7/27/16 Report - Treasure Hunting Vacation Hot Spots. Treasure Hunter Perishes While Hunting Fenn Treasure. Alamo Discoveries. Benny Bills.

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

Summer is a time when lot of people travel.  I always like to detect new locations.  You won't know the new locations like the locals, but you can do well anyhow

I've done very well when trying out new locations.  I was often surprised by what the locals missed and wondered how it could happen.

I liked detecting the lakes of Minnesota, the beaches of Pensacola, backwaters of Milton Alabama, as well as the Caribbean Islands, to name a few.

The locals don't always get everything.  In fact sometimes they leave some very good hunting.  That has been my experience.

Dean sent me the following link to an article on vacation treasure hunting hot spots.

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2016/07/27/8-vacation-hot-spots-for-serious-treasure-hunters.html

Thanks Dean.

---

A treasure hunter who disappeared this year while searching for an author's cache of gold and jewels in the New Mexico wilderness was confirmed dead by authorities Tuesday after his remains were discovered west of Santa Fe...

Bilyeu disappeared in early January while searching for antiquities dealer and writer Forrest Fenn's $2 million trove in northern New Mexico.

Here is the link to that story.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/07/27/authorities-id-remains-in-new-mexico-wilderness-as-those-missing-treasure-hunter.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl7%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D-1173593424_htmlws-sb-bb

New locations can be a lot of fun, but they can also present dangers that you aren't aware of or aren't prepared for.

Be cautious when you are working new and different kinds of locations.

Thanks to Dean and C Man for sending this link.

---

I don't like taking metal detectors as carry-on anymore.  I used to do that a lot, and I don't know of anyone having a lot of trouble with that, but when flying, I prefer to send my equipment ahead by mail so that it is waiting when I arrive.

---

Texas archaeologists may have found more of the Alamo. 

Spanish colonial adobe bricks discovered at a dig site in downtown San Antonio's Alamo Plaza may have made up part of the mission's original western wall, researchers announced Monday, although more analysis is needed to verify the architectural function of the centuries-old bricks.

The dig, the first of its kind at the Alamo, is the first phase in a larger effort by state and local officials to renovate the historical landmark.

Here is the link fo r more of that article.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/07/25/alamo-archaeological-dig-yields-colonial-wall-remn/

---


Have you heard about "Benny bills?"  There is a philanthropist that anonymously leaves one hundred dollar bills.

Here is how the article begins.

A mystery philanthropist has been spreading cheer one $100 bill at a time for more than three years in and around Salem Oregon.

He randomly hides the bills to be found at stores, markets, fairs and festivals, surprising and delighting unsuspecting shoppers and patrons.

When the first reports surfaced in May 2013, I christened him with the nickname Benny because Benjamin Franklin is on the $100 bill. Not long after, when it appeared others might be trying to steal his thunder, he began signing his bills...

Here is the link for the rest of the article.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/humankind/2016/07/14/mystery-philanthropist-hiding-100-bills-all-over-city/87036544/

---

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/11/14 Report - Detecting Up North On A Quick Trip. Decoder Mystery Solved. Orphan Annie Radio Program. Fort Pierce Shark Attack.

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

Center of Dug Mystery Item Reading ROASS

There are many types of treasure, and different people have a passion for different types.  Some love glitzy modern gold, others old rusty relics, and others fossils or meteorites.  To some extent you are limited by where you live, but you can always travel.  Gas prices have decreased lately, making travel a little more economical.

As you probably know the Treasure Coast beaches have not been giving up much his year.  We just haven't had much erosion and a lot of the beaches have been smothered by tons of renourishment sand in recent years.

I like all kinds of treasure.  Sometimes I like rusty relics as much  as glitzy gold, especially when they provide an interesting connection to a time, place or person.  And sometimes I just like exploring, seeing what is there and learning a little about what happened at a location in the past.

Well not too long ago I made a quick trip up north.  It is an area that has a lot of personal history for me as well as a lot of old pioneer history.  I've written a little about it before.

On this particular trip, I sent an Ace 250 along ahead by U. S. mail.  It is light and doesn't cost much to send, and I'd rather send it than fool with baggage or carry-on luggage.  It costs about $15 dollars to send it by U. S. mail.  I don't worry so much about shipping the inexpensive Ace.

On this trip, I didn't send it early enough and it arrived later than expected, so I lost a little detecting time.  Nonetheless, I did get good use out of it and had some fun.

The area had been detected before, but I decided to focus on coins because I found some nice old coins there on my last trip and figured there would be more.  First I spent a little time hunting a yard which had been hunted fairly well in the past, just to see what was still there.  I didn't find any coins in the well hunted yard, but decided to dig a few other types of targets.

I got a confusing signal.   It appeared to be either an unusual shape or multiple targets close together.  The signal also told me it was composed of more than one type of metal.  

The mail man didn't come until late and it was already starting to get dark.  I dug the first piece and didn't have enough light to see what it was.  I could just tell that it was an unusual shape.  It was also covered with dirt.

There was more in the ground so I dug up the other part.  It was covered with mud, and I couldn't tell what it was either.

When I went inside and cleaned the objects off I could tell what it was.  It was a decoder badge, and on the top was the date 1936.

I talked to my mom on the phone and she said she had a Jack Armstrong decoder badge in 1936.  She told me about how there were a few radio programs that used things like that and one was the Jack Armstrong mystery program.  She said the program came on at 5;30 on Saturdays (evidently a memorable event for her) and my grandfather picked some other people up to come to their house to listen to the radio some evenings. 

You could get the badge by sending in a part of a cereal box and a coin of some denomination.  As part of the program they would give you a coded message, which you could decode by using the decoder.

After a quick internet search I learned that the decoder I just dug was not a Jack Armstrong decoder, but rather an Orphan Annie decoder badge.

The decoder I found was made in 1936, the second year that the radio program issued them, and was not a cereal box promotion, but was offered by Ovaltine.  You might remember Ovaltine, but I don't think many of you will remember the Orphan Annie radio program.  I remember Ovaltine.

Here is a link for more information on the Orphan Annie radio program and the various decoders they used.

http://www.radioarchives.com/Little_Orphan_Annie_p/ra005.htm

ROASS stood for Radio Orphan Annie Secret Society.  (See photo at top of post.)

Here are the two pieces of the decoder uncleaned.  The front has numbers around it and the second piece has letters that show up in the numbered windows when it is assembled.

The second picture shows the back and the secret compartment.  The pin that was on the back of the badge is now gone.

The secret compartment is about big enough to hold a penny or small folded piece of paper.

After applying 3 in 1 to the secret compartment I was able to slide it open.  I was really hoping something would be in it.  It would have been really neat if it held a piece of paper with a child's message.  It was empty though.  Too bad.

We know the name of the family that had two girls of the right age that lived in the area at the time and intend to do a little research on that.

That was one fun find.  Not valuable at all, but fun.

Tomorrow or some time soon, I'll post finds that are around 2000 years old from the same trip.


On the Treasure Coast the surf will be calm most of the week.   Not much new there.

Do be careful.  A surfer got seriously injured by a shark attack near the Fort Pierce inlet.  Here is that link.

http://www.cbs12.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_20366.shtml

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/16/14 Report - Traveling To Detect. When It Is Hot It Is Hot. Amazing North Carolina Beach Finds.

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

Eroded North Carolina Beach
Image from video by GoldNugget

On the Treasure Coast we still have that one to two foot surf.  The tides have been good due to the Super Moon.

I have a lot to write today - enough for four or five posts.  I'll have to hold a lot of it for another day.  I didn't post yesterday because I was traveling and didn't get a chance.  I'll try to get this post done in a hurry.

I was up North and had a great time giving a brand new detector a testing.  Among the finds was a Large Cent - 1829.  That was surprising, especially considering where it was found.  I'll get into more of that some other day.

Instead of taking the detector on the plane, I had it shipped up North where I was going to be and had it shipped home when I was done.  That saved all the hassles of taking it through security and on the plane or in baggage, which of course could be done instead.

I'll give you a review of the new detector and show some of those finds some other time.  Right now I want to show you what GoldNugget found on a North Carolina beach.  That isn't where I went.  I was in another state.

You'll remember after tropical storm or hurricane Arthur passed us, it hit North Carolina.  I mentioned at the time that it would be hitting North Carolina but I wouldn't be making that trip.  Well, North Carolina is where GoldNugget hunts, and he sent us some great photos of some great finds.   You'll enjoy them.

  Thanks GoldNugget!   And congratulations on the amazing finds!

They had some good erosion in North Carolina.  He sent me an email last week and said the site is still producing.   He said, When the Beach is Hot ,It's Hot.

 He posted a short video clip showing the beach where the items were found on Youtube.

Here is the link to that video. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GppaqFyT-iA&feature=em-upload_owner

It is the first video that he posted.  Good job!

The photo at the top of this post is one of the first few frames from that video.

 Notice the undercut and eroded dunes.  That is more than a six foot cut I would say.

Also, that beach isn't at a park or walk-over or anything.   You'd probably have to walk a good piece to get to it.

And there aren't any obvious signs that this would be the place to be. 

Those are all important things to notice.   I've talked about things like that in the past.  

If you want to find a location like that you'll have to work for it, but when you see the finds below you'll see that it can be worth the work.

GoldNugget said, I'm still trying to Identify the Emblem looking item.

If you can help him identify the item, let me know.

All of the find photos below are from GoldNugget and the site described.

Like I said, I have about four days of posts in my head.  I'll leave them for some other time.  Today you can enjoy GoldNugget's finds and his video.  Give it a look and think about what you are seeing.

There is a lot you can learn from that. 

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net


 

3/9/11 Report - Sandy Point Wreck Site & Nautilus Shells

Google Earth View of Sandy Point Wreck Site.

Adapt or go the way of the dinosaurs. That is something that was on my mind this morning.

One of the problems with having a lot of experience is that you might tend to fall into old habits instead of continually assessing and reevaluating what you are doing.

You might have found things that worked in the past that aren't working now. And you might have had spots that produced in the past that aren't producing now. That woudn't be at all unusual, especially under the present conditions.

Cuts that looked like the cuts that we recently saw on some of the beaches used to produce but didn't seem to be producing this time. They looked pretty much like the old cuts that used to produce, but there were differences. The recent cuts were much further east and on top of, or out in front of, tons of sand. That is a big difference.

It takes a long-term perspective to realize that. If you have only been detecting for a couple of years, there is no way you could realize that.

I talked about this a little not long ago. One spot might lose sand year after year and be eroded back close to where the sand hasn't been disturbed in at least the last fifty years. If that particular spot eroded, the new cut would have a much better chance of producing old items than a spot that had a much bigger cut but which was cut into sand that has been accumulating over more recent years.

The closer you get to old sand that hasn't been disturbed for a long time, the better the chances are of finding some old items there.

John Brooks beach had a pretty nice looking cut last week, but that cut was in sand that had accumulated over the summer, and was on top of many layers of sand that covered the sand that was exposed back in 2004.

Occasionally a cob or two will fall out of recent cuts like that, but thoe conditions are not nearly as good as a cut in a place that is exposing old sand that hasn't been disturbed for a long time.

Unfortunately it takes a while for all those layers of recently accumulated sand to disappear, especially when they keep dumping new sand on our beaches all of the time.

Someone once asked me what level 5 conditions on my 5 point TCTBDC Rating Scale would look like. I showed a photo of a beach after the 2004 hurricanes as the example. You can probably find that post if you use the search box at the top of this blog.

John Brooks simply has tons and tons of sand on the beach right now. Again, that doesn't mean a cob or two won't be washed up and exposed occasionally, but those aren't the conditions that I like to see.

You can learn to identify the different layers of sand on a given beach. The sand will vary in courseness and color. Sometimes you will be able to identify the type of sand that produces old items. At different beaches it will be different. On many of the beaches it will be a nice course brown sand.

I do believe that there are some artifacts on the front of some of the beaches right now. They are hard to get to though. Right now smany of them are buried beyond what you can dig out. I'm waiting for the depth of the sand on some of the front beaches to decrease so I can go get the artifacts.

I recently mentioned Sandy Point and someone wrote in and asked where that is. That is why I posted the view of Sandy Point today. It is about a three mile walk from the Rio Mar beach access, and of course less from the Vero South Beach parking lot. I don't think it would be much different walking from Round Island Park that is south of Sandy Point. The wreck near there is thought to be the Nuestra Senora Del Rosario.

I mentioned that there was a good spot to look for shells just south of the Fort Pierce Inlet on Monday. The shell pile is now gone, but here is one nice shell that I picked up Monday.

Two Nautilus Shells Found on Treasure Coast Beaches.

The one I found Monday is the small one. These types of shells are not often found on the East Coast and are paper thin. I took one picture of the small one on my finger and you could see my finger through the shell. I found the other one a few years ago.

Like I said, that one shell pile was gone today, but there was sand continuing to build on the few beaches that I looked at this morning. The cuts at John Brooks continued to deteriorate and sand continued to pile up on the other beaches.

The seas are about five feet today, but the wind is from the south/southeast. As you know that is typically not good. Expect sand to continue to build on our local beaches while the seas decrease over the next few days.

You might think about some off-beach hunting until things change.


Travel Book Printed in 1830.

Or maybe do some research. Old rare books often provide good research material.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net