2/20/20 Report - Sam's Town Casino Token Find. Upcoming Sedwick Auction. Bigger Surf Coming.

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

Sam's Town Casino Token.

I've found a number of casino chips or tokens in the past.  Some were in great condition, seeming to be recent drops.  One was in a plastic case and like new.  That one was found in the swash on an ocean beach.

Here is another.  It is from a land site and is beat up.  It is a favorite of mine even thought it shows a lot of wear.  I tend to like things that show wear.

Obverse of Sam's Town Casino Token.

I haven't done the research on this one yet, and haven't even tested it to see if it is silver.  I want to have an XRF analysis rather than an acid test because I don't feel like doing a rubbing on it even if it is already beat up.

Just a short section of the edge reeding remains, which clearly shows the heavy use before it was lost.

Whats Left of Edge Reeding on Sam's Town Token.

It weighs .75 oz.

See https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2012/05/52212-report-found-casino-chips.html for more casino chip finds.

Thanks.

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If you want to consign items to the upcoming auction, there are only two weeks remaining for you to do that.

Among the lots that will be sold are the following:

       The Nueva Granada Collection of Colombian Rarities Part I

       An extensive date collection of the finest and rarest Lima 8 escudos recovered from the 1715 Fleet

       Ingots and artifacts from the Spanish Fleets of 1622 (Atocha and Santa Margarita) and 1715

       Large variety of important Spanish colonial cobs and Latin American coins

This year's Spring Treasure Auction will be held at an historic art-based venue: the Germaine Marvel Building at the Maitland Art Center, just minutes from Orlando, FL.

Even if you do not plan to buy or sell anything, the Sedwick auctions provide an excellent opportunity to view fine coins and artifacts in person.

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A winter storm has moved into parts of the south and will be affecting the Treasure Coast before long.

The surf predictions have been holding pretty steady the past few days.  Seven to ten feet is predicted.  Here is the latest.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/31/18 Report - Mayan Ritual Mask Discovered. Finally Some Activity in the Atlantic. Circus World Token Find.

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

Circus World Token.

The big news for me today is the activity in the Atlantic.  After a very long quiet summer with very little other than calm seas and building beaches, we now have to areas to watch.  The first is southeast of the Bahamas, and the other is still closer to Africa than us.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

The disturbance to the southeast of us is not expected to become a cyclone in the next 48 hours.  After checking Ventusky.com I don't expect it to affect our beaches much at all.

The other system is expected to become a hurricane, but it looks to me like it will stay far out in the Atlantic.

As you know, any of this could change, so it is worth watching.

Although the beach conditions haven't been good, there have been some nice shipwreck finds, as you've seen.

I haven't detected much at all this summer due to a variety of factors, and much of my detecting was on an inland site that produced some very nice finds.   I've posted some of those in the past.

I spent a good bit of time catching up on cleaning and inspecting finds.  The token above is one that I finally got around to cleaning.  I couldn't see what it looked like until I cleaned it off.

I expect to get back out to do some beach hunting in the near future.

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Archaeologists have discovered a ritual mask in Mexico which is thought to represent the face of one of Mesoamerica’s most important historical rulers.

According to the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the mask was found inside a building known as “House E” in the palace complex at Palenque—an ancient Mayan city in the south of the country and one of its most precious archaeological gems...

This is a good article that includes a video of underwater artifacts.

Here is the link more.

https://www.newsweek.com/1500-year-old-ritual-mask-longest-reigning-ancient-mayan-king-discovered-1093287

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I'm not expecting much soon, but hopefully we'll get some weather that helps beach conditions before long.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/29/18 Report - Another Conglomerate: X-ray Says... Standard Oil Token Info. Taking Time To Learn The Story of a Find.

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

X-Ray Image of  Conglomerate Found by Fred B.
Photo submitted by Fred B.

Fred B., who found the conglomerate containing a cannon ball, had another conglomerate that he wanted to have x-rayed so he could decide whether to open the conglomerate or leave it how it was.  He could see  that there was a piece of lead and a spike in the conglomerate, but he didn't know what else might be in it.

One of this blog's readers offered to have the item x-rayed.  Above is the x-ray image of that conglomerate.  The bright white object is the lead.

It appeared that there were no coins or other items in the conglomerate other than the lead and spike, so Fred decided to leave it how it was found.

Fred offered a big thanks to this blog for hooking him up and to the reader who made it happen.

Thank much J. Y.

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One thing I like about writing this blog is that when I make a mistake, I am quickly corrected.  Hundreds of people read this blog daily, and that readership includes experts and hobbyists that are knowledgeable about all kinds of subjects.  That helps me a lot because and I write about a lot of different types of things.  I don't think anyone can be really expert in more than one or two subjects, so I certainly need and gladly receive the help of my readers.

Just yesterday I posted a Standard Oil advertising token that I didn't know much about and asked if anyone might help me narrow down the date.  Well, as usual, some one came through.  Ben M. did some research and was able to add valuable information.  Below is what Ben said.

Hi Treasure Guide -

I enjoyed reading your blog for today regarding the Standard Oil token. Tokens in general are a favorite metal detecting find for me - in my opinion, they are more intriguing than coins. Local merchant and trade tokens can often be researched to reveal interesting individuals or unique local history which just isn't possible with coins. 

Anyway, I did a little poking around on the internet for your Standard Oil token in an attempt to narrow down the date a little. The best I could come up with so far is this website, which shows the same design listed along with a second design for the Standard Oil Company (Indiana) used from 1882-1931:

http://logos.wikia.com/wiki/Standard

The website obviously isn't official, so the credibility of the info is somewhat suspect. The first design appears to be the logo for the top of an old service station gasoline dispenser, and maybe not used company-wide as a letterhead style logo. I've confirmed from other sources that the second logo in that date range was used by Standard Oil (Indiana) starting in 1926, and apparently was the first "official" logo used by Standard Oil according to wikipedia (again, not necessarily definitive information): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoco (see the logo section).  

Looking at newspaper advertisements from the 1920s, there were absolutely no logos used in Standard Oil (Indiana) ads until early 1927, and then suddenly every add included the "Service" logo referred to in each web page link - that sort of confirms the info from the wikipedia page. Anyway, all of this might imply that your token may pre-date 1926, otherwise I think it would have used one of the "official" Standard Oil logos from one of the later time periods.

Anyway, I hope that helps...it certainly was fun to do the research, especially since I haven't had a new token find of my own investigate lately :) 

Thanks Ben!  Excellent research and report.  I appreciate your help and I'm sure others do too.  

Ben not only provided information about the token, but he also provided a good link about logos that you might find useful in the future.

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I often tell people to take their find to a jeweler or pawn shop to have it tested.  That is a good way to find out what metal your find is made of, but don't expect the jeweler or pawn shop owner to be able to tell you much of anything about your coins.  They have testing equipment for metals, but they probably won't know a lot about coins - especially treasure coins.  We all have our limits, and as I said above, you can know something about a lot of different things, but you can't be a real expert on a lot of different topics.

I've been finding out how complicated coin collecting can be.  If you get into collecting even just modern varieties and errors, there is really a lot to learn.  I was really surprise to find out how complicated it is.

I haven't yet mastered identifying doubled die errors.  Doubled die errors looks to a novice (me) very much like a lot of other types of doubling.  I have a hard time telling the difference between machine doubling and doubled die errors.  One problem is that true doubled die errors are pretty rare, which means you most often see them in books, which, of course, only show two dimensional pictures, which make them all look pretty flat.

Despite how much there is to learn, I'm enjoying what I am learning.

There is also a lot to learn about treasure coins.  There are so many of them and they were produced for so many years and there are so many different designs.  To make it more difficult, if you find one on a beach, it can be covered by a lot of corrosion or encrustation, and half of it might not even be there.

The complexity can be confusing, but doing the research and learning can also make it that much more rewarding.

Don't just look for a coin and then ask how much it is worth.  Even if it is difficult and takes a long time, do your research, learn more about the coin, and enjoy the process.  You will then have something that has a whole story to go along with it.

As I always say, Keep an item until you learn its story.    It might not look like much, and you might not think it is worth anything, but wait until you are sure.  It might not be worth anything, but I am often surprised by what I eventually learn about an item.

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There are still no storms or big changes in beach conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/28/18 Report - Metal Detecting Wet Sand on Beach. Mystery Find. Before Clovis? .

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

Mystery Object.

This is about the size of a quarter and made of a light metal such as aluminum.  I don't know what it is and would appreciate any ideas or information you might be able to provide.  I think it might be a token, but can't find any remaining design on it.  Could be just a washer or something, but I'm leaning more towards token.

That is a triangular hole in the middle.

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In the 1920s, archaeologists dug up a trove of ancient artifacts near Clovis, New Mexico. What humans had known about their past was changed forever. These artifacts were the oldest man-made objects found on the Western Hemisphere, and the discovery led to a theory that the first humans to set foot in the Americas did so around about 13,000 years ago, and that they made and used tools like the ones found near Clovis.

Now a group of archaeologists from Texas State University are offering some of the most convincing evidence yet to challenge this “Clovis First” theory. They’ve recently discovered about 150,000 artifacts near at the Gault Archaeological Site near Killeen, Texas. What they’ve found could change what we know about the timeline of human history...

Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.texasstandard.org/stories/archaeologists-say-humans-may-have-come-to-texas-earlier-than-previously-thought/

I never trusted archaeological dating techniques too much anyhow.

Just a reminder - arrow heads and other stone or shell artifacts occasionally show up on Treasure Coast beaches.  I've shown a few in the past.

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I once talked to a guy at the beach who was using a very high end gold detector.  He told me that the detector detected deeper when he walked along the beach north/south than when he walked in and out from the water.  He said he thought it had something to do with the magnetic fields.  He was observing something real, but it had nothing to do with the earth's magnetic fields.

On another occasion a guy using an Excalibur saw me using an Excalibur detector in the wet sand and shallow moving wate and asked to see what settings I was using.  A lot of people don't know how to detect in the wet sand.  This fellow was undoubtedly using discrimination mode and getting false signals when he was in the wet sand area.

I was using what I almost always used when detecting the beach with my Excalibur.  I used maximum sensitivity and pinpoint rather than discrimination mode.

What the first man was missing was the fact that as the salt water covers and recedes from the beach, it creates bands of mineralization.  Most of the dry beach in Florida has almost no mineralization, except where you have black sand.  But the ocean is salt water and the water and wet sand is mineralized.

When you are in the wet sand area, you have bands of mineralization.  The detector has to adjust to the different levels of mineralization.  If you are walking along the waterline, when you swing the coil, your coil crosses those bands of mineralization.  As your detector attempts to adjust, you will lose some sensitivity.  It can also cause false signals.

If you walk in and out from the water, your sweeps are not crossing the bands of changing mineralization so much.  You are sweeping with the bands instead of across them.  Therefore your detector does not have to adjust to so many changes.  That reduces false signals caused by changes in mineralization and gives what appears to be an increase in sensitivity and depth of detecting.

There are a variety of methods for dealing with the changing mineralization in the wet sand zone.  One is to decrease your detectors sensitivity.  Another is to increase discrimination.  And another is to ground balance your detector to the salt water, if your detector has that capability.

Decreasing sensitivity or increasing discrimination can both have negative effects.  You don't want to do either of those any more than necessary.  You have to weigh the positive and negatives of each method.  Your choice will be in part determined by the type of detector you use.

Another approach is to use all metals or pinpoint mode.  That is what I did more than anything else.  

In pinpoint or all-metals mode you can hear the changes in mineralization, especially at the line where the most recent water stopped, however you can learn to tell the difference between the sound caused by mineralization and a real target - most of the time.  If a target is deep or real small, it is more difficult, so you might lose some borderline targets that way, but not much, and you'll do better than with most other approaches.

With a detector like the ATX you can ground balance out the salt water mineralization and do very well.  Still, if you want every last bit of depth, use non-motion mode.  You'll hear some of the salt mineralization, but you'll still get that last bit of sensitivity to deep and small targets.  Non-motion mode in wet sand takes a bit of practice, but it works well once you master it.

I sometimes test and compare the different modes or approaches.  Go over an area with one mode and take out all targets and then use the other mode.  I've done that enough that I know how the different modes compare.  Of course you have to master each mode in order to make good comparisons.

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There is no significant weather in the Atlantic right now.  We still have a two to three foot surf and moderate tides.

8/18/5 Report - Finally New Developing Tropical Weather To Watch. Civil War Ironclad CSS Georgia Being Raised.

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

We finally have some weather to watch.  This area will most likely become a named storm.

I've been saying how unusual it has been to have such a small surf for such a long period of time.

According to NOAA, a cyclone will most likely be forming in the Atlantic (80% chance).  That is the first in quite a while.

Weather.com says, The month of August is typically active in the Atlantic, averaging about two named storms annually (1851-2014).

It's not very often we go through an entire August without a single active named storm. In fact, the last time it happened was 18 years ago in August 1997. Before that you have to go back to 1961 to find an August with no named storms.

Thanks to goldnugget for initially alerting me to this development.

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I received information on the token I posted yesterday.

The information shown here come from the follwoing numista.com web site.

http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces69237.html

Mitch King mentioned that the center was punched out when used.  I saw an example on eBay without the center, so that must be right.

I haven't yet seen a date for it though.  It seems to be general purpose and must be modern or current.

Thanks much to Mitch King and Penzfan for the information.

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SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — After 150 years at the bottom of the Savannah River, the armored skeleton of the Confederate warship CSS Georgia is being raised to the surface one 5-ton chunk at a time.

Navy divers who began working in late June to recover cannons, unexploded shells and other artifacts from the riverbed finally started midweek on their last major task — retrieving an estimated 250,000 pounds of the Civil War ironclad's armored siding.

Here is the link for the rest of that story.

http://news.yahoo.com/divers-raise-wreckage-confederate-warship-5-ton-chunks-145026321.htm

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New pictures of amazing new gold finds on the Treasure Coast will be released later this week.  You won't want to miss that.

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We have a slight bump in the Treasure Coast surf today, but not much.  Keep watching for Dan to develop.

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/17/15 Report - Detecting With Beach Movements. Mystery Token. Marks On Silver Cross.

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

Markings On A Found Silver Cross.

Can anyone help me identify the markings on this silver cross.  If you can idnetify them please zip me an email.

The cross is about one and a half inches high.  I think it had a loop for a pendant.  The loop is missing.

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Found Token

This token appears to be copper or brass and appears to be just a touch bigger than a quarter.  It is the same on both sides.

I'd also like help in identifying it.  Thanks.

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The above illustration shows the shallow water area and a front beach.  I wanted to discuss detecting in the shallow water a bit today.

I put the orange lines in to divide off some areas.  From left to right, you have the deeper water outside the bar, then the bar, then the dip inside the bar, and then the slope.

You'll often read or hear people say different things like, Check the dips in front of any cuts.  Nothing wrong with that. It is good advice.  I'd check that area if it looks promising, just like I would check any area. The dips will be good sometimes, but sometimes not - depending upon what is going on. Its a very dynamic system and the best thing is to be able to read the flow.

It is never a bad idea to check any area.  But checking doesn't mean spending a lot of time.  Check and make a decision base upon what you see.

Checking can help you not only determine if there are any targets there, it can also help you determine how things are moving.

A couple of thing you might want to learn is what kind of material is in the dip and how much of it there is.

Some types of areas definitely produce much more than others.  No doubt about that.  No area produces all the time though.  And spots will change between hot, neutral and cold, and sometimes very quickly.

Any one of the four areas I mentioned above can be the best place to hunt. Those areas are always changing.  They change as the tides go in and out, and they can change whenever the wind and waves change.

A local thunder storm might not last an hour, yet it can change the situation substantially.  A thunder storm can pass by, whip up the waves and create small cuts in a matter of less than an hour.

There are changes that occur over decades, years, months, weeks, days, hours and even minutes.  The past couple of years, for example, we've been in a sustained period of small surf, and the beaches have changed, but mostly in one direction.   What we've been seeing is a bit unusual.  I've never seen such a long period of time with nothing but small surf.

Even within that time, though, there have been times when things changed significantly on a very short term basis.  One day the front slope was loaded with coins.  The next day that was entirely changed.

My main point today is that things change constantly.  Maybe not large changes, but changes that affect where you will want to spend your time.

The area outside the bar might be the place to be at times.  That would be when swimmers have been hanging out and playing on the bar before the bar moved in.

The bar will move in and out.  I like to check the side of the bar that is losing sand.  For example, if the bar is moving in, check the outside of the bar.

When the bar is moving in, if it goes on long enough, the dip will eventually get filled and objects in the dip will get covered up.

There are times when the dip is a good place to find things like watches.  That often occurs when there coarse shell sand and lose material filling the dip and the coins and similar things are covered up.

The dip can get really good when the front of the slope is cut away and things are dragged down into the dip, especially when the sand gets moved out to deeper water.

Recently on the Treasure Coast, and I'm sure neighboring areas to some extent, there has been very little movement and change.  Things have remained relatively stable for quite a while.  Despite how stable things have been there have been times when certain areas got hot for a short time.  There have been days when it was best to detect the wet beach and other days when the zone just in front of the breakers was good.

It is a dynamic thing.  Don't get stuck in a rut. It's more of a dance.  Get in tune with it and move with it.

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I'll probably continue with this some other time - maybe tomorrow.

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/1/15 Report - 10 Foot Surf Predicted! 1793 Half Penny and Hard Times Token Finds. Tie Clasp Find.

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



Surf Predictions For The Fort Pierce Area
Source: Magicseaweed.com

The big news today is the ten foot surf that is predicted for next weekend.  When you see a big surf like that predicted so many days in advance, it often does not happen.  So far this prediction has remained for a few days.  I'd still say that there is only a 1 in 5 or less chance that it will actually happen.  As I've mentioned several times before, there seems to be an error in their prediction models.  Nonetheless, there is a chance that it might actually happen, and just in case, I'd make sure that all equipment is in good order.  I'll be watching the predictions closely through this week.

By the way, the surf predictions for the Sebastian area are a bit higher, as is typically the case.

As you know, beach conditions for the Treasure Coast haven't been very good so far this year, and most of the older finds have been coming from inland sites.

Russ P. found these two great tokens along with some US silver coins.

The token on the left is a 1793 John Wilkinson Iron Master half penny token.

That is a famous token.  Around 1775 the British government stopped minting all copper coins, which was a problem for poor folk who needed low denomination money.

John Wilkinson responded to that problem by producing the John Wilkinson Trade Token, with which he paid his workers.  The tokens could be redeemed at his own shop.

 

Here is a link for more about that.

http://artiquesroadshow.com/john_wilkinson.htm

In an email to me Russ P. said, Two very interesting finds:  1793 British penny (my oldest coin-no cobs yet!) and an 1837 EF Sise Hard Times coin.  Though technically a token, it would have been used in general circulation during the large cent era.  There is a fascinating history associated with the Hard Times Tokens, of which there are hundreds of varieties.  It is one of my favorite all-time finds and my oldest US coin/token find.  Two big firsts in the same hunt!

Interestingly, all the finds pictured were found at the same Florida site, which is no older than early 1900's.

Tie Clip
Find and photo by Dan B.

 

Here is another find by Dan B., who found the V nickel I posted a day or two ago.

I thought it might be a cub scout or boy scout item when I first saw it but I don't know.

What do you think?











Here we are into the second month of the year already.  The most read post of December was the 12/20/14 Report - West Palm Beach. Detectorists Find Hoard of 200 Viking Coins. Another Treasure Trove Found.

The most "Google Plused" post of December was the 12/25/14 - A Christmas Story.  Wishes for a special day.

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There were several lessons in the story that I posted about the copper 1953 S cent.  First, you never know what you might find if you do enough searching.  Maybe something very rare.  Second, you have to be alert and do your homework.   Third, even the experts can be wrong.   Fourth, don't stop and accept the first answer you get.

I think that was a very worthwhile story.  Remember there are rarities to be found, but you have to be very detailed to find them.

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Since it is Super Bowl Sunday allow me one quick diversion concerning Deflate Gate, I can't think of anybody who would be more detail oriented than Belichick and Brady.  I can't believe that Brady, who has spent his entire life throwing footballs, and as I said, is one of the most detail oriented people I can imagine, would not know what was going on.  My twelve-year-old neighborhood playmates could tell when a ball was under inflated, or when a baseball was heavy from having been wet. And I'm not talking about a bunch of geniuses.  So with me, that response strains credibility.
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Keep watching for that big surf.  We could sure use it.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

12/14/14 Report - Our Lady of Guadalupe Imagery and St. Juan Diego. New Poll. November Favorites. Token Found.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeaches report.blogspot.com.



Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe 

I believe I at least did one post on Our Lady of Guadalupe.  I found a medallion with the image on it and gave the history, however as long as I searched I could not come up with that old post or the picture of the medallion.  I gave up on finding the photo and didn't want to make a new photo so I'll take the easy way out and use the picture from wikipedia.

I think I probably found more than one of those medallions but don't remember for sure.  I do make mistakes.  I'm sure you are all aware of that.

While going through the search for that old post, I noticed that I posted the photo of the wrong object a couple of times.  It happens.

Anyway, I found this interesting article about Our Lady of Guadalupe and wanted to post a good picture to go with the article, so I used the picture from wikipedia.

To give just a little background, below is the first paragraph from the article that gets into the symbolism of the image and how the imagery communicated to and helped evangelize the Aztecs.

Mary appeared on Tepeyac Hill in 1531 to a new convert to Christianity, St. Juan Diego.  This was the site of the temple of the pagan mother-goddess Tonantzin. The fact that the Mother of the true God appeared on Tepeyac Hill told the people that Mary was to replace Tonantzin and that Christianity was to replace the Aztec religion.

Here is the link to an article about the imagery of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  It tells what the imagery meant to the Aztecs, how it was used to communicate Christianity and some other good history.

http://spiritdaily.com/A1313guadalupesymbols.htm

It is very possible that you've found a medallion bearing the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe so you might want to understand the significance of the image.

The feast day of Our Lady of Gaudalupe was held on Dec. 12 this year.

http://www.catholicworldreport.com/NewsBriefs/Default.aspx?rssGuid=our-lady-of-guadalupe-mass-draws-thousands-in-la-71803/

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I posted a new poll.  You might find it difficult to give one answer since there is probably more than one reason that you like metal detecting, but try to decide which is the biggest or best reason for you.  If you've been metal detecting for a long time, maybe the main attraction for you has changed over time.  It has for me.

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The most read post of November was the 11/11/14 Report - Detecting Up North On A Quick Trip. Decoder Mystery Solved. Orphan Annie Radio Program. Fort Pierce Shark Attack,  while the most Google Plused post of November was the 11/25/14 Report -  Metal Detecting Target Distribution Patterns and Search Strategies - One Excellent Example.   Sedwick Auction Results Online.

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Nice Token Found by Dan B.
Photo by Dan B.

On the Treasure Coast we have a 2 -3 foot surf today and tomorrow.  It looks like it will be less than that for the next few days.  There are a few select spots where it might be worth checking the low tide zone after the high water and waves we had.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

3/11/14 Report - Dug Silver Casino Chip and 1920s Florida Beach Casinos

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

Silver Ten Dollar Luxor Casino Chip Water Find.

I say that you can find almost anything on a beach or in the water.  One type of object that I have found on more than one occasion that actually has some value includes casino tokens or chips.  I've only found a few, but the few that I have found were surprisingly in very nice condition though not very old.  One was found at the edge of the water but in a plastic case.  When I dug it up it was still like new.

Here it is, still in its plastic case.

The plastic case undoubtedly affected where it was found.  The plastic case lightened the object and provided an air pocket.

Like a watch, which might also have air pockets if it is still intact, that means it will be found with lighter objects than otherwise would be the case.

In the 1920s there were many casinos on or near the Florida beaches.  Being a resort destination, though, you'll find casino chips from around the country and around the world on our Florida beaches.

You might be lucky enough to find a Florida casino chip from back in the 1920s.  As I said, there were a number of casinos to be found around the state.  I've detected in the water in front of a few of them.  Maybe you have too without even knowing it.

Old Miami Beach Casino From the 1920s.
Source: http://www.windmillworld.com/world/miamicasino.htm

Here is a picture of Windmill World.  It had a casino and was located near the South end of Miami beach.

Or maybe you've detected near the casino near the end of Hollywood Beach Blvd.

Below are a couple more pictures of Florida casinos.





Here is a little information on the value of casino chips that I found by using this link.

http://voices.yahoo.com/casino-chip-collecting-determine-value-764451.html

You might think that, as with coins, the rarest or oldest casino chips are the most valuable. This isn't always true, though. Collecting casino chips is a little like collecting sports memorabilia in that collectors are interested in the story behind what they're buying. This is usually the story of the casino the chips originated from. One of the most popular kinds of stories is about the illegal gambling houses that started up in the Midwest towards the end of prohibition. Poker chips from these establishments are known as "illegal chips." The drama and intrigue surrounding the illegal casinos catches a lot of people's imaginations, which gives greater value to the poker chips associated with them. Many collectors believe the value of illegal chips will continue to increase as more people get interested in casino chip collecting.

1920s Cocoa Beach Casino.

Here is a casino that was located at Cocoa Beach.  Naturally it isn't as large as the facility at Miami Beach, but it had bath houses and a casino.

You can read more about it by using the following link.



https://www.cityofcocoabeach.com/citylife/Photos_Historical.html

And here is a picture of the resort where the Hollywood Beach Casino was located.  

The 1926 hurricane devastated Florida and brought an end to the Florida Land Boom and pushed Florida into the Great Depression.  That closed many of the old Florida casinos and put an end to an interesting part of Florida history.

One additional note on casino chip collecting.  Unlike those that I've found while detecting, many are plastic and have no metal content.  Those that I've found were partly silver.  Unlike the one above that is all silver, others are partly plastic and partly silver.

Here is a link to another web site on casino tokens.  There are various terms to use if you want to do more research on the topic.  Casino tokens or gaming tokens or chips are two.

http://www.casino-tokens.com/


The experiment I reported on yesterday where the object stepped down a sand slope under water was a totally submerged environment.  That is important and I wanted to point that out.

It is what can happen under the right conditions in the water and shows how objects can find their way to deeper water and into holes.

Also note that the current had a effect such as air rushing over an airplane wing, but in this case was not strong enough to actually lift the object.


On the Treasure Coast the water is very calm today.  The surf is very small and the tides have flattened out.

The wind is from the West.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/9/14 Report - Storms Hitting the UK, Treasure Coast Finds and Conditions, and Identity of Recent Whatzit.

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

I went out to the beach this morning to see what was going on.  There were a number of Sheriff cars at one beach access.  I suppose they were looking for signs of the plane that recently crashed.  As I understand, it is thought that the pilot's backpack and maybe a boot has been found.

Mushy Treasure Coast Beach This Morning Near Low Tide

The beaches that I looked at this morning were mushy.  Here is one.

I did find one place where there was a one-foot cut that ran for about fifty yards.  (See below) There were shells below the cut.

All along that beach were a lot of iron flakes near and in the wet sand.  That was the predominate target type on that beach this morning except for a small number of small pieces of copper.  There were also a few pieces of fossil.

I often get questions about iron flakes.  Many of them come from renourishment pipes and equipment.  Some can be from something older though.

Overall, beach conditions remain poor.

Notice the black sand right below this cut.


Detectorists are often mischaracterized and misunderstood.  The many contributions  made by amateur archaeologists as well as the salvors that contribute so much to the Florida Collection are very much overlooked.

You might be surprised by the level of experience, expertise and contributions made by those who read this blog and who send me emails.  Among those that read this blog are some who work on the salvage ships along the Treasure Coast, but I often hear from experts in a variety of fields.

For example, I often hear from those who collect fossils.  They hold permits and report their fossil finds according to the terms of those permits.

I also hear from some who have published articles in professional archaeology journals and others who have worked with archaeologists.  And there are some who have contributed their finds to museums.

As I showed through a poll that I conducted in this blog, the average age of the detectorists who reads this blog is in the fifties.  They don't dress like Indiana Jones and swing across canyons on ropes.  There is a very small group that is younger.  Certainly many of the divers are younger, but overall detectorists are mature, accomplished, law-abiding people who have rasied families and now have the time to pursue other interests.


Here is a neat video sent to me from Peter H., a detectorists in Wales who reads this blog.  The video shows an animation graphic of significant wave heights that have been banging the UK for the past couple of months.  Really fascinating.

http://magicseaweed.com/news/an-extraordinary-winter-of-north-atlantic-storms/6066/

Thanks for the contribution Peter.

I think you can see that what they are getting over there is a continuation of the winter storms coming off of New England.

In Florida we don't get the huge tides that they get farther north and the beaches are what I'll call lower profile.

The principles I describe in this blog were largely derived from personal observations from the East Coast of Florida yet apply to beaches everywhere.  

Peter said, "Your posts have helped me immensely to find the spots particularly high up on the beaches where the dunes have been cut and washed away." 

I'm glad to know that I'm helping people well beyond the Treasure Coast.  I'd guess that my most long-distance email concerning this blog came from a detectorist in Australia. 



The other day I posted a whatzit.   It was a toy pirate piece, in case you couldn't tell.

Here are pictures of similar fantasy pieces sent in by Clint L., who correctly identified the whatzit.

 
 


 
 





I recently posted some finds by SW.  Below are some more, including a musket ball, old token and a few other items.

Finds by SW.

Token Found by SW.

SW said, On the subject of tokens. Here is a token just dug yesterday, right in the middle of my war site. It is a George Junior Republic 50 cent. Most likley early 1900. My best find ever was a 1776 token found at a Morman Battalion Camp. To bad it was stolen from me about 35 years ago. The other photos are a .49 call musket ball, a Carlton Silver Plate spoon. (age not known yet). the fired round and the white metal button were in my trash bucket, the button looks like an early bottle cap. 

Congratulations SW.  And thanks for sharing.

SW gave two good warnings.  One is to keep your good finds safe.  I recommend a bank safe deposit box.

Second, be careful what you throw in our trash bag.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/7/14 Report - Vintage Pontiac Token, Redi Kilowatt Token, and More Common Beach Token Finds

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

Three Sample Transportation Tokens Metal Detected on Florida Beaches.

Yesterday I was talking about tokens.  Today here are a few common examples of transportation tokens.

Going left to right.

1.  Parking Token

2.  Garden State Parkway Token

3. Metro-Dade Transportation

The parking token doesn't have a specific location on it.

If you detect very much around Miami you probably have found a lot of the MetroDade ones.

One thing about a resort area, you'll find things from all around the country and world.

The above tokens are common and not very interesting, but here is one that could be older and would be worth a little more if it wasn't in such poor condition.  It is brass or bronze.

This token is more rare than those shown above and it would be much less likely that you would find one just like it, yet if you look on eBay at any given time you'll probably find one or more like it for sale.   While it might be rare for an individual to find, it is certainly not rare when you consider the number that are available.

The internet makes things less rare by more widely dispersing items and knowledge of existing examples.  That is the effect of modern commuications technology.

Things that were easy to sell for a good price twenty years ago can not be sold at all now because of the large number of existing examples for sale on the internet.  That makes items that were difficult to find, study and acquire much less rare than they were back in the day when you had to network and go out and find examples for yourself.  I guess that is one way of saying that it is now a much smaller world.

Back to the above token.

I hope you can see the figure of the Indian on it.  At the top of the token it says PONTIAC.  On the bottom of the same side it says, "CHIEF OF THE SIXES."  THE SIXES is clear on this token but not the rest of that phrase.

The back says "PRODUCT OF GENERAL MOTORS"  The back has a wreathe around it, looking very much like a coin, except for the writing.

I found a number of these being sold on eBay.  They are in much better condition than this one, which appears to have been tumbled in the ocean.  Unfortunately the item descriptions do not tell the age or anything else, except one person says they were given out in the show room, and another person suggests that they typical of the 1920s or 30s.

If you have more specific information, I'd like to hear what you've learned.

I'll throw another token in today even if it isn't transportation.

 This token was evidently made in 1954 to celebrate the 75th year (Diamond Jubilee) of electric lights.

The graphics on this token presents the spirit of the era.

As you can see from the inscription on the others side in the picture below, it was all about progress.

My father worked for the electric company so Redi Kilowatt was a very familiar character to me during my youth.



This token got beat up.  I don't remember exactly where or how long ago it was found, but I know it was not a recent find.

Of the tokens that I have found some of my favorites are casino tokens.  Some of them are made of precious metals and some are fairly valuable.

I think I've shown some of them in this blog including one that was found on a beach but still in a plastic holder that kept it in nice mint condition.

In the past I've mentioned that this year storms are causing a lot of erosion in the UK.  Over there they are recruiting and training people to record sites that are being eroded and can not be thoroughly studied before they are lost.  They seem to have a much better relationship with the public and involve the pubic instead of treating the public as the enemy.  Only good things can come from improving relations between the public and the government archaeologists.

Here is the link.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/feb/04/volunteer-army-archaeological-sites-uncovered-floods

On the Treasure Coast the tides are fairy flat.  The weather is very nice for being out on the beach.

The surf is down around two feet and will be that way for a while.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net