9/21/19 Report - Pocket Watch Finds. Hurricane Jerry, Weather and Beach Conditions.

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

Recent Watch Find by Joe D. After Cleaning.

Photo by Joe D.

After cleaning this pocket watch, Joe did some successful internet research on his watch and had fund doing it.  The internet makes research so much easier than it used to be.

Joe was able to get all the necessary information off the watch and locate the detailed specifications online.  He enjoyed the internet research.

I've often said that a lot of the fun comes after the find.

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Sebastian Steve offered the following comments relative to pocket watch finds.

So far as Joes's pocket watch "Congratulations Joe!."  __Like Things Attract__ and it should not be too long before you find another!  The pattern looks quite old, maybe not quite Victorian.  I remember finding my first gold watch... only the little ring on top for the chain was sticking out of the debris pile.  I thought I was reaching for a gold man's wedding band, but when as I tugged and tugged, finally out came this heavy gold pocket watch circa 1850 !!!  WoW!!!  Like things attract?  Not five minutes had passed since I reached for a beautiful English Sovereign.  The size and weight of our $5 gold piece.  These Sovereigns were very common in U.S. Commerce in and around the Civil War era.  The Sovereign was a known and trusted coin the world over, and Britain had been minting them since the 1830's I believe.  You were far more likely to find a Sovereign than a $5 U.S.  On an amazing ratio of 20 to 1....Sovereigns to U.S. $5.  Amazing, it really was.  The Sovereign is a beautiful coin, loaded with intricate detail, not at all easily forfeited.  

Now listen up Joe... I'm sure at this point, the last thing on your mind is selling it.  But if and when that day comes, when gold hits $5,000, __and it will__ know this...these gold outer watch cases bring -Big Dollars- just in scrap.  __Don't let anybody cheat you.__

I recall selling two of mine for a little folding money, and being handed $1400.00.  Yes, that zero is in the correct place.  When you get it open, with soaking with lots of running warm water, and plain ole dishwashing soap (lubricant) over and over, --do not rush it-- the hinge will gradually open for you.  Don't break it...you will hate yourself.  

Inside the lid, once you have cleaned it well, you should see the "jeweler"s hallmark."  It will be a very little box, like 1/16th "x 1/16th with the karat weight.  You should see a little "14" or even an "18" in this box if old enough.  By law...somewhere on that case you will find the assayers mark!  Almost all of the old Victorian jewelry was 18 Karat.  And a heavy watch case will amaze you with the layers of gold!  Also you may see little notations scratched in by jewelers, as was the custom in the old days, to signify repairs that they performed and when.  Just initials and like the month digits and last 2 year digits.  You can often get a good idea of the age of the watch from this.   

Maybe there is more there?  Remember...LIKE THINGS ATTRACT.  I found a beautiful pair of a man's and woman's hand crafted matching pocket watches with elaborate etchings carved in by hand, oh how many hours of craftsmanship?  A hundred hours for the pair?  Easy.  Both these from out the same steamer trunk.  Sad..this loving couple most likely went down with the ship, as their pouch of gold was still nestled in with the watches.  Hopes and Dreams... now dashed upon the proverbial rocks.  Who is to know such things?  Which ship to take, which to avoid?  Is a calm sunny day always your safest time to travel?  Words to Ponder...

God Help the Perishing Mariner Tonight

We Fear the Pall of Darkness

Shall be the Precursor of their Doom. 

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Joe was indeed able to find all the identifying information.

By the way, where he found it, the ground was littered with broken glass and trash.

Here is the photo.

Littered Ground Where Pocket Watch Was Found.

Photo by Joe d.

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By the way, the photo at the top of yesterday's post showed a lot of erosion at Jupiter.  That was all renourishment sand that got washed into the surf.  That, along with the east swells, is why we are getting much old stuff being uncovered on the beach.

The erosion is not getting down to the older sand in most areas, and the old stuff in front of the beach is being covered by old renourishment sand that was washed into the surf.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

There is still a lot of weather to watch and still a chance for us to actually get some better beach conditions.

Jerry is still on the north/northeast path, but there are two other systems out there that could develop and eventually affect us.

The surf is expected to decrease now for a few days.  That could be an opportunity to detect out a little farther than has been possible lately.

I got in some detecting time the past two days and dug a lot of targets.  I was interested in testing the Equinox, but tried not to stress my back.  I was most happy with the fact that my back held up.   I was also learning more about the Equinox, which I'll study more and report on at a later date.

I'll have to go back and research some of my pocket watch finds, which, for some reason, I never really looked at much.  I guess I never opened them up.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/3/19 Report - Dorian Updates. Decision Making. Risk and Reward Evaluations. Other Weather.

Written by the TreasuireGuide for the exclusive use of treasurbeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Newest most recent update:  TV news is reporting that the bridges to South Hutchinson Island are open if you have two forms of ID showing that you are a resident or have a business on the island.

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Most recent update: DJ just said the Indian River Bridges are now open.

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DJ just sent me the following phone message from Indian River County EOC.

"Dorian Update Tuesday 10:00 AM

The Indian River County Emergency Operations Center expects sustained tropical storm force winds to reach our county in the next several hours. We have already experienced tropical storm force gusts. Hurricane force gusts are expected to accompany the sustained tropical storm force winds. We ask that the public remain off the roadways and businesses remain closed at this time. Bridges/Causeways remain closed at this time. FPL is reporting less than fifty residents without power at this time. Click here for more: http://goo.gl/itpxIt “

Thanks DJ.

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Cone at 8 AM Update.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

This week has been a costly bust.  It feels like I just binge-watched a season of The Curse of Oak Island.  A lot of talk, a lot of mistakes, a lot of effort, and nothing out of the ordinary to show for it.  Today they'll be trying to cover up by convincing us that something really happened and it wasn't all a big mistake.

Of course, something did happen, but it wasn't to Florida.  Those poor people in the Bahamas got smashed.  And we were lucky that it didn't come our way.   It still could loop around or do something weird and get us, but that now seems very unlikely at best.

They say better safe than sorry, but there is a lot to be sorry about.  As I often say, there is always more than one type of mistake and as you become more cautious about one type, you'll probably increase the likelihood of the other type.

Take metal detecting.  If you increase your discrimination to miss junk, you'll also miss more good targets.  There are false positives and false negatives.  A false positive is getting a good signal but a junk target or no target.  A false negative would be no signal when there is really a good target present.  The thing is, you never find out about the good targets you missed, so it doesn't bother you.  People like to think they just don't miss anything, and it is easy to believe that because the evidence to the contrary doesn't present itself.

People don't realize the cost of preparing for a hurricane when it doesn't hit.  Last night all of the businesses were closed.  People lost income.  People were injured falling off ladders and cutting fingers while preparing for the hurricane that never arrived.  And all of the time, effort and expense that was put into preparing, could have gone into something more productive.  Not much will be made of it, but the mistake was very costly.

When guarding against one kind of outcome, you have to consider the results on both sides of the equation and determine if it is really worth it.  I'm not suggesting that we not prepare for hurricanes, but the REAL cost should be considered and weighed against the benefits.

It might sound like I'm just saying this because it looks like Dorian won't hit us, but that is not the case.  Just yesterday, when it looked like we could very possibly get hit much harder by Dorian, one person from the Sheriff's office, I think it was, made a comment on TV that aggravated me.   He said there was no reason for people to be out running around.  First, what does he know about your or my reasons, and second, how is he qualified to judge them.  I'd given them  a pass up to that point.  I hadn't even complained much about the needless beach closures.  I know there are reasons they don't want people out there, and to an extent it is for the public good, but it would be most convenient for them and perhaps safer for us if none of us were ever on the road or out in public, but  individuals deserve the right to make their own decisions and should also be willing to accept responsibility for the results of their actions.  The government should not be acting in loco parentis.  People should be allowed to make their own mistakes and when they make poor decisions and get in trouble, suffer the consequences without blaming anyone else.

I know it is difficult to predict weather, and I know that Dorian was an especially tough one.  I can't fault them for telling what could possibly happen.  I do think though that they should reconsider how they present information.  Perhaps they should not start putting so much emphasis on predictions that are very uncertain when a storm is still a week or more away.  At least emphasize the high rate of error at that point.  I know its a tough balancing act, and they can't predict it with a high degree of accuracy.  If they are too cautious one way, they increase the probability of the other type of error.  I'm just saying that I do not believe that the extreme cost of an entire state or multiple states preparing for a very uncertain event was fully considered in the decision making, especially when taking into account the high error rate when the event is days away.  And then there is the media that craves viewers and will do almost anything to get them.

At this point it looks like Florida dodged a bad storm.  The negative side of that is all of the cost and lost opportunity involved with preparing for an event that it now seems will not occur.

All of the things I'm talking about today apply directly to metal detecting.  The decision making process is very much the same.  The costs and risks of various types of errors  should be considered.

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Yesterday looked like what I call a "beachy" day.  It was cloudy, windy and rainy.  The wind was coming from the northeast and the white caps were building on the river.  That is the type of day I'd love to be out there.  

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

The surf is supposed to still be high but will be decreasing today.  The wind is now coming from the northwest.  That will blow the water out.

There are other things besides Dorian to watch now.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

That is a very busy map.  Seven is supposed to go to Mexico.

I'll keep watching.  Hopefully they'll open the beaches so people other than NOAA and TV news reporters will be able to get out there.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/24/19 Report - Two Weather Systems to Watch. Changing Times and Changing Finds.

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

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

The National Hurricane Center map is becoming more active in our part of the world.  

The area of low pressure over Florida has a 70%  chance of becoming a cyclone.  It is predicted to move north and out into the Atlantic.  I'd say there is not much chance that it will affect us very much.

The other system is heading west/northwest, but I don't think it will affect us much either, but there is still a lot of time for it to change.

Still, it is that time of year and I'll be watching for something that might improve beach detecting conditions.

The Treasure Coast surf is supposed to be up to three feet today but nothing higher than two feet for the next week or so.

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How things have changed!  And it didn't take long.

I came across some photos of a something you'll probably never see again.  It was a circus parade that came down main street when I was young..

I remember going out to the field where they were going to set up and watching the elephants being used to put up the poles to hold the big tent.

That doesn't happen any more.  It is something children today will never see again.

Its amazing how much has changed in my lifetime, and even during the years that I've been detecting.

There was a time when you'd find a lot of the ring type pull tabs.  Now they aren't too common.

Its amazing really.

I remember when we first got a TV and there was only on program, which came on in the evening for one hour.  Friends of the family would come over to watch it.

Gold and jewelry fashions have changed too.  Now you get a lot of rings made of materials like tungsten or stainless steel, which I didn't find twenty years ago.

Even gold changed.  Recently there was a lot more white gold.  It seems that yellow gold is coming back now.

Of course the internet changed a lot of things.  I think the metal detecting community is generally much more informed now.  And it is a great research tool.

I found tons of hotel keys in the past.  They are not nearly as common today.  Many hotels are now using the magnetic cards.

I also used to find a lot of arcade or game room tokens - also transportation tokens ie bus, turnpike, and other types of tokens.

Circus Token Dug on Florida Beach.

Here is a very nice pdf on the history of early gaming tokens.

http://www.ccgtcc-ccn.com/tokens.pdf

Silver modern coins were more common finds too.

I also used to get a lot more of the WW II shells than I have in recent years.

Also soda bottle caps used to litter some beaches.  We still have bottle tops to contend with, but not so much from soda bottles.

The same for glass soda bottles, which are now mostly plastic.

And one thing I found recently that I never found way back when is a smart phone.  I did find a few beepers back some years ago, if you remember those now.

All of the older things can still be found today if you find a good site or we get some improvement in beach conditions.

I'm sure I could think of some more changes in the last thirty or so years of metal detecting.  Maybe you can add some to my list.


That one system has a chance of developing in a few days.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/19/19 Report - Latest 1715 Fleet Finds . 16th Century Florida Artifacts. Detecting a Battle Site.

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

Reales Recently Salvaged by Captain Jonah and the Crew of the Bottomline.

Photo submitted by Jonah Martinez.

Captain Jonah said these new reales were found in areas that had previously been worked over, and that just goes to show how much treasure remains to be found from the 1715 Fleet.

Thanks Jonah!

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16th century artifacts are being uncovered by archaeologists on private property in St. Augustine at a construction site.

Included are ceramics, a lock, and items from a print shop.

“We have found evidence of the print shop. We found at least four typesets, newsprint typesets, which is pretty cool. ... I think we found an N, and a C and an H,” White said.

Here is the link.

https://www.staugustine.com/news/20190717/centuries-old-ceramics-other-artifacts-found-at-st-augustine-construction-

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DJ sent me a link to an excellent report on the Custer battle site.  It provides some excellent insight for detectorists, including the use of historic topographic maps and metal detectors.  Here are just three paragraphs from a report that you might find very interesting.

A preliminary assessment of various historic maps was conducted to determine which may be the most reliable in depicting the 1876 river channel. The method involved georeferencing the historic maps to the modern topographic and aerial photography and establishing a root mean square error calculation. This objective analysis was coupled with a subjective analysis of the river channel and terrain features depicted on the subject map. A preliminary assessment of the historic maps suggests that Maguire Map 8 and the Norris map have potential to aid in sorting out the 1876 river channel if used judiciously. The 1883 Blake map may show the river meanders most accurately in the area of the Custer field than other maps preceding or post-dating it. The 1891 topographic map seems to be generally correct except for the location of the southernmost oxbow at Custer field, which is the one currently threaten by erosion.

The absence of metal in the detectable range and the preliminary assessment of the historic maps suggest the oxbows are not likely to contain archeological evidence of the battle.  However, no formal geomorphological investigation of the river channel, abandoned river channels, or the oxbows has been undertaken to date. It is recommended, before determining if additional mitigation measures are required a professional geomorphological study of the river channel is done. Such a study has the potential to posit chronological changes in the riverbed and more accurately define the 1876 channel, as well as determine if historic surfaces may still exist as buried soil horizons.

Since field time permitted a more formal test of the capability of the VLF and PI metal detectors was undertaken. Two previously inventoried areas were redetected. One test area encompassed a known warrior fighting position and the other was a known soldier position. Each area yielded additional artifacts.  Fifty-seven percent of the artifacts were not battle-related, 43% were battle related, 90% were found by the VLF machines, and 10% were found by the PI metal detector alone. The test indicates the 1984 sample strategy was sound in that it did recover a representative sample of the range of artifact types present.  The PI metal detector did find about 10% more than the VLF machines. Most of those items were either deeper than the capability of the VLF machines or were items that were very small and were missed by the VLF machines. The test grids indicate the PI metal detector has the potential to increase artifact recovery in areas where materials may include very small or deeply buried artifacts.

https://www.friendslittlebighorn.com/LittleBighornOxbowArcheologicalReport.pdf

Not long ago I encouraged the use of topographic maps to determine changes in the beach over the  years and decades.  That can tell you how the beach has been changing, including where it has been building and eroding over a period of time.  That kind of information will tell you a lot about where targets of different time periods might be found.  If done well, it can give you an idea of how deep to expect old targets in various areas.

As you can see, the article discussed the relative effectiveness of different types of detectors.  Although interesting, I wouldn't draw too many conclusions from that.  A lot depends upon how the detectors were used.  That is as important or more important than the capabilities of the detector.

In any case, I think you'll find the article interesting.

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(CNN)A heat wave is expected for much of the eastern half of the US in the coming days -- and it has the potential to be deadly.

More than 130 million Americans are under a heat watch, warning or advisory, with the heat index expected to reach 115 degrees in some areas. The widespread heat wave will hit its peak Friday and Saturday with dozens of records possible...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/18/us/heat-wave-survival-tips-wxc-trnd/index.html

Take stay hydrated and take precautions to avoid heat related illness.  

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A one to two foot surf is expected for the next few days on the Treasure Coast.

There is currently not tropical cyclone activity in the area.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

9/24/18 Report - Turtle Trail Today. Cowries and Cow Pies. Weather In The Atlantic.

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

Turtle Trail Beach Around Four PM Today.

I had to be up in Vero today and had a chance to take a look at the Turtle Trail Beach today.  You can see what it looked like.

Not much to report beyond what you can see.

Another View of Turtle Trail Beach Around Four PM Today.

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Maybe you noticed the mistake in the clip I posted yesterday from the Portugal wreck article.  Dan C. caught it.  Here is what Dan sent in an email.

In response to your recent story of the Portugal wreck.

They traded cowries not cowpies !

Trivia: As a former shell diver in Micronesia and Hawaii, I learned of a species of common cowry shell known as "money cowry".

This was used by certain pacific islanders as a trade good, so the practice was worldwide for eons, not only in the pacific and Africa, but middle east, Egypt, and including native americans. I have a few of those in my collection.

Another trivia: A Golden cowry is worth an average of $500 USD.

They can be found diving at night on deeper reefs, but rarely. They are found from Hawaii throughout the pacific to Australia.

They were treasured by Hawaiian royalty.

I still do now own one yet .....

(As a rule, my shell collection contains only shells harvested live by myself, so I may never have a Golden cowry ........)

As always, keep up the good work.

Dan

Thanks for pointing out the typo Dan and the humor in it Dan.  Also thanks for the information on treasured shells.

Being a country boy, I noticed the "cowpie" reference in the article and thought it was funny. A "cow pie" is a term for cow dung.  I imagine there are people that didn't know that term, especially those from the city or high society.   Cow dung, as found in the field, is usually in a flat round pancake-like shape.   According to Merriam Webster the first use of that term was in 1947.   Now that is something you need to know!  Seems like I've known it all my life and have even stepped in a few.

In case I didn't make it clear, when I post something in italicized blue, it is a direct quote that was simply cut and pasted - not my own words.

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The complete beach hunter does not only pick up metal objects.  There are a variety other things of value that you can find on a beach.  I talk about some of them from time to time, and I'm glad Dan added his expert information on shells.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

The storm scene has changed a little.  It looks like Kirk has fizzled out.  It could reform.

Leslie is still in about the same place.

That wave we have just to the east of us has not moved much either.  It has a decent chance of becoming a cyclone in the next 48 hours.   That one could affect us, and Kirk could still affect us.

MagicSeaWeed predicts a slowly decreasing surf for the Treasure Coast for the next two or three days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/7/18 Report - Cache of 19th Century Coins Found. Florence Coming Closer Followed by Others.

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

Source: See CBC link below.

... The latest historical find was unearthed last week, as crews were building a new recreational trail. The workers stumbled upon a stack of 23 old Canadian and American coins, buried about 30 centimetres below ground.

They're all from the 19th century, and the oldest is dated 1864.

"These are coins that would have been in common circulation during the [Klondike] Gold Rush," said Christian Thomas, special projects archeologist from the Yukon government...

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/dawson-city-old-coins-1.4811814

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

It looks like there will be a lot of storms headed this way.  Maybe they'll veer off or maybe one or two will hit us.

Florence.
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

It looks like Florence might come closer than was originally expected.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

There are two other systems right behind Florence.

Predicted Wind Speed Map for Sept. 12.
Source: ventusky.com.

The wind predicted wind speed map for Sept. 12 looks like a Van Gogh painting.  It is looking like Florence might be headed towards North Carolina.

Source: Pinterest

The MagicSeaWeed surf prediction is for waves of seven to eleven feet on Wednesday.  Until then it will be around three to five feet from Sunday until then.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

It looks like the tides will be pretty good then too.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/6/18 Report - Big Surf Predicted for Next Week. Florence Could Cause Problems For the U. S. Coast.

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

Three More Systems To Watch.
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

After a very quiet summer, there is now a lot of weather in the Atlantic.  

The most significant thing to watch right now in my opinion is Florence, which has been wobbling.  For a while she was headed west towards the Bahamas.  

The system behind Florence has a 70% chance of becoming a cyclone in the next forty-eight hours.  And then there is another area behind that one to keep an eye on.

It now looks like we could get some big waves next week.

Three to five feet is predicted for this weekend, with seven to eleven feet for next Wednesday.  That could get interesting.  We haven't had waves like that for quite a while.  There is a lot of sand to be moved, but that could do it.

Florence Off the East Coast Next Wednesday.
Source: Ventusky.com

If you are wondering what would cause the high surf, here is how Ventusky shows Florence next Saturday - well north of us, but sending waves our direction.

Notice the other system below that.  There is a lot going on there.

That system is predicted to be near the Dominican Republic the following weekend.

Prediction for Ten Days From Now.
Source: Ventusky.com

Of course, this is just a prediction, so it might not happen.  But it is worth watching.  We might get some improved beach hunting in the next week or two.

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I typed a few paragraphs paragraphs how objects moved on the beach, but lost it somehow.  I'll have to rewrite that to post some time in the near future.


One of Japan’s busiest airports remained closed indefinitely, a day after the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in 25 years flooded a runway, toppled huge cranes, flipped cars on their side, damaged historic shrines and caused at least 11 deaths as it swept across part of Japan’s main island.

Typhoon Jebi came ashore with sustained winds of 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour, cutting a path of destruction in and around Osaka and nearby cities that bore the brunt of the storm...

Here is the link for the rest of that article.
https://apnews.com/24053a149be740e2aeb73957fb751bc1/Typhoon-leaves-major-airport-closed-and-destruction-in-Japan

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In recent months, two 150-ton survival bunkers journeyed by land and sea from a Texas warehouse to the shores of New Zealand, where they’re buried 11 feet underground.

Seven Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have purchased bunkers from Rising S Co. and planted them in New Zealand in the past two years, said Gary Lynch, the manufacturer’s general manager. At the first sign of an apocalypse — nuclear war, a killer germ, a French Revolution-style uprising targeting the 1 percent — the Californians plan to hop on a private jet and hunker down, he said...

Here is that link.

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2018-rich-new-zealand-doomsday-preppers/

Looks like all the super-rich are ready to take off and leave us poor suckers behind.



Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/1/18 Report - Tropical Storm Florence and Other Weather. Royal Sabre and Stingray Metal Detectors. Old Shipwreck Discovered.

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

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

You probably heard the thunder last night.  There was a lot of it on the Treasure Coast.

Tropical storm Florence is over near Africa and most likely headed northwest and far from us.

The area down around Hispaniola is not expected to become a cyclone, but will send us some thunderstorms.  On Monday we'll get some higher surf from it - something like three to five feet.

That could cause some scattered cuts, but there is so much sand accumulation now, don't expect to see the older sand.

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Royal Sabre Metal Detector.

The Royal Sabre is a metal detector made by Tesoro back some time in the eighties. It was good for working dry sand but not wet salt sand. It had features that you don't see very often.

One feature was called surface blanking, which eliminates really strong signals so you could focus on smaller deeper targets in trashy areas. I used that a just few times.  

It also had notch discrimination, which I also found useful at times.  

Those features were advanced for a metal detector of that time period.

Overall, performance was good.  It was good for small pieces of gold.

I found a number of Revolutionary War buttons and artifacts with on a Caribbean Island.

Having a four digit serial number, you might consider it to be a collector's item, but I would still use it in some situations.

I had three different Tesoro metal detectors over the years, but will never purchase another because Tesoro does not honor their advertised lifetime warranty.  They declare some detectors obsolete and won't honor the warranty for those detectors. 

I also owned a Tesoro Stingray, which is a submersible detector.  When I got it, it didn't work right in shallow water.  I sent it back and few times, and they didn't fix the problem.  Eventually they sent me another detector as a replacement.  They said it was Jack's.  I tried it and it worked.  The trouble is that it had a modification, so when I returned it years later for service, they said the warranty was void because it was modified. The original Stingray was not properly grounded or something. 

It was not the best metal detector in the world anyhow, although there were times when I would use it.  

The primary reason I bought one or two of my Tesoro detectors was because of the lifetime warranty, but since they do not honor the advertised warranty, I will not buy a Tesoro again.

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After weeks of underwater excavation, a team of researchers and volunteers is inching closer to ruling on whether a wreck recently found near Kelley's Island is in fact the Lake Serpent, a ship known to have sunk in 1829.

If it is the Serpent, as suspected, the site would be the oldest known shipwreck in Lake Erie, a likely candidate for the National Register of Historic Places, and another significant feather in the cap of diver Tom Kowalczk and the Cleveland Underwater Explorers, the nonprofit group that discovered the wreck in 2015, during a scan of the area.

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2018/08/underwater_explorers_research.html

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I was going through some dug Canadian nickels and found some older ones.   There are some error nickels that are valuable.  It is difficult to know what to look for and the research takes a while.  That is one thing I've learned about checking coins for errors or valuable varieties.  You have to do a lot to do a lot of research.  It isn't as easy as I expected.

Anyone who has detected South Florida very much has probably found a bunch of Canadian coins, and since you can't spend them here, one way you can get something out of them is find some old ones or find some errors.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

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

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

Circus World Token.

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

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is the link more.

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

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

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net