the ground on the return trip, some kind of marker can be helpful - maybe a big line in the sand a pile of stones or something that.   A rising tide or big wave can remove a line or move or obscure other markers, so that doesn't always work out.

If the item is very good, don't take any chances.  When you really don't want to take a chance on losing an item, it is better to not leave it behind.  Too many things can happen.



You can find some pretty big things.  I once carried this six-foot iron anchor on my shoulder a couple hundred yards and up over a high dune.  I wouldn't even attempt it today.

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Wednesday the surf will still be small, but later in the day it will start to increase.



Defund the criminals.

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Saturday, December 22, 2018

12/22/18 Report - A Treasure Hunter's Christmas: Decorating with Finds. Antique Bells and Other Finds.


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

A Small Part of the Population of My Lost and Found Village.

Christmas is a special time of year for me.  I really like it.  One thing I like about it is all of the traditions and memories.  But Christmas is a really good time to bring your finds into the story.

I like to make use of finds.  One thing I always like to find is wire.  It comes in handy.  Many of my Christmas tree decorations are held by hangers made of wire I found.  Finds also become ornaments or decorations.

Above you can see some of the items I've found.  Many of them were shown in posts before.  They often find a place in my Lost and Found Village beside the tree along with some other or vintage and antique Christmas decorations.

The movie Polar Express made bells very popular.  Here is a crotal bell I found in the hills of West Virginia.

And here is another one that has been polished and fitted with a nice new ribbon.  It hangs on my Christmas tree.

Polished Antique Petal Bell on Christmas Tree.

As with anything nice, there are fakes sold.  The easiest sign and first thing to look for is the hole in the lower half of the bell.  Many fakes simply have a slit.  Genuine antique bells will have rounded holes at the end of the slit.

Here is a great web site that tells all about such bells, including how to date them and many other interesting facts.

https://classicbells.com/info/DatingBells.html

An entire strap fitted out with bells would have maybe 15 bells.  That would be nice to hear.  They do have a nice sound.

Oh, by the way, the little rusty truck in the top picture also came from the hills of West Virginia.

Decorating with objects that have a history is much more meaningful than buying a box of factory made ornaments.

Using your own finds adds new stories and traditions to your Christmas.  They can be passed down through the generations.  Many of my favorite decorations were made by my grandma or came from my childhood.

Here is a Christmas tree decoration made using sea shells and a few beads.  The beach provides all kinds of things.


Christmas Ornament Made From Treasure Coast Sea Shells.


Another Type of Sea Shell Ornament.

A little paint and glitter were added to these shells.


Silver Bell Made of Float.
This float and rope were beach finds.  It just took a little paint to turn it into a large silver bell.

I put my tree up but haven't finished my decorating yet.  Those are just some of the ways I use finds at Christmas.

And of course, some of the shiny and nicer finds become presents.

I was in the mood to talk Christmas since that is what I was doing.

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We had a couple days on nearly continuous west wind.  The tides are higher now.

It looks like the after Christmas surf might be bigger than predicted earlier.  Possibly up to seven feet now.


Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.
Happy Hunting and happy decorating,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net






Monday, October 1, 2018

10/1/18 Report - Treasure Beach Reports. Another Kind of Treasure. High Surf Coming.


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

Ambersands Beach Yesterday Afternoon.
Alberto S. sent some beach photos that he took yesterday afternoon.  You'll notice that the beaches look very much like the pictures I posted from South Hutchinson Island yesterday morning.

The beaches seem to look very similar from South Hutchinson Island up to Sebastian.  There are a few small scallops but no cuts to speak of.   There is also a lot of sea weed at the top of the sloping sand beaches.

Wabasso Beach Yesterday Afternoon.
Turtle Trail Yesterday Afternoon.

Alberto said Seagrape looked the same as the other beaches.

Thanks for the photos Alberto!

The waves have been hitting from the east for quite a while without any nice angles.

I was ready to go out this morning but had a low tire to tend to.

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Every once in a while one of my old posts is discovered and read by tons of people.  The one that was being heavily accessed the past couple days is the one about Treasure Coast sea shells with calcite crystals.

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2015/05/52815-report-unique-beach-treasures.html

I assume a link to that post was posted somewhere else.  Even more rare and interesting in my experience is the fossilized bone containing calcite crystals.

Fossilized Bone Containing Calcite Crystals.

That goes right along with what I've been saying about being a complete beach hunter - not just a detectorists.

There all kinds of treasures to be found on the beaches.  They can be millions of years old and very rare and interesting.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

As you can see, we're going to have more high surf.  Hopefully we'll get some good angles or the water will hit the dunes somewhere.

Tropical Storm or Hurricane Leslie is still hanging around out there.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

9/20/17 Report - Storms, Hurricanes, Predictions and What To Watch For. Thanksgiving Storm of 1984. Walking Sea Shells. Big Surf Predicted.


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

If you only read to see when something has been found, you will sometimes be a little late.  But if you read this blog on a daily basis, you should seldom be caught off-guard.  I spend a lot of time watching developments and predictions and tell you when things might happen before they actually do.  Of course the predicting game isn't perfect.  The meteoroligists are often wrong.   Just look at how Irma developed.  They didn't know where it was going to go until the last few days when the predictions finally firmed up.  It isn't easy.  And it is often wrong.  Yet you should be prepared and ready as well as possible if you keep watching.

I am watching Maria very closely.  She isn't expected to make landfall in Florida, but that is not the important thing when it comes to metal detecting.  Some of the most legendary treasure detecting occurred when there was no hurricane at all.  It only takes a storm that sits off the coast and churns waves for days.

I've gone over this before, but it is a good time to go over it again.  You might be wondering what it is going to take.  We just had a hurricane go right up through the state, and still it didn't do a whole lot for the Treasure Coast. The best illustration I know of is the Thanksgiving Storm of 1984, which is legendary in Treasure Coast treasure lore.

The following data presented in a NOAA publication with the title The Florida East Coast Thanksgiving Holiday Storm of 1984 by Raymond Biedinger, Clifford Brock, Federico Gonzales, and Burt Sylvern.

I'll present some of the NOAA report below and point out by bolding and underlining some of the statements that I think are most noteworthy. Here goes.

Another factor was that these strong onshore winds continued for many days. Winds of near gale force (about 40 miles an hour) began blowing along the north Florida coast the evening of the 20th. They did not subside until late on the 24th. Therefore, much of Florida experienced strong onshore winds for about 4 whole days. These winds were frequently between 30 and 40 miles an hour. The direction of the winds was from the north northeast which is probably the best angle of incidence for beach erosion along the coast from Fernandina Beach to Palm Beach. The coastline south of Palm Beach was spared from most of the adverse effects of the storm because the wind was actually blowing offshore throughout much of the storm. However, this northwest wind caused significant damage to the coastlines of the western Bahama Islands Friday and Saturday. This was all due to the position of the storm center remaining over Grand Bahama Island from early Thursday morning through early Saturday...


As noted earlier, the time of the month that the storm occurred was coincident with the highest astronomical tides of the month and nearly the highest spring tide of the year. Tide tables indicated that the highest predicted tides for the month of November fell on the mornings of the 22nd and the 23rd, exactly during the time of the highest storm tide. Reports from the storm survey teams of the Florida Department of Natural Resources indicate that the storm tide was over 6 feet above low mean water. Tide gauge readings at Mayport were 7.5 feet above mean low water or 5.2 feet above mean sea level. The one factor of the storm episode which magnified the entire situation was the nearly stationary nature of the storm for 3 days. This lack of movement produced the prolonged onshore winds which resulted in at least 4 days of heavy surf pounding the shore. Portions of the coastline experienced 9 high tides during this period, with each succeeding high tide higher than the previous one, thus making the erosion of sand greater with each tide. These are the reasons for the extensive damage that resulted from this particular storm....



...The meteorological conditions just described produced one of the most damaging storms to affect the eastern coastal sections of Florida during the past several decades. Much of the damage from Fernandina Beach southward to North Miami Beach, nearly 400 miles, was caused by the easterly winds of gale force with gusts as high as 60 miles an hour blowing for nearly four days. This action of the wind over the ocean produced shoreward moving swells of around 20 feet which pounded the Florida east coast and produced the most severe beach erosion in recent years in many areas. An example of the destruction was the reduction of the newly completed l100 foot pier at St. Augustine to 300 feet. Sand dunes were obliterated leaving barrier islands void of any natural protection against the next onslaught of a coastal storm in the future. To add to the destructiveness, the highest monthly astronomical tide period coincided with the highest period of storm tides which occurred on the morning of Thursday and Friday, the 22nd and 23rd. All of this produced tides 4 to 6 feet above mean yea level (MSL} at times of high tide. In some places, this was the highest tide in the last 30 years. Alt Mayport, Florida, just north of Jacksonville, the tide of 5.2 feet above MSL was the third highest tide of record. Much of state road A1A, the famous coastal highway, was closed in Indian River County between Vero Beach and Sebastian Inlet because of high water. In this area several beach front buildings collapsed, and 600 to 1,000 people were ordered to evacuate their homes. In Palm Beach County, five blocks of A1A were seriously damaged by the high tides and heavy surf. Bridges were closed because of flooded approaches which caused some barrier islands including the large Hutchinson Island to become isolated for periods of time around the time of high tide. In the storm's aftermath, severe coastal beach erosion stretched from Jacksonville to Palm Beach. ...

 At the West Palm Beach weather office, a new station rainfall record was set on Thanksgiving Day for the greatest amount in a calendar day, 7.41 inches....

There were high winds that blew for three or four days and we were having high tides at the same time.  That is in strong contrast to Irma.

Here is the link to the entire report. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/mlb/pdfs/Nov_1984_storm.pdf
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Yesterday Joe D.told me, Bonsteel to past Rio Mar, all sanded in still!!

Darrel S. said, 

State Park announced 33 parks are still closed. I assume the ones inland more then the coastline, unless Keys or First Coast.

Most of the beaches near St. Augustine were telling people not to walk on the beaches until further notice. I know that area really got slammed!

I have not heard from any dectorists, so cannot give any info on finds or if they are able to detect.

I would bet inland areas where trees are uprooted would be good searching. Especially, around old towns, water holes, etc.

Bet some good bottles and arrowheads could be found.


Under more normal circumstances I would have talked more about some of the other areas around the state.  One person asked about shipwrecks in the Naples area, for example.  Treasure cons are found over there.  That is about all I had time to tell him at the time.

There are certainly other areas that will be producing treasure - perhaps more than the Treasure Coast right now.  The Treasure Coast is now pretty much sanded in.

Thanks to Joe and Darrel for submitted their observations.  I hadn't been up to Bonsteel and wondered about that.

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There are now some beautiful shells on some of the beaches, including Frederick Douglas beach. Some are big and colorful. When you pick up one of those shells, please check to see if it is inhabited by a crab or some other creature. Many of the nicest will be inhabited. The inhabitant might be very difficult to see. When you pick up an inhabited shell, the creature will withdraw into the shell as deeply as they can. It might be very difficult to see. If you mistakenly take a pretty shell home believing it to be abandoned when it is not, you'll notice a strong smell when the creature dies.

Hermit Crab In Seashell.
Source: Wikipedia
That subject always reminds me of the time on Key Biscayne when I saw a hermit crab using a broken bottle neck with the bottle cap still in place as a  mobile home.  I always wish I had a photo of that.

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Below is what I'm watching now.  MagicSeaWeed is predicting up to a 13 foot surf for Sunday.  I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be smaller, but that isn't the only factor.  We'll have to watch the wind direction and tides too.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com
Some detecting opportunities are short-lived - lasting only a matter of hours, while others last days or more.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Thursday, December 17, 2015

12/17/15 Report - South Wind Brought Heat and Sand To The Treasure Coast Beaches. Metal Detector Advertised Return Policy.


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

I went out to visit a particular spot that was recently cut.  I had to walk about a mile to get there.  When I got there I saw two feet of new sand filling up the dip.  I did find a large piece of copper sheathing.  It was near the surface along with some shells.

Cuts can happen really quickly and they can disappear just as quickly.

John Brooks and Frederic Douglas had even more new sand today.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  It looked like we were back to mid-summer beach conditions.  There were a lot of shells near the high tide line.

The surf is down to around one foot today and tomorrow.  It will increase again this weekend, possibly up to as much as six feet.  The wind will also be shifting again.  I'm glad about that.  That south wind that has brought such hot December weather also dumped a lot of sand on our beaches.

I can't believe I was sweating on the beach in December.

I didn't get any pictures today.  I had to recharge my camera batteries.

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If you are thinking about a new metal detector for Christmas, one of the large mail order metal detector companies is advertising a hassle-free 30 day return policy.  Excluded were certain high-end models.

I'm always skeptical of ads, and I'm not sure how hassle-free it would actually be if you really tried to return a detector after thirty days.

One ad that is very misleading is Tesoro's life-time guarantee.  They actually won't repair your detector after they determine it is "obsolete."  I have two Tesoro detectors that have, according to them, out-lived the lifetime guarantee.  So as far as I'm concerned that life-time guarantee is a dishonest hoax.

Back to the 30 day hassle-free return policy.

The requirements specified in the ad are as follows.

  • Most hobby metal detectors are eligible for a full refund, exchange or store credit if returned within 30 days of purchase. All professional line metal detectors such as commercial, industrial and security machines are not eligible for return. These non-returnable detectors include (but are not limited to) the following brands; JW Fishers, Lorenz, OKM, Tesoro, Fisher Research Labs, Blisstool, Minelab GPZ 7000 & all GPX Models, Nokta Professional Units and Aquascan Aquapulse.

  • Metal detector must be returned in its original packaging with all manufacturer accessories and promotional items. (Free accessories, giveaway products, promotional items, BOGOs and special offers). Customers will be charged "full sale price" for all missing or damaged accessories, giveaway products, promotional items, BOGOs and special offers. All items must be in working order and include the manufacturer’s original blank warranty and instruction manual. No damage to the machine and/or any of the accessories including no dents, scratches, rips and tears etc.

  • Returns must be made within 30 days of purchase date. A Return Authorization Number is required prior to shipping any product back for a refund.

  • Refunds will be issued to the same credit/debit card, gift certificate or other form of payment that was used at the time of the original transaction.

  • Customer will be responsible for all return shipping, handling and insurance fees.

If it is determined that the returned metal detector has been damaged, contains missing parts and/or accessories then the customer may be subject to a repacking service fee of up to 30% of the machine’s retail value.

You can probably guess the name of the company.

I strongly suggest trying out a detector or getting a good live demonstration before buying a detector especially if you are new to detecting or don't know much about the detector you are buying.  If the return policy is really "hassle free" that could make me feel much easier about a purchase decision.

If any of you have trouble making returns, let me know and I'll post it so others know about it.

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net