7/8/20 Report - Mel Fisher Expeditions and Finds. Quintessential Treasures. Digital Treasure.

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

Quintessential Treasures That Fortunately Were Never Lost.
See link below.

Not lost but still representing the kind of objects that any treasure hunter might dream of finding.  I'm sure that out there somewhere are lost objects that are as finely crafter and beautiful as these.

Click here to see more Sotheby's auction items like these.

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Down south, Mel Fisher's Expeditions are working on the the well-known Atocha and Margarita sites, but also the less well known "Lost Merchant" somewhere off the east coast of Florida, and another 1622 wreck that has yet to be found.

The Magruder went sifting for emeralds and then back to the area known as the Bank of Spain.  Their latest finds included a nice emerald, 1 complete silver candlestick, a piece of a silver plate rim, some pottery shards and half of a silver coin.

The Mel Fisher museum in Sebastian will be reopening on May 8.

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The nature of treasure is changing.  I guess it always did.  Wealth is becoming less tangible.  Most transactions no longer require coins or currency.  It is done digitally.  Digital currencies include cryptocurrencies, virtual currencies, central bank digital currencies and e-Cash.  You've probably heard of bit coin for example.

And you know about the scammers that do their own form of illegal digital treasure hunting by mining the digital information that resides on our computers.

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday warned Americans that the Chinese government’s theft of American information is taking place on so large a scale, suspected incidents make up nearly half of his bureau’s counterintelligence cases.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Hudson Institute in Washington, Wray said that Chinese thefts amount to “one of the largest transfers of wealth in human history,” and that the American people are the victims...

See https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fbi-director-wray-says-half-of-bureaus-5000-counterintelligence-cases-are-related-to-china

Yesterday I mentioned some of the products of our culture. If you thought China might be a place you could escape from our culture, the Chinese have been going to great lengths to become wealthy by stealing our Culture.  Can you believe they even have a Shanghai Disneyland Park?

Now that Crossfire Hurricane is over maybe the intelligence agencies can spend there time on more useful things.

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One great book that I think you'll enjoy is Bill Bryson's At Home: A Short History of Private Life.  It goes into the invention or evolution of the things around us and how we live today.   It is really an very exceptional book on the history of most everything we encounter in our homes and lifestyles.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

There is a 60% chance that the system up by North Carolina will develop into a cyclone in the next 48 hours.  It is expected to continue to the northeast though. 

Most days now there is something developing somewhere.  I think we are supposed to get 20 some names storms this year.  It was upgraded some the last time I saw the forecast.

Looks like the page view counter will hit 2.5 million later today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/29/20 Report - Mysterious Phoenix Button Found. Great Thrift Store Ephemera Hoard. T. C. Beach Hunting.

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

Source: MyNorthwest.com link below.

The following is the beginning of the story of how detectorist Phil Massie found the mysterious Phoenix button

“And I’m swinging the metal detector on our way out, because we’re like, ‘There’s nothing here, let’s call it a day, just try another spot,’” Massie said, describing the denouement of what began as a typical outing with a group of his metal-detecting friends to a public beach along Puget Sound.

“[Then, on] my last like five feet before the dirt walking off of a beach area, I got a really good signal,” Massie said. “And I pulled it out. And I told the guys, ‘Hey, come here and take a look this, I found a button and I’ve never seen anything like this before.’”

What Massie had found buried about six inches down was made of brass, and was less than an inch in diameter.

Rubbing away the dirt clinging to the object revealed an intricate design of a bird, and what turned out to be a phrase written in French. Within a few days, Phil Massie figured out that other examples of this tiny object have been found around the West for more than a hundred years.

And he also figured out that their origins were a mystery for decades...

And here is the link for the rest of that interesting article.

https://mynorthwest.com/1976707/mysterious-phoenix-button-found-puget-sound


Thanks to Timothy M. for alerting me to that story.

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Jerry P. ended up with a very cool thrift store find you won't believe.


Your recent post with the postcards made me think about last month's treasure find. Well, truth be told I didn’t find it but a close friend did and he had the insight to remember that I have a deep passion for anything local treasure. He was thrift stores hunting and came across a box filled with file folders and two of them had a written mark that said “DIVING + COINS”. He payed the price and I now own them. Inside were three incredible postcards that immediately caught my attention. I spent hours going over all the contents and it was like a time capsule. Inside were papers that included, post cards, news paper articles, personal letters from great treasure hunters, old news letters from local beach hunting treasure clubs, old beach maps from local hunters and a stack blank COA's from Mel Fisher’s original Cobb Coin Company with the auto pin of Eugene, Duncan and Mell, breath taking if you love history!

You have always implied treasure can be found anywhere if you are looking and nice enough to take the time to share your passion, thanks for all you have done!

Thanks for sharing Jerry.  That is one super cool treasure that found you through another person.

Here are photos of those items that Jerry sent.

File Folder Marked "Diving and Coins" 

Found in Thrift Store Along With a Variety of Ephemera.

Treasure Clippings 

Found in Thrift Store Hoard of Ephemera

Cobb Coin Company COA

Found in Thrift Store Hoard of Ephemera.  

Part Of Thrift Store

E;phemera Hoard.

Great story Jerry.  You can find surprising things in Thrift Stores.  Your treasure related ephemera hoard will serve as an inspiration to others.

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I did a little detecting this morning.  There were a good number of coins on the beach.

Along much of the beach, a dip has formed between the bar and beach.  In many places it is less than six feet deep at low tide.  There is a lot of loose sand in the dip.

I picked up a cheap bracelet and a few dollars in coins.

It seems a lot of people have been going to the beach.  There were many out-of-state cars in the parking lot.  I guess Cuomo won't let his people come home without quarantine, so they are just enjoying the Florida sun.

There is one area in the Atlantic that could develop into a cyclone, but it is still far from us.

 I'll keep track of it.


The first two episodes of Dino Hunters was fun.  They didn't make it farcical like some of the treasure programs.  You know what I'm talking about.


It seems tons of people are leaving Twitter and flocking to Parler.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/11/20 Report - Heel Bone Pierced by Spike: Artifactual Proof of Crucifixion? A Personal Easter Story.

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

The heel bone and nail from the ossuary of Yehohanan, discovered in Jerusalem in 1968.

 (photo credit: Courtesy of the Israel Museum. Photographer: Ilan Shtulman)

From TimesOfIsrael.com (See link below).

In Jerusalem around 2,000 years ago a Jew named Yehohanan, who was in his mid-twenties, committed a crime against Roman authority. The nature of his transgression has been lost to time, but his punishment is known — he was crucified.

Convicts were executed by crucifixion in the Roman Empire as a matter of course, and histories of the time regularly describe the practice, which was designed to make death prolonged, painful and public. After the famous slave uprising led by Spartacus was crushed in 71 BCE, for example, an estimated 6,000 rebels were crucified along a highway leading to the capital as an illustration of Roman power. 

It is therefore an odd fact that archaeological evidence of this punishment — crosses, for example, or perforated skeletons — has never been found anywhere in the world, with one exception: the stone box containing Yehohanan’s remains.

After Yehohanan’s body was removed from the cross, it would have been laid out in a burial cave. After the flesh had decomposed a year or so later, leaving only the skeleton, his bones were gathered in a simple stone box, an ossuary, in keeping with the Jewish practice of that time. Today, the box is displayed in a gallery at the Israel Museum alongside other artifacts from the period of Roman rule in Judea...


Here is the link for the rest of that article.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-a-stone-box-a-rare-trace-of-crucifixion/

Now there is an artifact.  It provides a good example of how artifacts provide evidence but do not tell the entire story.  As we've seen many times, artifacts can be difficult to identify, but the research can teach you a lot.

This artifact, like so often is the case, presents difficulties.  Below is an image of a heel bone.

One of the difficulties is that the spike goes through the side of the heel, which is not how crucifixions are pictured.  Like the crucifixes I showed yesterday, they usually show a single spike going through the top of both feet, with the two feet being on top of each other.

Scholars take this spike as evidence of a crucifixion.  It might be, but could it be something else?  Could it be some other type of torture other than crucifixion.  I don't think it would likely be accident.  To me, crucifixion seems like one of the better explanations, but there might be some other explanation.

Some have suggested that the feet of the person being crucified could have been placed on each side of the main vertical post of the cross and the feet nailed to the cross, one on each side of the upright post.

We can make the mistake of thinking that things were always done the same way.  That is probably not the case.  There can be different circumstances and different people that do things differently.

Some crucifixes show the feet on a bit of a stand attached to the cross.  If there was a vertical support for that stand, the heels could have been nailed to that rather than the sides of the main vertical post.  Or the fellow could have been terribly pigeon toed or had the turnout of a ballerina.  There are a lot of possibilities.  We just don't know the entire story of this artifact yet.

We can also wonder why the nail isn't all the way in the one or why on the other side it is bent over.   Many questions remain.

Part of the value of the artifact is what it tells us, and part of it's value is what it asks us.

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You might enjoy reading other articles in the Israel Times,  Many of the articles are on Coronavirus, such as the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect being hit ten times harder than the general population.  It seems the virus hit them even harder than it hit our black communities.  Also interesting is the article on a Holocaust survivor's reflections on the virus.

That reminds me of the 104 year-old WWII vet that had the Spanish flu and survived it and also had COVID-19 and survived.  That fellow is a survivor.

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Among the most legendary of treasures are the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant.  Probably no other treasures have been the subject of so many books, stories and movies.  Although they did exist, much of what has been written or portrayed about them is pure fiction.

There are other Biblical lost treasures, such as the priestly breastplate that was made of gold and covered with gems.  It has been claimed that one of those gems has been found.  I'll get into that more some other time.

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My Easter Story.

They say you can never go home again, but last night I did.  It was before 4 AM when I awoke and vividly remembered an experience that put me at a particular time and place of my youth.

It was sixty-five years ago, late afternoon or early evening, the Saturday before Easter.  I and a few of the other kids had just finished our imaginary rendition of a major league baseball game on a field on top of a hill that would a little later in the year be covered by hay tall enough to hide in.

I could see my young mother in her apron  standing on the porch off the kitchen half way down the hill as she called me in.  The water for the Easter egg dye just reached a boil.

The kids scattered in four or five different directions, each towards their home, but I stood there for a moment and looked out over the green valley that was my world.  I had no way of understanding it at the time, but it felt like time froze for a moment as everything I saw and felt was being stamped indelibly into my mind.

At the bottom of the valley was a creek, and above that a red dog road, and on each side of the road at various distances were the few scattered homes, each one having a name, such as Bristers, Simpsons, Hamiltons, Harts and Mounts.

As I looked over that green valley with my young eyes, it was a scene that would never change for me.  I noticed a wisp of smoke rising from Brister's trash pile.  The smoke drew my attention.  It seemed slightly strange or out of place on such a bright clear beautiful scene.  

Mom was so young.  And dad was still here.  The kids are now scattered away from that valley.  Some of them are gone too, maybe like that wisp of smoke.

But I'm still that young boy.  Mom is still that young woman.  Dad is still here.  The valley never changed.  I know that because I visited that place again last night.

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The surf is still small, but the tides are still big.

As they isolate and distance, Christians await Easter morning and Jews observe Passover.  Easter and Passover are inseparable.   You'll see that in the Bible.
Passover for the year 2020 starts on the evening of Wednesday, April 8th and ends at sunset on Wednesday, April 15th for Reform and progressive Jews living inside Israel who follow the Biblical text. For Orthodox, Hasidic, and generally Jews outside Israel the festival lasts 8 days ending at sunset on Thursday, April 16th.

Blessings,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/5/19 Report - Other Kinds of Treasures You Might See On Florida Beaches. The Official Florida Stone and Arrowheads. First Find of Dinosaur Eggs.

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

Arrowhead Found on Treasure Coast Beach.

I recently posted a broken spear point that was found on a Treasure Coast beach and decided to post some more Native American artifact finds.

The above arrowhead was found in a shell pile on a Treasure Coast beach.  I was told that it looked like it was made of agatized coral, which is Florida's state stone.

Agatized Coral specimens are collected and are sometimes sold for nice prices.  Here is a web site where you can see some specimens and learn more about agatized coral.

https://www.spiritrockshop.com/Agatized_Coral.html

The site says, In 1979 the Florida Legislature designated agatized coral as the Florida State Stone.
It is described in the statute as “a chalcedony pseudo morph after coral, appearing as limestone geodes lined with botryoidal agate or quartz crystals and drusy quartz fingers, indigenous to Florida.”

Continuing, Much of Florida’s natural foundation is composed of soft, highly-fossiliferous limestones intermixed with sand and clay. This is known as the Early Miocene Tampa Formation. There are several distinct exposures of this formation which produced silicified corals and mollusks; the best known of these is Ballast Point on Tampa Bay in Hillsborough County. Six Mile Creek on a nearby Tampa Bay exposure of the same formation produced only calcareous specimens.

Wondering if the arrowhead might really be agatized coral, I took a closer look.  Here is what I saw.

Magnified Surface of Arrowhead.

Despite my overwhelming ignorance of geology and such things, it looks like it could be coral to me.

The image was enhanced somewhat to show the markings.

Below is an interesting translucent arrowhead that I found online somewhere.

The one I posted at the top of the post is not translucent.

I've talked to a few tourists that have found arrowheads on Treasure Coast beaches.  I remember, for example, one lady that came up to me near the Disney Resort and showed one she found.

Here are a few more arrowhead finds.

Three Arrowheads.

Arrowheads are not really rare finds on the Treasure Coast beaches, but they seem to be found more by shell collectors than detectorists.

If you know about Native American artifacts, you might be able to provide additional information on the ones I showed today.

I talked about Native American artifacts made of metal in previous posts,  but most of those found on the Treasure Coast are made of stone, shell or other materials, and are not sought or often found by metal detectorists.

As you know, I often recommend keeping your eyes open for other types of items while you metal detect.  There are many different kinds of treasure that you can find on Florida beaches and you never know what you might see.

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Riley Black, from Smithsonian Magazine, points out that the first naturalist to discover and describe dinosaur eggshells was, in fact, the Roman Catholic priest Jean-Jacques Pouech. Father Pouech was the head of Pamiers Seminary in southern France, but in his free time he explored the geology and paleontology of the Late Cretaceous rock preserved in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains.  That was in 1859.

Here is how he described his find.  The most remarkable are eggshell fragments of very great dimensions. At first, I thought that they could be integumentary plates of reptiles, but their constant thickness between two perfectly parallel surfaces, their fibrous structure, normal to the surfaces, and especially their regular curvature, definitely suggest that they are enormous eggshells, at least four times the volume of ostrich eggs.

Here is the link to learn more about that.

https://aleteia.org/2019/06/29/how-a-catholic-priest-was-the-first-to-discover-dinosaur-eggs/\

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Its amazing how people can see things so differently.  If you are a five year old, you might have seen the Macy's fireworks last night as little more than a bunch of sparkling lights and noise.  If you are an environmentalist, you might have noticed all the smoke and pollution.  If you are a left winger, you might have thought of the waste of such an extravagant display put on by a capitalist organization to increase profits at the expense of the poor against the backdrop of city built on the backs of immigrants. If you are on the other side politically, you might have seen a celebration of the country and opportunity and success. You might have thought about the invention of gun powder and the millions killed, or the evolution of rocketry and going to the moon.  A person could easily write hundreds of pages about the events, history and conflicting views represented in that single fireworks display.  Rather than responding emotionally to the first things that you hear of that catch your attention, if put it all together, add a large dose of facts and sift through it all, you'll end up with a more realistic, pleasing and well-balanced view of the world.  That's my opinion.

I hope you enjoyed Independence Day and gave some thought to it

We should be seeing some more treasure salvage finds before long.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/1/19 Report - Florida Fort Found. Antiquarian Book Treasures. Victorio Peak. Numismatics.

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

1615 Bible Stolen and Recovered.

I used to be amazed by the valuable treasures that you could find on the shelves of lending libraries.   Library staffs were not always aware of value of some of their books.  Back twenty or thirty years ago I noticed a very old book of Durer prints that was very valuable on the shelves of one library.  Someone was making photocopies of each of the valuable full-page Durer prints.  They evidently knew they were of value, but in the process of spreading the prints out on the photocopier were damaging the old book. I hated to see valuable antiquarian books like that being ruined.

It would have been easy for anyone to walk out of the library with an antique book worth tens of thousands of dollars and never return.  If they were to be charged with late fees, they could have probably paid a ridiculously low fee for "losing" such a rare book.  I was amazed that such books were on the shelves and that they didn't disappear.

The Bible above was part of the $8 million dollars of books stolen by one group, including an library archivist so I guess that some of those old books did disappear.  The stolen Bible shown above, and printed a hundred years before the wrecking of the 1715 Fleet was recovered in the Netherlands.

I noticed a rare collection of valuable books at one local library that was going to get rid of the entire collection of valuable books for essentially nothing.  I told one librarian what they were worth and that they should be saved.  Several of the books were worth hundreds, and a few, thousands of dollars.

Here is the link for more about the stolen and returned Bible.

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/400-year-bible-stolen-us-found-netherlands-62627071

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Hurricane Michael uprooted trees in north Florida and revealed artifacts from 'Negro Fort' where 270 escaped slaves died.

Here is the link for more of that story.

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2019/04/27/hurricane-michael-unearths-artifacts-historic-apalachicola-river-negro-fort/3472717002/

I always like to check in the roots and in the hole created by uprooted trees.

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I posted a link the other day to the Doc Noss Victorie Peak treasure story.  Here is another.

https://dailyoddsandends.wordpress.com/2014/03/29/victorio-peak-treasure-milton-doc-noss-biggest-con-of-the-20th-century/

Thanks to Norbert B. for that link.

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Here is a great video and discussion of some of the earliest ancient coins ever created.  It is very educational.

https://coinweek.com/ancient-coins/watch-talking-ancient-coins-with-mike-beall-and-mike-markowitz-part-i/

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I once created a video while I walked along a good shell line and picked up a sea glass and fossils that I saw.  It wasn't a very good video.  It was my first attempt at doing something like that and every time I bent down to pick up a piece of sea glass the camera didn't catch a good picture of the item I picked up.  If you wanted to get a real good look at the find, you could stop the video and get s somewhat better look at it.

Yesterday I got notice of a comment on the video.  The comment was, "Horrible video."  I wouldn't argue with that.  My reply to the comment was, "Thanks. Great comment."

Another person had commented on the video a long time ago, and said that I was being intentionally evasive and I "wasn't fooling anybody."  I think I fooled him, but not intentionally.

I don't know what those people were looking for, but I  suspect the second person wanted to gain something from the video that he failed to get from it.  He was evidently unhappy about that.  People reveal a lot about themselves from their comments.

Those are the only two comments that the video received over maybe a year or so.  The video did get a lot of "thumbs up," and almost as many "thumbs down."  Some people evidently got something out of the video, and some people didn't.

Rightly or wrongly, I expect treasure hunters to be able to take advantage of small signs, and anything that might be provide a hint or clue.  I don't think a treasure hunter of any type should expect somebody to tell them exactly where to go and where to dig.  That would not be treasure "hunting."

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/22/18 Report - Mexico Minted Half Reales. Atocha on TV. Digging Woodstock.

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

Philip V Mexico Half Reale Beach Find.

Yesterday I was talking about a December 1, 1990 beach hunt at John Brooks, and I showed two cobs from that hunt.  Here are another found during the same hunt.

Mexico Half Reale Beach Find.

The one above looks like it might be a different type of Phillip monogram. 

And below is another.

Mexico Minted Half Reale Beach Find.

This one shows the left side of the P and the mint mark M.

Mexico Minted Half Reale Beach Find.

This one shows a good part of the cross and a castle in the upper left quadrant.

In the past few days I showed finds from two December hunts, one in 1989 and one in 1990, and the results were very similar.  Five half reales were found in one hunt, and four in the other.  Besides all being half reales, all were minted in Mexico.  I think all except one or two comes from the reign of Philip V.

The 1989 hunt I remember in great detail.  The 1990 hunt, I don't remember at all.  It was fortunate  that I labeled the finds and when and where they were found for the second hunt, otherwise I would have had no idea.

None of these cobs were cleaned and they look pretty much as they did when they were found nearly 30 years ago.  You probably noticed that some still had bits of shell attached.  I wish I had labeled the artifacts too.

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Maybe you saw National Geographic drain the ocean over the Atocha on the 18th.  If you missed it, here is the schedule for other airings.
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I noticed a coin I got in change the other day and it still had bits of shell attached to it, like many of the cobs I show.  It was obviously on the beach at one point.  I've often wondered how many millions of coins are returned to circulation by detectorist.  I have no idea, but you see obvious examples of cleaned coins in circulation all the time.  We save a lot of money for the U. S. by returning coins that would otherwise have to be replaced.

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Can you believe Woodstock is now an archaeological site?

Archaeologists scouring the grassy hillside famously trampled during the 1969 Woodstock music festival carefully sifted through the dirt from a time of peace, love, protest and good vibes.

Perhaps they would find an old peace symbol? Or a strand of hippie beads? Or Jimi Hendrix's guitar pick?

The five-day excavation did reveal some non-mind blowing artifacts: parts of old aluminum can pull tabs, bits of broken bottle glass. But the main mission of Binghamton University's Public Archaeology Facility was to help map out more exactly where The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin and Joe Cocker wowed the crowds 49 years ago...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://phys.org/news/2018-06-archaeologists-scour-woodstock-concert-field.html

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Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/20/17 Report - Hoard of Silver and Gold Coins Found. Basic Stages of a Systematic Hunt. Recognizing Various Types of Treasure.

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

Hoard of Gold and Silver Coins Uncovered by Archaeologists.
Source: See Sci-News link below.

A hoard of 21 Islamic gold dinars, 2,200 silver coins, and gold artifacts dating to the 12th century CE has been unearthed by archaeologists digging at the Abbey of Cluny, a former Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France...

Source: See link below.

Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/cluny-abbey-hoard-05433.html

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I recently saw an episode of the Oak Island TV program in which they used an ROV to explore one of the submerged pits.  Finally!  That is one of the things I was amazed that they didn't do long ago.  I

It also seems like the equally long overdue systematic drilling has pinpointed the area that they refer to as "the real money pit."   That will help them focus their efforts better.

I don't remember if it was the same episode, but I cringed as a mattock was used to retrieve a detected target.  That reminded me of several instances of beautiful artifacts being damaged or destroyed by careless recovery techniques.

I haven't talked much about search strategies lately.  I talked about that kind of thing more in the past, and I don't like to repeat too much.  As a result I probably don't repeat enough.  People probably don't remember what I said some years ago anyhow.

My first step is always research.  After that is visual analysis.  There are too many beaches and the beaches are too big to cover completely.  You have to be selective, and it is best to select on the basis of reason and data.  To spend your time well, whether you are on a beach or not, you always need to know something about what you are going after, the area, and the signs or clues that will help you narrow down your search.

After your research and scanning the area visually, the third thing is to do some sampling.  After you eliminate some areas and identify others as more promising, it is time to verify your visual observation by doing some systematic sampling.

Some people grid an area before they test it. That is fine, but I usually want to collect some data by checking an area out a little with my detector before deciding to spend that kind of time.  Analysis of  finds made during sampling, both good and junk finds, can tell you a lot, and it might not take very long at all to gather that additional information.

There is a lot that could be said about sampling including search patterns and analysis of finds, but that is not my intent now.  During sampling you will also more closely inspect the area visually and with your other senses.  You'll see the type of sand and other small objects such as shells or pot shards as you check the area with your detector, as well as feel how compact or lose the sand is, for example.  You might then choose to switch search patterns and/or detectors.

I've also described multi-stage searches in which the surface targets or junk targets might be removed first and then the search strategy refined as the same area is covered more thoroughly in stages.

The same basic process can be used on either beach or inland hunts, large scale project or jut a trip to the beach.   I always prefer a thorough systematic process even though a quicker scan and analysis can be the first step.

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That toy shown above sold for over $85,000.  I tell you that to remind you that treasure comes in many forms and it is good to be aware of the significance and value of many types of treasure.

People polish crotal bells like the find I showed yesterday and put a nice red ribbon on them and sell them for a good price.  The Polar Express movie made bells like that very popular.  You can get brand new ones or nice vintage bells.

Here is the source link for the picture above.

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/07/01/living/fine%C2%A0cast-iron-toys-can-bring-top-dollar/

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I haven't been saying much about beach conditions lately.  There hasn't been much change.

It looks like we might get some bigger surf after Christmas.  That is what the MagicSeaWeed web site is showing.  I'll keep watching that.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/23/15 Report - One Way To Add Value And Interest To Your Treasures. North Carolina Beaches Producing. Sea Glass Web Sites.

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

What's the most valuable thing you ever found?  That is a question that I hear a lot.  If you detect very much you've heard it too.

I'm never comfortable with that question.  For one thing, I don't know the answer.   I'm sure you've heard that an item is only worth what you can get somebody to pay for it.  If I do sell something, which is rare, I do some research, but I let the market tell me what the item is worth.

Since my primary interest isn't economic, and I know that is what I'm being asked, I don't know how to answer the question.  I could get into a long discussion, but that isn't what the person wants.  Their interest isn't complicated, but it doesn't mesh with my thinking.  The result is that I'm left with an uncomfortable feeling knowing that not only do I not know the answer, but I am also a little uncomfortable with how the question is posed and the underlying assumptions.

Even if you boil it down to a matter of dollars and cents, I'll bet that some of your finds will fool  you. You might have finds that are worth a lot more than you realize and vice versa.

Not long ago I talked about a red piece of uranium sea glass that I found.  I didn't know until very recently that it was uranium sea glass.  I didn't find that out until years after it was found when I finally looked at it under a black light.

Red sea glass is rare.  Only about one out of 5000 pieces of found sea glass are red.  But this piece is more rare than that.  It is nice extremely well tumbled and shaped.  It is more rare than that.  It is also uranium glass.  That puts it in another category altogether.  The fact is that the red piece of uranium sea glass that I found would probably sell for more than many of the silver reales that I've found.  Who would have guessed?  Most detectorists have no interest in sea glass.

My point with this discussion is not about sea glass.  It is about treasures and how easy it is to be fooled by the potential economic value of finds.  It is easy to over value or under value different types of items.

I think more mistakes are made by not not appreciating the value of items than by thinking that things are worth more than they are.  If you over-value something, you won't throw it away or sell it ridiculously cheaply.  You'll just be disappointed to find out that you can't get much out of it.

In the case of items that are not thought to have any value, they are often ignored, sold too cheaply or thrown away.  You might never find out about that mistake, or you might.

This is just as much about silver cobs or escudos or other kinds of treasures.  They can be over valued or under valued.  The key is knowledge.  Do your research.

Here's another question.  What is the oldest thing you've found?  You might think of coins that are hundreds of years old, or maybe an artifact.  In my case, I didn't know what my oldest find was for a long time.

My oldest coin find is about 5th century BC.   Obviously that is not a U. S. coin.  But that is far from my oldest find.  My oldest finds are millions of years old.  They are fossils.

The first fossil I found came up in a scoop of sand and shell when I was digging probably a penny or something.  I didn't know what it was at the time, but thought it was unusual, and as I often advise, I put it aside and kept it. I didn't know what it was for a number of years.

The knowledge you bring to a treasure can totally transform it.  You might not know something important about a find, but when you learn more about it, the find can be transformed.

It is knowledge that makes the item more interesting and possibly more important.  Knowledge can also actually make an item more valuable.

Take for example, a coin with a certificate of authenticity.  The certificate provides knowledge.  It should tell you something about the item, such as who found it, maybe what wreck it was associated with etc. etc.  That knowledge makes the item more valuable.  Having a coin graded can also make the coin more valuable.

Research can provide important information about an item.  Notice that auction catalogs provide as much relevant information as possible.  The catalog might tell you about any special features, rarity and anything else that might make the item more valuable.

As I learned more about my red sea glass, it became more valuable - in more ways than one.  That is another example of how what you bring to your treasure is important.  What you know about an item can add a lot of value - again, in more ways than one.

Most people look for the obvious treasures.  Anyone will recognize a coin, and value it if it is old or made of silver or gold, but there are treasures that aren't obvious to the eye.  There are treasures that you might not recognize at first.

I feel like I'm talking in code or symbolism here, but that was unintentional.  It is still there.  There are multiple levels to what I am talking about.

I'll bet that you have found better things than you know. I'll bet that you've seen and passed over or even thrown away some valuable treasures.  I have.  As they say, knowledge is power.

What you bring to a treasure is important, and adds value.

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The surf on the Treasure Coast is a little rougher now.  It increased today and will be something like three of four feet for several days if the predictions are correct.

Ida is still out at sea, but that disturbance that has been slowly moving north should be affecting North Carolina.

I actually got a recent video clip from GoldNugget who is finding reales and other old coins on a North Carolina beach.

Here is the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToHgfXtNytI&feature=youtu.be

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A package of pot was found on a Fort Pierce beach yesterday.

Some years ago, I found three large (4x4x4 foot bales) on a Fort Pierce beach early one morning.

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Here are some good sea glass web sites.

This one is about uranium sea glass.

http://www.findseaglass.net/vaseline-uv-ultraviolet-and-uranium-treas-glass/

And this one presents a table showing the rarity of different colors of sea glass.

http://seaglassreinvented.blogspot.com/2012/02/sea-glass-color-rarity-chart-how-rare.html

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/19/15 Report - Indian River Treasures. Steamboat St. Lucie. Pot Shard, Old Bottle & Fossils.

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



Picture of the Steamship St. Lucie
Docked Not Far From Jensen.

In the old days the Indian River Lagoon was one of the main highways on the Treasure Coast.  Boat traffic was used by early settlers.  Later there was steamship service.

Here is a picture of the steamship St. Lucie at dock near Jensen.  I haven't found the name of any others, but feel there must have been others.

If any of you know of other steamships that sailed the Indian River along the Treasure Coast, I'd like to hear or read about that.  I've done a little research on that but haven't found very much.

You will occasionally see old things along or in the river.  One day just walking along Indian River Drive I saw a check-stamped pottery shard.  That was a surprise. 

Back after the hurricanes of 2004, the west side of the Indian River was lined with bottles.  It really was amazing.  They were solid along the water line.

The bottles gradually disappeared.  There weren't any to be seen for a few years.  I didn't know if they would ever return because many of them came from the banks where people used to throw their garbage.  That, of course, was in the days before they had garbage service. 

After the hurricanes they put sheets of concrete blocks over the banks of the river to prevent Indian River Drive from getting washed out again.  I thought with all of that we might not ever see the bottles again.

Last year a few of them started to appear.  And in the past few months some of the older ones started to show up again in spots where there was erosion along the water line.

My guess now is that there are still tons of them covered by sand that will be washed up again some day.

Years and years ago an embossed blob top beer bottles was found in the sand down by where the steamship shown above was docked.  The dock is no longer there.  It was destroyed by a hurricane way back in the day.

The thing that revealed the bottle was a spot of moss in the sand.  The moss, or seaweed or whatever it was, was growing on the bottle.  That bottle was not along the water line but out in the shallow water.

There are still the remains of a few garbage burn piles that can be found on the banks of the river.  Not many though, because of the erosion control structures.

I've never gone out to hunt fossils along the Indian River but have twice seen fossils there.  The first was this nice Great White tooth found along the edge of the river

Great White Shark Fossil Tooth.

.When I first saw it I thought it was the corner of a buried bottle.  When I bent down I saw it was a shark tooth. 

It is a very nice example with sharp serrations.  It is over two inches long.

One other time I was walking along the river bottles and noticed a fossil tooth of an extinct horse.  That was a surprise too.  I didn't really think that would be what it was when I first saw it.

Even though the fossils are there, I think in most places they are very rare.

When it comes to metal detecting along or in the shallow water of the Indian River, it is very difficult.  There is a ton of trash on the banks and in the shallow water.

I did spot an old pair of ear rings in one old burn pile once.

Even without a metal detector you can find all kinds of stuff along the river.  Those that I've mentioned today include include pot shards, old bottles and fossils, all of which I have seen when not hunting them. 

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The surf predictions and wave data is now found below the popular posts list.

This week we'll have very smooth surf and south winds.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

3/28/15 Report - Turquoise Jewelry. Silver Prices. 90 Silver Coins Found In Field. Some Real 18th Century Works of Art.

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

Styles come and go, and so do the types of things you will find.  Back a few decades ago silver and turquoise jewelry was very popular and there was a lot of it to be found.  There was a time when you would find a silver and turquoise piece on almost every hunt.

Here are a couple of examples of old water finds.  Both were found back in the eighties, I think, and both had been in the water a number of years before being found.

Here is what the March 25 Kovels Komment said.

Turquoise, the semi-precious stone, has long been popular on American Indian jewelry. Turquoise jewelry is now popular with designers of expensive jewelry and a Tiffany necklace of turquoise stones worn by Cate Blanchett to the Academy Awards was newsworthy. Turquoise is found when mining copper. Many mining companies have closed their turquoise production since 2012 to concentrate on the more valuable copper. The best stones doubled in price last year. Designers of gold and turquoise jewelry use stones without matrix, the black lines that mark the stone. Vintage Indian silver jewelry used more common turquoise with lines. Arab customers also prefer gold jewelry with the matrix because it is said to absorb evil and protect the owner. All real turquoise jewelry is going up in price. Beware, there are many good ceramic and plastic copies of the natural stone that are made to look like the plain blue or the matrix marked stones. There are also inferior soft stones that are artificially colored.

The ring in the top photo is broken and discolored, as found.  It is silver, though, and weighs .86 troy ounces.

The second ring is silver and turquoise and discolored.   Just two of many examples of old silver finds.

Silver will discolor when stored in contact with some other metals.  Be careful to store your better silver so that it is not touching any lesser metal.  The same thing can happen if a silver piece is on a piece of iron or something while in salt water.

Silver Prices

There have been two big spikes in silver prices in the last fifty years.  One was back in the seventies when the Hunt brothers monopolized the silver market and manipulated prices.  The other was back just a few years ago.





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Want to marvel at some real 18th Century treasures?  These are remarkable works or art.

http://www.sothebys.com/en/news-video/videos/2015/03/swiss-mechanical-marvels.html

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A man stumbled upon an earthen jar with about 90 silver coins from the 16^th-18^th century while plowing a field with a tractor in the town of Zahari Stoyanovo, Popovo Municipality, in Northeastern Bulgaria.

Here is the link.

http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/2015/03/26/bulgarian-man-finds-silver-treasure-of-western-european-ottoman-coins-while-plowing-field/

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A month or so ago I told you about how you can have your own DNA tested for about $100.  Here is a genetic study that used DNA testing to identify major migration patterns.

http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2015-03-24-complex-genetic-ancestry-americans-uncovered-0

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A nice cold front came through bringing all that rain and some nice cool air.  The surf is only around two or three feet though.  The tides are moderate now.

Next Sunday they are predicting up to an eight foot surf.  I'd give that less than a ten percent chance o actually happening.  I hope it does.  We sure need it.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net