1/8/14 Report - Cold Front Causes Little Erosion, Upcoming Coin Shows & A Closer Look

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

 One Beach Beginning to Cut Yesterday After High Tide.

I went out to see what the beach was doing yesterday afternoon just after the high tide.  As I suspected there was a little erosion beginning at the same beaches that eroded when the last cold front came through.  We were having a strong North wind.

The erosion wasn't very pronounced when I looked at it and it didn't look like it would do a lot more.   The cut that I saw was less than a foot even though it ran a good distance.

Another beach that I looked at was not cutting.  The sand was mushy at both beaches.

It was cold yesterday out there in the wind.  I didn't see anyone else on the beach.  The wind was blowing the sand.  It looked a little like snow drifting.  It feels a good bit warmer today.  Less wind too.

The wind was so similar to how the previous cold front started, that is why I expected the beaches to erode the same way.  I'm not expecting as much today.

Tomorrow the surf will be a touch higher.  Things are not coming together real good.  I'm not expecting to be able to upgrade my TC beach conditions rating.

Targets were scarce where I was.  Didn't see any shell piles either.

Here is a quick video clip showing the surf and beach yesterday afternoon.

I received the following news by email from SedwickCoins.

Sedwick Coins will be at the FUN show in Orlando beginning Jan. 8 and at the New York International Numismatic Convention beginning January 9.

FUN (Orlando, FL), at the Orange County Convention Center, Hall NB, North Concourse, 9899 International Drive, Orlando, FL. The largest show of the year and a huge draw for treasure material (January 8-12).

NYINC (New York International Numismatic Convention), at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, 301 Park Avenue, New York, NY. The most prestigious show of the year for world and ancient coins (January 9-11).

They will also be at the Treasure Coast Coin Club's 48th Coin and Currency Show, January 18-19 at the Vero Beach Community Center, 2266 14th Ave., Vero Beach, FL.

So there will be some good chances to see what they have or show them anything you might want to consign.


Did you look at the video from James F. in the 1/4 post about the competition hunt?    I thought that one little guy was a hoot.


Joan T. thought the white chalky looking stone in the silver charm that I posted recently might be mother of pearl.  I think that might be right.  The surface layer was probably deteriorated.

Close Up View of Arrow Head Surface

In my 7/3/13 report I showed a white arrowhead that was found on the beach.  Somebody mentioned that it might be coral.  I think it might have been William M.  Anyhow since I got some equipment that takes very good closeup photos, I think I've confirmed that it is coral.  Take a look at this close up of part of the surface of the arrowhead.

Looks like coral to me.

I think it is worth taking a really good look at your finds.  You might be surprised to learn what you have.

A jewelers loop is one thing that will come in handy.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/7/13 Report - TC Magnetometer Survey, LiDAR, Marine Growth, and Latest Cold Front

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

Mangetometer Being Towed by Helicopter
Photo submitted by Hen Hayes,
Predisent, AquaSurvey Inc.

As you know if you've been reading this blog very long, it covers a variety of topics.  One day it might be about detectors, another day about pot shards or fossils, modern jewelry, relics,  bottles, or pieces of eight and Spanish galleons.  You just never know.  And that is something I like about metal detecting.  You never know.  You never know what you might find or learn on any given day.   There is always something new.  And it touches so many different disciplines and fields of study.



Well today, it looks like I'm going a little high tech. I received an email from the President of a company named AquaSurvey Inc.  The President, Ken Hayes, told what they have been doing along the Treasure Coast.

Here is what Ken said.

For the past three weeks we have been towing a new high-tech glider along the Treasure Coast to pinpoint most all shipwrecks.  The resulting maps will give us a bird’s eye view of several hundred years wrecking along the coast.  We don’t know what the charts will reveal, that’s why we did it.  However, we suspect that it will be a great help to private salvage small business entrepreneurs and the larger publicly traded salvage companies.  We were amazed that we were able to collect extremely high-quality data from an airborne potassium-vapor magnetometer glider being towed at 60 MPH.  Data gathered from a major survey like this one (perhaps the largest ever performed) will take weeks to process.



Back in my 12/22/13 post I reported on rumors of a strange helicopter that some people noticed flying up and down the coast.  I suspect that this might have been it.

Ken didn't mention any reality TV shows being involved.

Thanks for the information Ken.


Other technologies have been very productive for revealing land sites too.  Here is a National Geographic article on how LiDAR revealed features of lost 18th Century New England sites.

LiDAR Images
Source: National Geographic Magazine
Link immediately below.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140103-new-england-archaeology-lidar-science/

Good article.


When you find an item, see what the surface tells you.   It might give you some important clues to where it has been and where it came from.   Signs of marine live growth can tell you that the item was once in the water.  The extent of the growth can give you an item of how long.  So can the extent of corrosion.

Here is an article about how vases from sunken ships create a good base for many types of marine life.

http://www.livescience.com/42333-sunken-vases-biology-experiments.html


On the Treasure Coast today the wind is from the North.  The wind increased later this morning, creating white caps on the river pretty much like it did the last time a cold from passed through.  We got some erosion then.  I expect about the same thing this time.  Some small erosion, but not enough to improve detecting conditions much.

Unfortunately the direction of the waves will come more from the East tomorrow.  Again, that is pretty much what happened after the last cold front.

On Thursday a higher surf is predicted, but the wind will be form the East then.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/5/14 - USS Westfield, Dahlgren Canon, Pepper Wreck and Mystery Object

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

Source: Second link below.

You might have noticed that I posted a new poll on this blog to gather some demographic data.  I was going to do it earlier but waited until the holidays were over.



As you might remember, I posted some age data that I got from Google.  I didn't know exactly how they got that data and therefore didn't know how good it was.

.


Here is one issue of the Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation News and Reports from the nautical archaeology program of Texas A and M.

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/cmac/report3.shtml



Photo of 4 Ton Dahlgren Canon From the USS Westfield
From above linked CMAC report.

This Dalhgren canon is from the USS Westfield, a converted Staten Island Ferry converted for Civil War action and recovered from the Houston shipping channel.  It is one of the things you'll find in the CMAC issue linked above.

Read more about the wreck, canon and project and other projects by using the above link.






And here is the link to another issue of CMAC.

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/cmac/report2.shtml

The photo at the top of this post showing the virtual reconstruction of the Pepper wreck, now being studied in Portugal, is one of the things you'll find in this issue.

There are plenty of reasons to browse through the CMAC issues you'll find by using these links.


Despite the cold front coming through, the surfing web sites aren't predicting much surf for Tuesday - only about a four foot surf.

Last week we did have some erosion when the last cold front caused a brisk north wind for a day or so.  It doesn't look like that will happen this time but we'll have to wait and see.

A slightly bigger surf is predicted for Thursday, but not much.  Just a foot or so, taking it up to about five feet.

I'm not expecting any significant improvement in beach detecting conditions this week.

Small Silver Charm

Here is a silver charm marked 925 found on the beach.
The silver is for sure, but I don't know what the chalking stone is, if it is a stone.  Maybe it just appears so chalky because it has deteriorated.  I don't know.

I'd say it is 20th Century.

If you have any idea what substance is in the setting, please let me know.

And don't forget the poll.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/4/14 Report - Upcoming Competition Shoot Out and Relic Hunt by CFMDC and Treasure Coast Beach Fossil

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

Fossil Turtle Scute Seen With Shells 
on Treasure Coast Beach This Morning

I went out to see what happened to the beaches this morning.  As you might remember, yesterday when the wind was blowing strong out of the North, I found some new cuts.  Today they were mostly gone.  It looked like a foot of new sand accumulated where I showed the cuts yesterday.

I did find one place today where there were some cuts running for hundreds of yards.  The cuts varied from under a foot to up to seven feet.  Unfortunately all of the new erosion was in replenishment sand that was dumped there I think it was last summer.  That sand hasn't been there long anyway, so I didn't expect much to come out of it, and I didn't find much.  I did want to check it out.  It is good to know what is going on, even if it isn't good.

I did find some fossils and sea glass.   It looks like there are places where there are only a couple of feet of replenishment sand remaining.  It will be eroded back to the previous cliff before long.  So much for the tax dollars.  Someone will make some more money moving sand again.  We'll pay for it one way or another.

Above is a scute I saw today in a shell line that was exposed near the water line.  It is a nice turtle scute about 3/4 and inch wide.  It isn't anything big.  But pieces like this do frequently sell for a small amount on the internet.

Closeup of Turte Scute

Here is a closer look.  You can see what the fossilized bone looks like.

I see primarily two colors of fossils on the Treasure Coast beaches - black and brown.

James F. sent me the following.

Just letting you know our club, the Central Florida Metal Detecting Club will be having it's 2014 metal detecting competition hunts, "The Central Florida Sunshine Shoot Out and Relic Hunt," on April 5, 2014. Despite intensive care, high winds and tall grass, I managed to finish the promotional video. (James F. is the club's Director of Video Production and Distribution).
 
Here is the link to the video with all the details.  Take a look.

www.youtube.com/embed/vvKhjifB10Y?

Good job James.


Here is a robot snowblower video.  I bet he could make a detecting robot.  Fun video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNH9jpNTfNk


I'm not expecting any improvement of the Treasure Coast beach detecting conditions any time real soon.

Happy hunting.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/3/14 Report - TC Wind Increased and A Few Cuts Appeared, Looking For a Hot Spots & Today's Gold Find .

Written by the TreasureGuide exclusively for the treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

One to two foot cuts on one
Treasure Coast Beach this morning.

The wind picked up this morning and was coming pretty much from the north.  You could see white caps on the river.  It was a little chilly (in the fifties), but the wind gusts of 20 to 30 miles an hour made it seem colder.

I thought I better get out to see what the beaches were doing, so this morning I took a look at a couple of places.

Here is one photo of what I saw.  There were some cuts.  The water had been up over the first step and I think took some sand from the second step.

At one beach I found 0 to 1 to 2 foot cuts at various places.

At another beach I saw up to three foot cuts.  Despite the three foot cuts I didn't feel conditions had improved enough to start producing cobs yet.  The front beach was still pretty mushy in places.

Up to two-foot cuts here.

On one beach targets were very few.  On another beach there some scattered modern coins and a little jewelry (See below).

The productive spot was in front of a three foot cut and was in sand covering shells that were down about a half foot to a foot.

The coin line was about half way between the water and the foot of the cut.

If the wind continues from the North long enough we might get enough improvement to increase my Treasure Beach Detecting Conditions Rating, but it isn't there yet.  I'm still at a 1 on my beach conditions rating for now.


Yesterday I showed how James F. used his GPS and map overlay software to show where he had been detecting.  That could be quite useful, especially when you hit some good finds or hot spots and map them over time.

When I check a beach, normally I'll first try to determine where any good spots might be.  If I had previous experience with a specific beach, and knew where good things tend to be found that would be my first consideration.

14K Band Find

Some good spots produce occasionally over years and even decades.

Knowing your beaches really helps.  If you know a beach very well, you know where the hot spots are, where you have found things in the past and where they tend to accumulate.  You might even know how the hot spots tend to change with the seasons or other conditions.

When you get to the beach, visually scan it from the water to the dunes and as far as you can see north to south.  Some people take binoculars so they can get a good look at the beach for a long distance.   Of course, check for any erosion, low spots, or movement of sand.  Check for shell piles and notice accumulations of rocks and the different types of sand.

I also go a lot by the feel of the sand.  Notice where the sand is soft and where it is firmly packed.  You can tell by feel when the sand is covering a layer of shells.  Determine as well as you can what is under the top layer of sand.

After doing all of that I would either focus on any areas that look promising or I would start a loose scan pattern with the detector to gain additional information.  Are there areas where there is a lot of aluminum, copper, iron, coins or whatever?

After all of that, you might be ready to focus on some of the more promising areas and really tighten up your scan pattern.  When you find enough evidence to indicate a productive area, tighten up your scan pattern, perhaps using a tight grid.

The first thing I hunt is a good area.  Once I find a good area where I want to spend some serious time then I can get down to mining a more or less dense accumulation of targets.

I normally wouldn't use a tight grid until after I locate an area like that.  If I can't find a good well-defined target-rich area, I'll either move to another beach or be content with hunting whatever scattered targets there might be.


According to the surfing web sites we have a  3 - 4 foot surf around the Treasure Coast today.  It looked to me like it might be a little rougher than that.

The surf is not predicted to increase the next couple of days.

A lot depends upon the wind and wave direction.  If the waves hit from the North through the next high tide or two we might get a little more improvement.  I'm not expecting much though.

Happy hunting
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/2/14 Report - Detecting With GPS and Map Overlays, Silver Find, Beach Conditions Up North and Beach Predictions for the TC.

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

James F. submitted a hunt report and a very useful description of how he used GPS.

Here is what he said.

...  Been finding quite a few items lately with my nw Minelab E-Trac (which replaces my stolen-eight-months-ago Minelab Explorer SE Pro). A few weeks back, seems the sands of Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral were opened up for a bit and we just could not stop finding clad and jewelry along the shore! I actually got TIRED digging quarters there were just loads of em' just about 4 to 8 inches deep...same up in New Smryna Beach where a buddy of mine cleared over 600 coins and 4 gold rings in about 4-hours time!!! Now it seems the ocean has taken that away again and only a few coins here and there with a few junk rings. Anyway, I'm pleased as punch to have managed to get my new Magellan 110 Explorist handheld GPS working well, and take it with me to record my metal detecting trips and finds locations. I was determined to find some free programs for downloading and saving my GPS data for later analysis on target recovery locations and trip records. My favorite thus far is the google map visualizer, whereas you can download your GPS data into it and create a save-able map or jpeg of your tracks. This can be found at:

 http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/map_input?form=google

As an example, here is a google-map overlaid with one of my recent metal detecting hunts (the blue track sharp bends are where I stopped to dig something) jpeg photograph I can use analysing what I found where and when. Right now just having fun experimenting with it, but the possibilities are probably endless.
They had some good hunting up north.  600 coins in four hours!
  Thanks for the software information James.  Good report on the beaches too.

I'm glad to hear that James' health improved, and he is out on the beaches again.


A famous FDR bible disappeared after Bill Clinton conducted a ceremony to swear in Mayor de Blasio.

Here is the link on that story.

http://spiritdaily.com/A12missingbible.htm

Silver Saw Charm

This find is a little unusual.  It is a silver saw charm.

It has a lot of detail and looks like one of those nice vintage saws from decades ago.

Wonder who was wearing that?

It is about one inch long.


It is never too late to start a family tradition.  Christmas is a wonderful time to do that.  It might seem too late this year for a Christmas tradition, but it isn't too late to think about next year.  A nice tradition can last generations.

Whether it is a Christmas train layout, making Christmas tree ornaments, decorating the house a particular way, having a particular type of meal or what, it can add memories to your holiday.

I've mentioned before that my father bought me a big Lionel set when I was very young.  I now know it must have been a huge purchase for him - a really big part of his pay check when money was very scarce.  I've always liked trains and model trains ever since then and still put one around the Christmas tree.  It reminds me of him.

And my grandmother made Christmas tree ornaments.  They were different kinds and made of different things.  I still use my grandmothers ornaments on my own tree year after year.

You have nearly a year to give it some thought to what might be a meaningful tradition for your family.  Every tradition has to start somewhere.  I'm thankful for those that I've inherited.


On the Treasure Coast the wind today was from the south.  The surf was not very high.  That won't change much soon.

The 7 - 11 foot predicted surf for the ninth has disappeared from the predictions already.  Now it is more like five feet.  Too bad.  That doesn't give much hope.

We had another good low tide day.   That will open up some more area to detect.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/1/14 Report - USN Bracelet, Florida History and Seminole Wars Resources, Official(?) Statement on Dog Tags and Other Government Property.

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

Silver Bracelet Find

Happy New Year!  A new day and a new year.  An opportunity to finish old business and begin new paths.

If you are interested in the Seminole Wars, you might want to check out this free online book that was published in 1848 and is, as far as I know, one of the better and most detailed.  It contains 622 jam-packed searchable pages.  Written by John Sprague, the title is Origin, Progress and Conclusion of the Florida War.   Excellent resource.

Here is the link.

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL13505140M/The_origin_progress_and_conclusion_of_the_Florida_war



I posted a couple of items yesterday, including a dog tag found by Dan B.  In researching the dog tag to find the owner, Dan B. located some other information that I assume is probably true.

You can check out that source, by using the following link.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090712220148AACDQoH

To sum it up, it says that the official policy on lost dogtags, or any other U.S. Military property, is that it remains military property and people should immediately send any such items to the Secretary of Defense, 3E880, The Pentagon, Washington D.C. 20301.

I wonder how practical that is.  Would they not be quickly buried in a pile of authentic as well as misidentified, properly sold or transferred property and fake items?

They claim that there are "many" fraudulent people attempting to make contact with military families to get publicity or rewards.  I suppose there are some, and people should always be aware of possible scams, but don't you think this is exaggerated and over reaching?

Go to the source and read it for yourself.  I am only summarizing part of it.

One other thing I learned yesterday is that there are a lot of companies that advertise and make custom dog tags, evidently for unofficial purposes.  It looks like many dog tags are therefore not and never have been U.S. property.

The above linked site also provides information that might help you identify"authentic" dog tags.

It says that authentic dog tags should contain the following information in order: last name, first name, middle initial, Social Security number, blood type, and religion.

They say that because the dog tag contains so much personal information that can be misused by dishonest people, the dog tag should be sent to the feds, which, of course, assumes that people in government, as well as government contractors (eh hem) working in mail rooms or whatever, would never misuse items or information.   Are people who conduct government functions more honest than other ordinary citizens?

Thanks for sending the link Dan.  Interesting.

If you can confirm any of this, have personal experience with returning suspected U.S. property or dog tags, or just want to offer a reaction, send me an email.

By the way, Allman's book has a lot to say about the honesty and motives of big names in Florida government and history, such as Andrew Jackson.  In fact much of the book is spent revealing how often the truth has been replaced by myths about Florida and its history.

Above is a photo of a silver bracelet.  It appears to be WW II era.  I suspect the V in the middle stands for Victory and gives a clue to the date.  I haven't looked into it yet.

On the Treasure Coast the first day of 2014 was a rainy day.

It looks like we also got a decent low tide for a change.  I hope we have more of that.

Also, if you look out about a week, they are now predicting a 7 to 11 foot surf.  That is real interesting.   I'll be keeping an eye on that.

Happy New Year,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net