4/16/19 Report - A Chest Full of Bogota Two-Escudos. Cuts, Cliffs, Flow and Erosion.

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

Bogota Two Escudo in Sedwick Auction (Lot 30)

Source: Current Sedwick Auction Listing.

Have you heard of the Mesuno Hoard?  The Mesuno Hoard consists of Bogota two escudos from the early years of the Bogota mint.  They are mostly dated 1628 to 1635.

The hoard was found by a poor fisherman who found a chest full of gold coins in 1936 in the Magdalena River near Honda, Columbia, when he went to check his fishing lines.  He shared the coins with his two brothers.

It seems that a boat carrying a shipment of coins to Cartagena was lost in the river.  From what I've seen of photos of the river today, it wouldn't have been a large boat.

I recommend that you read the very interesting and detailed Sedwick article about the hoard.

Here is the link.

https://www.sedwickcoins.com/articles/mesuno.htm

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Yesterday I described two ways that cuts are formed on a beach.  The first is when the water hits at an angle and slices away the sand.  The second is when the water hits the beach straight on.  It seems to me that the second method does not happen often on a real beach.  Beaches don't cut real often anyhow unless there is something that makes the beach especially vulnerable, such as jetties, rocks, or renourishment sand piled where there otherwise would not be much sand.

A wave tank is obviously not exactly like a natural beach.  The wave tank has walls that channels the water both incoming and returning and also keeps the sand from spreading to the right or left.  In the wave tank, the waves are also equally spaced and of the same approximate magnitude.  At least that was the case in the video I posted yesterday.  If you watch waves hit at one of the local beaches, you will see they vary a lot.  You'll often see waves coming from two different directions.  They are not equally spaced, and as the tide comes and goes so the water moves higher and lower on the beach, unlike what was demonstrated with the wave tank.

With the cuts created in the wave tank, I observed three stages.  First there was erosion that caused the slope to become more steep.  Then the upper edge of the slope collapsed.  And then the cut increased in size and moved back on the beach.

Long ago I showed how water slamming into the face of the cliff causes slabs of sand to separate and fall to the base of the cut to be washed away by the waves that follow.  For that to continue the water level must increase or at least remain high.  If the water starts backing off, the cliff will not continue to develop.    As long as the water continues to slam into the cliff, the cut will slowly move back on the beach.

I haven't yet explained how cuts create hot spots.  I'll have to do that some another time.

If the water remains high or increases because of storm surge or an incoming tide, the water will be hitting the cliff with a lot of force and bouncing the water back down the slope.  When you have that kind of force moving back down the slope, more sand and other things will be carried with it.  The only thing to stop it would be the incoming waves.

For sand to be moved by water flowing over it, it first has to become suspended.  It takes more force to suspend sand or other materials, but once it is suspended, it takes less force to move it than it took to dislodge it from its resting place.

The sand in front of a cut will be repeatedly washed and permeated with each incoming wave.  I( believe that repeatedly crashing waves can cause liquefaction.

Here is a video showing how shaking saturated sand will behave when it is shaken.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_aIm5oi5eA

This is something that I've not been able to observe, but I suspect that if the sand becomes liquefied, it will flow off the beach at a faster rate, and secondly it will fail to support the sand on the slope above it.

I observed that effect myself.  If you are near the swash area where the sand is near the edge, if you step on it, it will quickly give way.  The sand above that, which is not as saturated and firmer, will hold your weight, leaving only an impression of your foot.

When the sand gives way, the sand immediately behind it also loses some of its support.

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I know that some of you won't be very interested in beach dynamics, but I am, and if you understand it better, you'll be better able to determine when and where cuts will occurs and what will happened to the coins and other objects.  Then you'll have a better idea of where to spend your time.

I colored some grains and put them in the small surf and traced their movement.  Hopefully my video came out well and I'll be able to show you that in the near future.  I'm afraid there was too much glare on the water.

I'll also talk more about cuts and how objects will move relative to them.

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I'm sure you all saw images of the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral.  Anyone interested in history had to be saddened by the loss of such a historic building.  Began nearly six hundred years before the 1715 Fleet sailed, it survived hundreds of years of history including the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte, and World Wars, and was the residence of sacred relics such the Crown of Thorns, a stone from the Holy Sepulchre, and wood and a nail from the cross and many works of art, some of which were saved.


The tides are getting bigger, but there won't be much surf for several days.

Easter, if I correctly recall, falls on the first Sunday, after the first full moon, after the Spring equinox.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/22/17 Report - Gold Is Where You Find It. Where One Detectorist Found It.

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

New 14K Gold Bracelet Find
Find and photo by Steve in Sebastia

I received the following email along with pictures from Steve in Sebastian.

"Gold is Where you Find It".... This century old adage applied mainly to those out prospecting.  You really never did know where gold would be found.  Sure a degree in geology would never hurt.  In my "do over" life...that will be the first thing.  But some of the old timers just had a "nose for it."  Gold has popped up in the strangest of places.  Many a prospector out "bird dogging" (as it was called) came away with great riches by not following the pack. 

I recall the long hours of "bird dogging" off the local waters here... in the general area of General e Capitan Don Jaun Esteban de Ubilla's Flagship and Capitana near the McLarty Museum.  Funny how that works... we talk about "Ubilla's Capitana... yet Ubilla, is in fact a city in Spain.  Google it.  It is just that common practice back in Colonial Spain was to address a man with the ending word, being the city or region he was from!  That's why the name is always DE Ubilla, "de" being "from" in Spanish.  But I digress...

Bird dogging with a metal detector (back then a Fisher's Pulse 8X) on flat barren bottom, tossed around by the surge when you finally "tried" to work a target, and generally just a few feet of visibility.  A few dozen tanks of that kind of work, was enough for me.  But then one day when I was working a project up in The Great Lakes, on a quantifiable wreck with known bow and stern... I get a call that the Captain of our Salvage Vessel down here in Sebastian, Kim Ferrell, has hit it good!  He was out "bird dogging" and had found -- a half of a chest of 8 reales-- ("ray all ace")!  Or to the dreamers and lovers of Spanish Lore...half a treasure chest of the famous pirate treasure..."Pieces of Eight" !!!"  Way out off the beaten path.... READY?  Out to the NE about 150-200 feet of the main salvage area in 18-22'  feet of water."  It was a big deal, the promoter in LA called the media, and the helicopters flew in from Orlando and Palm Beach.  Big news that night... seeing a lump of silver still shaped like the cedar treasure chest!  If you are still around and reading this... well done Kim!  As a pro (not nearly as glamorous as it sounds) my first question is..." Where is the 2nd half of the chest?"  Same as my cuff link with a 200-400 B.C. Silver Denarius.  Where is the 2nd one???  How did I miss the 2nd one in the first place?  Someday I'll write about how we worked the deep passenger steamships (150-205 feet deep, up north on "The Great Lakes."

So getting back to "Treasure is Where you Find it !"... I was sitting in my favorite place.  My 30 year old Lazy Boy that is still built and acting tighter and better than a brand new one for a thousand dollars up at the "Lazy Boy" store in Melbourne.  You sit down trying out a new one, put your feet up, and shift your weight back and forth, and you have to hang on for dear life...you might just get sea sick!!!  No thanks!

So I have a couple hours to kill before dinner last Friday.  Too lazy to pack up the car with all my gear, and put on my harness, so I just grab my Minelab CTX 3030, and walk across the street to an empty lot.  But being here over thirty years...I know there had been a small modest 50s style ranch on this lot years ago.  It was demolished after sustaining terminal damage after hurricanes Francis and Jeanne.  It had flooded some, and got beat up pretty bad.  Another similar house across the street from that one was lost too.  That one the lady had just spent $50,000 in renovations.  Sad.

So if you have ever detected a former demo'd homesite...let's just say...it ain't pretty.  Metal junk is spread everywhere when the bulldozer does the final rake out.  But being new to the 3030, I thought -perfect for learning the tones and discrimination patterns and effects-.  I especially had a keen interest in a good target such as a coin in close proximity to a rusty nail.  And was there nails!  Hundreds of them!  The bent in a circle nails are the worst for fooling the detector.  You name it...brass hose bibs (water faucets for your hose) thank you...still work, will someday use.  Brass hose nozzles for the end of the hose, sockets, tile pieces with the mesh metal grid...and on and on.  Then to beat all.. the lot is cut very high, so your coil rides up about 3" over the weeds/ turf.  No real grass or sod, just a tangle of weeds and vines.  Best of all.... heavily infested with fire ants!  But you could not see the mounds, due to the high cut weeds! 

Now I arrived in Florida in 1987, and promptly went to the beach to see the site of a Spanish Galleon.  After all...it is the very reason I moved to Sebastian.  At the time, there was an empty lot right in line with the Capitana.  So I walked through only to be yelled at by the next over neighbor.  Big deal...just wanted to see the site.  But no... being a polite Wisconsin boy... I stand there explaining my love for history and the sea... all the while standing dead center in a fire ant mound.  Well...when 14 got aboard...the "master ant" yelled: "Now Boys!!!" and they nailed me!  The worst burning pain I had ever felt.  I ran down into the water, rubbing up and down my legs, and never will I forget the sight I saw that afternoon.  Those little bastards were washing in the salt water waves, hanging on by their butts, and not legging go!  I'll always remember seeing them swinging back and forth in the waves.  I headed home -fast-.  Half way to 520 at Wabasso, my mother would not have known me.  My face was twisted in a horror story that I almost ran off the road when I looked in the rear view mirror.  A twisted up face... like "Dr. Jekyell and Mr. Hyde."  My wife raced me to the ER.  That is all I remember until I came to... the doctor smiled at me and said;  "You had about 10 minutes."  I replied:  " 10 minutes for what?"... his answer short and sweet.... "To Live."  The ER doctor said they lose about 20 people a year in this area.  So please be careful if you are allergic, and carry your Epipen, if you go off on hunts.

So I dig a few dozen targets, earning my keep, and learning as I go.  I find my first "coin spill !"  Three Lincoln Memorial pennies.  Oh boy.  But I still got coins out of this desolate lot.  I may sound like a chump, but I love them all.  I found a couple of dimes and a few pennies in my own yard, and had more fun, running over to show my neighbor a half eaten away zinc penny!  I said:  "And to think...this is our monetary system!!!"  (;  So I tell the wife... "Gee... I wish the pennies had at least been "Wheaties"?  But I found three in the same hole...my "first" coin spill so...that's that. 

I go back two days later...again too lazy to go anywhere, other than to stumble across the street.  And what do I find about 15' from the first coin spill?  ANOTHER coin spill!  And like a wish come true... Wheaties... all of them!  Too funny.  But I first detected a real clean signal... that clearly stood head and shoulders above all the others.  I said to myself... so "this" is how a coin signal should sound!  Crisp, clean tone, on the screen the image kept building exactly in the same spot, not bouncing all over, and painting the image in darker and darker red, layer upon layer.  Then... the pin pointing lined up with the coil location as well.  Two key things to watch for on the 3030.

Now for the finale.... I locate and dig the first coin.  I check the hole with my "Garrett Carrot" pin pointer, and sure enough...another reading about 6" away.  I slightly elongated the hole.  Another penny!  Scrubbing the hole with the pin pointer shaft along the hole walls up and down (remember the entire shaft end up to the light is -a transducer-, not just the tip.  I see too many people just point the tip at the ground.  That you do at the end to finalize the pin point.  Probe into the last couple of inches of lose soil in the hole, rub the walls 360 degrees up and down the hole walls with the pin pointer shaft, but --do not- use your pin pointer as a digging tool.  It will start acting up and falsing in no time!  The Garretts have a nice "scraper blade" running down the entire tip length to assist you in scraping down the walls to get a clean detecting surface.  But again... don't use it as a pry bar to dig!!!

So that is it...2 Wheaties.  But now our next mission is to carefully recheck the target area one more time.  Sure enough... 1 more faint reading, a little over from the first hole, but still adjoining the first hole.  Yup... a 3rd Wheatie!  A bona fide coin spill!  Oh boy... but you know what??? I am really enjoying myself.  So the next mission is to dig ALL targets around the coin spill. 

I get a reading with a fairly good tone, but signal jumping around a bit.  Dig it anyway!  Rusty nail... a foot from "coin spill."  NOW... an honesty check.  I am here to help others learn from my mistakes, not to brag of my finds or my skill... in the least.  HAD I DUG ANOTHER NAIL FIRST...THE DIG WOULD BE OVER.  I WOULD HAVE MOVED ON...  But I get a reading a foot to the right of the nail, and a foot and a half down from the coin spill hole.  The tone is strong, but much, much lower a tone, and the screen image is almost off the screen on the left, actually hitting the wall of the screen on the left side, ..not way over to the right like a coin.  Then the clincher... NOT to dig it, due to it being so -long in length- a target.  I do a pin point on the detector, and I get the same target in a straight line almost a half foot long.  Now by "sizing your target," I KNOW...this cannot be any coin, and instead a big piece of junk copper gas line, etc.  But we'll dig it, because it's near the coin spill.  My mind said... it certainly cannot be anything as ridiculous as gold in this low level mess...certainly not anything valuable at "this" site!!!  But in the back of my mind... I knew gold was a very low tone and a number like 12-5 was in fact around gold, instead of a silver or clad coin at 12- 37-43.

So this object is laying perpendicular to how I was standing facing the coin spill hole.  I tried to pin point this object with the detector...it  just ran in a length of equal signal.  So I -WRONGLY- centered on this target, dug my hole, and off to the side of the clump dropped off a heavy lump.  Gold  toned chain?  What???  Costume jewelry... but boy did I make mistakes had this been real.  Then to my horror... I'm on my hands and knees, I look down into the hole right below me and see 2 links hanging down the rear edge of the hole (toward me).  I thought... Thank God this is just practice, because if it had been real... I would have just ---chopped a gold chain in half--- with the Lesche sharp shovel !!!  Shame on me!  So I widen the hole toward me, and out drops the remainder of the chain.  The shovel had actually more "pulled" than cut on the chain, and a little ball on a stud was on the one end, and a matching round hole on the other.  The bracelet was open when lost, as the lock mechanism was full of dirt.

I've had enough lessons for one day.  I head for home.  Shamefully... I hand the wife the 2 pieces.  She walks to the sink and starts washing.  She says: "For gold plating, I have yet to see a tarnished link"?  And I drew closer, now more afraid than excited...  Sure enough on the clip "tongue" said - "Italian"- and on the other side a 3 letter brand, and --"14k"--.  Yup... it was real... and I had just chopped it into two. 

Where Bracelet Came Apart During Recovery

So... full circle to the title... "GOLD IS WHERE YOU FIND IT."  No location should be judged as being "too poor" a site to hold gold.  Why?  Because.... Gold is Where you Find It !!!  With careful placement in my vise with cloth covered jaws... I gently heated the opening hole end, and pressed the stud with ball end back into it.  Click...good as new!  13.5 grams, 0.48 ounce, 8.7 dwt.  $338 scrap, new about $500-$600.  Santa was sure good to me this year... I found my first coin spill !!!  ;  Listen for those -very low tone- targets... and never, ever judge a site as being "not worth it."  I bet there is still more there... and to tell you the exact location...(it is Christmas after all...) This Italian gold bracelet was found 147 steps SE from my front door!!!  Yes... I really did count them.

Merry Christmas,
"Steve in Sebastian"


Thanks much Steve.

Steve's "stream of consciousness" email message gave us a look into the mind of a treasure hunter and all the twists and turns and ups and downs that can occur during a single hunt. It also provides some good tips.

For those of you who have been detecting the same over-hunted beaches again and again with the same poor results, you might want to try something different.  There are a lot of virgin detecting sites out there, believe it or not, and also many that are not exactly virgin, but still hold some very good targets.  You might be surprised how much good detecting you pass up on the way to the beach.

Detecting old home sites is a different type of detecting.  You'll learn a lot by doing it if you stick to it long enough.

I often look around and think about all of the sites there are to detect. I've had my eye on a local restaurant that just went out of business, for example  It has a grassy overflow parking lot that was often full.

Some sites might not look like much, but that doesn't tell you what might be there.  What you see there now does not tell what went on there in the past.  You really have to go some to find land where there is nothing to be found in the ground.  People that tell you there is nothing there often just don't know how to go about it.

Chains can be tricky to recover.  In the water, they tend to slide out of the scoop as the scoop is raised,

I also remember my first introduction to fire ants.  I was trying to recover a target in a fire ant mound.  Bad idea, especially when you don't yet know what they can do to you.

I've also made some big mistakes by assuming that an item was not very old or very good when it was older or better than I thought it was.  It is better to be overly optimistic than pessimistic if you are a treasure hunter.

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It appears that the after Christmas increase in the Treasure Coast surf will not amount to much - only two to four feet.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/15/17 Report - Artifact Research Process: Thoughts and Considerations. Example of a Lead Find. Three Days of North Wind.

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

Lead Found by Darrel S. A Couple Days Ago
Photo by Darrel S.

We're supposed to have three days of north wind.  The surf will be three to five feet, but the swells have a bit of a north/northeasterly direction.  That is the thing that could make it interesting even though I wish the surf was bigger.

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You might be asking yourself why I am showing this piece of lead again.  That is a good question.  The answer is that it gives me an opportunity to discuss my approach to researching finds.

If you dug up this piece of metal you might quickly conclude that it is junk and toss it, or you might respond very differently and quickly conclude that is something more exciting - maybe the lead lining of a treasure chest.  If you are on a TV treasure hunting show, you might be more PT Barnum than archaeologist, in which case you would hold it up and breathlessly announce that it is definitely from a treasure chest, and you know that is true because you've found hundreds of them before.  No matter if you are on a TV show or not, you might hope that it is something exciting and jump to the first exciting conclusion that comes to mind.  The fact is that it can be really difficult to be sure what an item like this is, so what I am going to try to present today is a very thoughtful, systematic, almost scientific way of proceeding that might be slow but will give you a good chance of coming up with a very good conclusion. The process of unraveling the identity, meaning and significance of a find can be a lot of fun as well as very informative.

It is a natural tendency to jump to a conclusion based upon your current knowledge, understanding or hopes, and then do everything you can to support that conclusion.   The key to what I am suggesting today is avoid jumping to quick conclusions, but rather to question everything, seek evidence, and carefully consider whatever the evidence might suggest.  It is better to start with questions rather than conclusions.  Ask yourself a lot of questions and carefully weigh the evidence as it is discovered.

I'm thinking of one item I found that I posted in this blog years ago.  I've changed my mind about that item a number of times, but now I feel about 95% confident that I know what it is.  It took a long time to get there and I changed my mind ( that means "learned something" ) a number of times.  When you learn something significant it will often cause you to change your mind.

Back to the lead item at the top of the post.  Could it be the lining to a treasure chest?  ( No one ever said that it was, I'm just using that as an example.)  I doubt it.  Why?  Lead-lined treasure chests have been found before, but according to what I've read, that is not how the coins on the 1715 Fleet were shipped.

The Cargo of Coins Aboard Nuestra Señora de Atocha, or “The Treasure Chest Defined” is an article written by Corey Malcom reprinted online from The Navigator: Newsletter of the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society, Vol.16 No.5, June, 2001.  Here is an excerpt from that article.

 From impressions seen on both the coin masses and the interiors of the chests, the coins were put into cloth bags before being boxed. The fabric appears to have been a plainweave of fairly large, crude thread, yielding a cloth quite similar to burlap. Unfortunately, none of the actual material survived. Other examples of shipwrecked coin chests are rare - in fact, only one other has been found. An example from the 1715 Nueva España fleet was recovered in 1965 off Florida’s east coast. This crate was also of a simple design, and had dimensions comparable to those from the Atocha. A length of 54.0 cm, a width of 28.5 cm, a height of 27.8 cm, and a plank thickness of 2.5 cm yielded a chest with a storage capacity of 0.026 cubic meters (0.91 cu. ft.) - approximately 60% greater than the 1622 examples. It had no apparent decoration, hinges, or lock. Somewhat differently, its sides were not beveled, but flat. No data is available for the coins carried inside. All in all though, there appears to have been little evolution in the manner of shipping coins...

What, if any part of that, applies to the lead find shown above?  The article seems to suggest to me that the treasure chests, or coin crates, on the 1715 Fleet were not lined with lead.  Could there possibly be any exceptions?  I would think so.  Who said this was from a typical coin chest?  Might the hypothetical treasure chest be a passenger's personal chest and therefore be different from the typical coin chest?  Again, I think that is possible, however I would also guess that finding something like that would be less likely than finding something from one of the many coin chests stored as cargo.  However, I have not presented any evidence that it would have anything to do with a treasure chest or anything like that.

Dr. Lori on the Oak Island TV show suggested that a metal plate with holes in it could be from a treasure chest and everyone seemed to be very impressed.  There was no analysis or evidence presented at that time.  Maybe there will be some in the future.  We'll see.

For more of the Malcom article, here is the link.

http://www.melfisher.org/pdf/The_Treasure_Chest_Defined_Atocha.pdf

Now that we've considered one hypothetical idea and done a little research relative to that, lets consider another idea.  Could it be hull-sheathing?

We know that lead hull sheathing was used and you can see examples in the Mel Fisher artifact database.  Lets look at what an authority has to say about lead hull-sheathing to see if we can learn anything.

Lead Hull-Sheathing of the Santa Margarita is another article authored by Corey Malcom and reprinted online from The Navigator: Newsletter of the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society, Vol. 16, No. 1 December, 2000/January, 2001.

Here is an excerpt.

Lead sheet in one form or another has been found on other Spanish vessels roughly contemporary to the Santa Margarita. The wrecks of the 1554 fleet found along Padre Island, Texas; the 1618 Honduran fleet’s San Martín, wrecked on Florida’s East coast; the mid-1500’s St. John’s wreck, the 1559 Emanuel Point wreck in Pensacola Bay, and the wrecks of the 1715 Nueva España fleet, have all produced lead sheet which was being used to cover seams, patch holes, or guard against shipworms. The sheet from these sites is generally described as similar to that from the Santa Margarita - thin, with a cloth impression - indicating that it was all used, or created in a comparable manner...  

Here is more from the same article.

The recovered lead bears many holes pierced by the fasteners that held it in place. Though none of the fasteners has survived (likely due to the aforementioned electrolysis) these holes, along with impressions in the lead, reveal the type that was used and the density of their spacing. The tacks that held the sheets to the hull had broad heads of 22mm diameter, and shanks 5mm square. They were spaced at 5-10 centimeters, with their placement tending toward the edges. The direction from which the tacks pierced the lead show that the sheets were placed with the cloth impression toward the hull, leaving a smooth exposed surface that was less friendly to adhering organisms. 

You can read more of that article if you want.  Here is the link.

http://www.melfisher.org/pdf/Lead_Sheathing_from_Santa_Margarita.pdf

Now we have some information that we can use to analyze the lead find.  If we were holding the item we could look for holes near the edge, measure the size, spacing etc.

If you look at the photo you can see what might be a cloth impression.  The reason I picked that photo is that is shows the cloth impression.  The impression could esaily be over-looked or thought to be insignificant.

Some people think the impression lead sheathing was made by the lead being installed on the hull over a layer of cloth.  Other people think the impression has to do with how the lead sheets were manufactured.  In either case, we can see what appears to be a cloth impression.  If you have any interest in this at all, I would recommend reading the entire article.

Some peope will say all of this is unnecessary.  They might be able to look at the item and immediately know what it is.  If they can do that, they have previously accumulated the necessary knowledge through long experience.  That is great, but when you are unsure, a research thorough research process is necessary. And I would encourage anyone to avoid being "too" sure, and continuing to learn and see if there is anything they can add to their knowledge.

One book on artifacts ( I had the reference here earlier but lost track of it somehow ) strongly makes the point that in the 18th century, items were used and repurposed and reused time and time again.  That would certainly be true of lead.  It could be used for a lot of things and it can be very difficult to say what it was last used for.  If it was sheathing, it could be kept for a variety of other purposes including being melted to make lead shot or fishing sinkers.

What I tried to do today was give you some idea of the slow process of researching a find rather than jumping to rash conclusions without sufficient continuing research.  The individual resources and facts were only presented to illustrate the process.

I know that some of you will find very little if anything new or interesting in this post, but I hope some of you benefit from what I tried to show of the long slow process of researching a find.

Disciplined research and thorough analysis can be key to unlocking treasure mysteries, while jumping to premature conclusions, no matter how exciting they might seem, can delay or prevent the solution.  I highly recommend an analytical scientific approach.


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I'm eager to see what three days of north wind will do.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/31/17 Report - 220 Pound Gold Coin Stolen. Marine Technology Journal. Historic Key Biscayne.

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

Source: See USAToday link below.

Did you hear about the 220-pound gold coin that was stolen from a German museum?  Yes, 220 pounds!

The coin, if it remains a coin, features a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the front and three maple leaves on the back. It was issued by the Royal Canadian Mint a decade ago, part of a promotional campaign for a line of gold coins. It's been on loan to the Bode from a private collection since 2010, museum officials said...

The stunning heist of a 220-pound gold coin worth more than $4 million from a German museum has bewildered authorities in Berlin and sparked a desperate hunt for the scratch before it is melted down.

The Canadian coin, known as "Big Maple Leaf," has a diameter of more than 20 inches and is more than an inch thick — it would make a great coffee table. It has a face value of $1 million, but the value of the gold is closer to $4.5 million.

Authorities suspect that the coin may have already been melted.

It appears that a wheelbarrow was used to get the coin to a car.

Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/03/28/spectacular-theft-4m-gold-coin-could-end-meltdown/99721988/

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You might be interested in the Marine Technology Journal.  You'll find articles on topics such as underwater imaging and ROVs.

Here is a link to one issue.

https://www.mtsociety.org/pdf%5Cpublications%5Cjournal%5CMTS39-3Color.pdf

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President Trump's Florida White House reminds of another Florida White House.  Nixon had a Florida White House on Key Biscayne.

I remember driving by the five home compound back in the day when Nixon was in office.  There was a helicopter pad at the time.  The compound didn't seem heavily protected back then, as I recall.  He probably wasn't in residence at the time, but things were different back then.  You could drive down the street right in front of it and the lots, as you would expect on Key Biscayne, were small.

Here is an article about that as well as a photo of what it looked like back then.

http://whcacannonball.blogspot.com/2012/05/president-nixons-florida-white-house-at.html

I did a lot of detecting around Key Biscayne.  It has a lot of history.  There was the old coconut plantation, and the lighthouse that the Seminoles burned, the well where old sailing ships used to resupply, and even treasure chests being found, one of which was found in an area now eroded into the Bay.

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I haven't been to the beach for a few days.  Very busy.

The surf will be down around two feet or a week or two.  We've been having some nice low tides.  The combination of small surf and low tides might give me the chance to do something I've been wanting to do for quite a while.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net