Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Identified! |
Ding! Ding! Ding! Yesterday's mystery item was identified by Mitch King. He said,
Its Plate money from Sweden. Fredrick the 1st 1720 to 1751.
You can see other similar examples by using the following link.
http://www.swedishcoppers.com/PlateMoney.html
http://www.swedishcoppers.com/PlateMoney.html
Thanks Mitch!
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I'm going to add to what I said the other day by giving some other examples of items found and returned and also a technique that I developed and refined over the years for working in crowded swimming areas.
In my previous post on that subject, I mentioned things like keys and eye-glasses. Today I'll give some jewelry examples.
It is always easier when you see someone looking for something just after they lost it. They probably have a good idea of where the item was lost.
Class rings are common jewelry finds. On one occasion I was hunting in the shallow water at a South Florida swimming beach and two young girls approached me. One said she lost her sister's class ring, and she wasn't supposed to have it. It didn't take me too long to find it. The younger sister sure was happy.
On another occasion when I was shallow water hunting, I came to an area where kids were obviously trying to find something. One of them said somebody lost their class ring and offered them $20 if they found it. It didn't take me long to find that one either. No mention was made of the reward. None was offered.
The same thing happened at another location in more shallow water. Kids were diving and making a lot of commotion looking for something. In this case it was a gold emerald ring that a young lady lost. There are times when you have to get people to clear out so you can detect an area properly. I got the kids to move back and out of the way so I could use my detector without them getting in the way. Again I found the ring pretty quickly. This was one time when I received a reward. That was very unusual in my experience. There were plenty of times when I didn't even receive a thank you, which amazed me. But on this occasion, after I presented the ring to the young lady, she ran up to where her blanket was, and then back down, she stuck a twenty into my shirt pocket. She just as quickly ran off again, so that was one reward I kept.
It is always a good idea to clear people out of the search area and explain that you need room to conduct a proper search. You want to be able to swing your coil without anyone in the way, but there is another good reason to make everybody get back. Mark out boundaries and ask people to stay outside those boundaries while you hunt.
You also want to recover the item and inspect it before anyone else sees it. I have on multiple occasions had people attempt to claim a ring that did not belong to them, and it is not uncommon to find something other than the specific item you are looking for. That is why you must have a good description of the item before you hunt, and why you should inspect the item for identifying information before you return it.
When I was in the water and dug an item while people were close by, I had a method of keeping the find hidden until I had a chance to take a look at it. Immediately after getting the scoop up out of the sand but while the scoop was still under water, I vigorously shook the scoop. That created a cloud of sand that made it impossible to see the object in the scoop. I would then quickly stick my hand in the scoop and by feel remove it. Of course you can quickly tell by feel if it is a ring or coin. With the item still in your closed hand, quickly slip the item in your pocket, turn your back and distance yourself from onlookers. When you get a chance, take a look at it, but not before you are sure no one else sees it. It is important to get the item returned to the just owner instead of some crook.
One time when I was not yet so experienced, I was hunting in shallow water and was being followed by some kids who saw me dig what turned out to be a couple of big tokens. They yelled at the top of their lungs so everyone on the beach heard, "He found some kind of big coins."
I actually liked nice kids being interested and would show them what I was doing and would even let them participate to some extent, but there are also obnoxious unrestrained kids that can be a problem. You have to judge the situation.
Those are just a few examples. I could give many more, such as the young man who did a handstand in shallow water and lost his gold chain, which was quickly detected and returned, but I wanted to give some tips.
Always be aware of your surroundings and who is around you. The only thing I don't like about using a snorkel when hunting in shallow water is not being as aware of what is going on around me.
I've heard of some detectorists being harrassed onlookers, but that wasn't been much of a problem for me. I avoided people to a large extent, often hunting when there weren't many people around. I also had a stainless steel scoop that looked like it was capable of making melon balls of human flesh.
Of course there were also times when I failed to find items that were reported lost. A New York fireman told me where he lost his NYFD ring. He was going back to New York and gave me his address. I looked for it several times, but never found it.
I should also mention that there are finds that the owner might not want to acknowledge for one reason or another. One New York Yankees World Series ring was found on the Treasure Coast. The name was in the ring. When the player's phone number was called, the wife answered and asked where the ring was found. When told, she said she thought to fellow lied to her and went to St. Lucie to see his girlfriend. There are times when the owner doesn't want to acknowledge or claim an item.
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The weather is beautiful and there are lots of snow birds on the Treasure Coast beaches.
The surf continues to run in the two to four foot range. The tides are moderate and the wind is east/southeast.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
