7/8/18 Report - Tropical Storm Update: Chris and Beryl. Things Heating Up.

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

Tropical Storm Chris and Beryl.
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

As of Sunday morning, we now have tropical storm Chris, which is expected to become a hurricane and head northeast.

Projected Path of Chris.
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

It looks like Chris might produce some detecting conditions on beaches from North Carolina to Maine.

Projected Path of Beryl
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Beryl is still headed in our direction, but weakening.

The Treasure Coast is supposed to see a light increase in the surf on Tuesday ( two to four feet ) but that is the peak for the week, with nothing bigger until at least next weekend.

It looks like the Atlantic is heating up and there could be a lot of action this summer.

I'll go ahead and post this much, and might be back later with more.


PM UPDATE:

It looks like Beryl is going to fall apart, and Chris will be the one to watch.  Even though the predicted path has Chris going north, it is supposed to turn into a hurricane and backtrack to the south a little before heading north.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/7/18 Report - Hurricane Beryl. Marie Antoinette's Jewels. Magnet Uses. Stove Polish Bottle.

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

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

The big news is the storm situation.  We have one system off of North Carolina and Hurricane Beryl out in the Atlantic

Its been a good while since we've had anything that might stir up the treasure beaches.  Its been several weeks of little but south winds and building beaches.

Here is the projected track of Beryl.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Notice that Beryl is now a hurricane but expected to turn into a storm by 2 PM Sunday as it heads in the direction of Cuba.

It looks like North Carolina is getting some north winds, but Ventusky is showing nothing but west and south winds for the Treasure Coast for the next week.

---

Source: Sothebys.com

Marie Antoinette's jewels, not seen by the public for 200 years, will be auctioned by Sotheby's.

Click here to see a video of these and more of Marie Antoinette's jewels.

---

I've recently mentioned a few good uses for a magnet and wanted to remind you of a couple more.  I often get pictures of iron flakes that people find on the beach and wonder if they might be cobs.  You can use a magnet, and if they stick, the objects are not cobs.

Also many fakes will stick to a magnet.  A real silver reale or gold escudo will not stick.

Don't forget to try a magnet when you have those questions.

---

Stove Polish Bottle With Cork Inside.

Here is a nice bottle I found.  Almost all of my bottles are found on the Treasure Coast.  This one was found in a spring gully in West Virginia.  It is really nice and clean.

Here is one little detail that I like about it.

Glass Gouge and Lump Made While Glass Was Still Soft.

In this photo you can see where a gouge was made in the glass while it was still hot and soft.  To the left of that you can see a lump of glass when the hot glass from the gouge was dropped.

It looks like the glass blower or his assistant made a little mistake.  It is a reminder of how the bottle was made, and like errors on coins, helps you understand and appreciate the process.

---

The surf is calm this morning, but like I said yesterday, it is the time of year to watch for storms.  You don't want to miss any long-awaited window of opportunity.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/6/18 Report - Hurricane Beryl. Pac Man Cob. Inspecting Coins. Two Blown Bottles.

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

Mexico Minted Half Reale

 This is what I call my Pac Man cob.  If you are old enough, you might know why.  It is because of the shape.

I didn't have this one labeled with the time and place of the find, although I know it was a John Brooks beach find.  I now have no idea when it was found.

Like many beach found cobs, this one is not in good shape.  A lot of the design is missing, and what is there is not easy to decipher.  There are things you can do to help you see details that otherwise might be difficult to see.

What I want to show today is the effect of lighting.  I didn't do any sharpening or enhancement to the photos, which can also be a big help.   I just took the photos with the camera looking straight down.  The only thing I changed was the lighting.  You might be able to make out the partial cross in the photo above.

For the first photo, the light was coming from directly above the object and reflecting back at the camera.

Same Cob With Different Lighting

 Photos give a two dimensional view.  That means you can lose valuable information that you would have if you were looking at the item with your two eyes, which gives you a stereoscopic view.

One way you can get more dimensionality is by changing the lighting.  The photo immediately above was made with the light shooting from the the south.  You can see the shadow above the cob.  You can also see how that highlights the horizontal bar of the cross.  The light reflects back from the south-facing raised edges.

The glare from the surface of the cob was also reduced.  Compare the view of the surface you get in this photo compared to the one at the top of the post.

Same Cob With Lighting From the Left.

In the bottom photo, the light was coming from the left, which bring out the vertical bar more, but you can't see the horizontal bar so well.

My point is that you can bring out different details by changing the direction of the lighting.  Lighting is the most important thing in photography.  It can also help you see things that are too small to see with the naked eye.

When I want to see small details on coins that I might not be able to see with the naked eye, whether it is a modern penny or an old cob, a close-up image and strategic lighting can be a big help.

---

Two Old Green Hand-Blown Bottles.

I recently showed two old hand-blown brown beer or ale bottles with applied lips.  Here are two more old bottles found on the Treasure Coast.  These two also have applied lips, and probably date to the late 19th century.

The one on the right was the first blob top bottle that I found and was my favorite bottle find until I found the Muhler bottle.

Lip and Neck of the Light Green Bottle.

After the bottle was blown in a mold, the blow pipe was broken off the bottle and a hot blob of glass was placed on top of the bottle where is was shaped and formed.

Lip Forming
Tool.

Here is a diagram of a lip-forming tool. It was stuck down into the neck of the bottle and turned to shape the blob of glass that was to become the lip.

Sure would be nice to find one of those.

The process often led to fine bits of hardened glass adhering to the inside of the neck.  I can see that very well on both bottles but more on the dark green bottle.  Those kinds of things are nice little details that you can easily miss, but they give you a real sense of how the item was made.

Here is the source link for the picture of the tool.  https://sha.org/bottle/finishes.htm.  You can also find that link on my reference link list.  Great site that tells a lot about old bottles.

I really like these old hand-blown bottles.  You can see the bubbles in the glass that stretched along with the glass as it was being shaped.  Both of these green bottles have long bubbles in the neck.

It is very much like coins.  I enjoy seeing the details on the coins that show how they were made.  Coin errors often illustrate the process.  I'll talk about that more some other time.

The bottoms of these two green bottles are very similar.  You can see where the pontil was and how it was smoothed out.

Bottom Light Green Bottle.
Notice bubble just left of 12:00 position.

The bottom on the light green bottle (above) is very lopsided.  The right sie is much higher than the left.  That is much of the charm of hand blown bottles.  Like hand punched cobs, you can see the workmanship.  In the case of the bottles, it was a glass blower and his assistant.

Whether it is coins or bottles, I would encourage you to look for the little things that can tell you so much.  Even modern coins show errors and other small details that are the result of decisions made by individuals.

More views of the bottles will be available in TGBottleBarn.blogspot.com.

---

It is that time of year.  The Atlantic is heating up.  There is a tropical depression in the Atantic and a hurricane.

The topical depression probably won't affect us.

The hurricane is Beryl, which is headed east towards the Gulf.  Of course there is a good chance that it will turn north, but the predictions I've been hearing say that it will fall apart or turn north and miss us.  If anything, it could produce some rougher surf for us this weekend.

Time to watch for the next storm that might turn out to be like the legendary Thanksgiving Storm of 1984.

Hurricane Beryl
Source: nhc.noaa.org

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comast.net

7/5/18 Report - Francly Speaking About Two 1938 French Coins. Searching For Mint Errors.

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

2 Franc Coin - 1938

This is an aluminum-bronze coin worth 20 cents to five dollars depending upon condition.

Reverse of Same 1938 2 Franc Coin

I've been going through a lot of foreign coin finds lately.  A good number of older ones are from a cache, and some that are not as old are old beach finds that I just put aside, not knowing much about them.  

A lot of Canadian coins were found in Hollywood Florida over the years, for example.  A lot of those I showed in the magnet demonstration yesterday were from there. 

Here is a photo showing the two 1938 French coins that I'm showing today.  As you can see, the 2-franc coin is much bigger than the 50 centimes coin.  Otherwise they are very similar.

1938 2 Francs Compared to 1938 Fifty Centimes.

Below is the fifty centimes coin.  I should wipe this one off.

1938 2 Centime Coin.

This one is also aluminum-bronze and worth about the same as the 2 francs coin.

Reverse of Same 1938 2 Centime Coin.

Unlike Canadian coins, only about twenty percent of a large group of miscellaneous foreign coins (mostly from the sixties, seventies and eighties) I scanned were magnetic.

A good magnet can be used in a lot of ways.

You can actually test silver with a neodymium magnet.  Silver won't snap to it like ferrous metals, but you can slightly move silver with it.

If you have an old dead computer around, you can find a neodymium magnet by taking the hard drive apart.

---

I never seriously searched for coins up until a few weeks ago.  I started looking through bunches of old coins.  I hate the idea of missing a valuable old coin simply because I didn't look or didn't know any better.  What I learned is that like with a lot of things, it takes time and practice to become effective.  It is more complicated and difficult than I expected.

Everybody has heard of double-die coins, and how they can be valuable.  Well, it turns out that there are a lot of kinds of doubling you will see on coins, and most of them are not valuable.  You have to learn to tell the difference.

A lot of what first likes a mint error is actually damage that occurred to the coin after it left the mint.  It can take some detective work to tell if something is a mint error or not.

There are also a lot of different kinds of coin errors, and many of them you will never see unless you know exactly what to look for.  For example, one digit of the date might be a touch smaller on some coins.  If you didn't know exactly what to look for, you would never expect the coin to be different or valuable - it would look like a perfectly normal coin.

I was surprised that in learning about errors I had to learn more about the minting process, and some of that applies to silver and gold cobs despite the fact that they were hand punched.  They still made die, and those die sometimes got cracked or damaged.  You will see some things that are similar on both modern coins and old treasure coins.

There are a heck of a lot of different coins, dates, countries, mints, etc. etc. to know about.  There is a lot to learn, but if you decide to get into it seriously, you might enjoy it, and you might even discover something of value.  It does take time and effort.

---

Looks like we're in for more south winds and one to two foot surf.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/4/18 Report - Super Quick Way to Scan Coins. Applied Lip 19th Century Bottles.

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

Using a Magnet To Quickly Separate Coins.

One convenient but often overlooked tool for the treasure hunter is the magnet.  It can be used in many ways.  One thing you can do with a magnet is quickly separate different kinds of coins.

   

Some coins will stick to a magnet - others won't.  Steel pennies will stick to a magnet.  Silver coins won't.  You can use convenient facts like that.

One man discovered hundreds of thousands of dollars a valuable magnetic coins.  Here is a bit of that story.

... in the first roll of 50 pennies Ed opened up, there were a couple with no logo. He opened another roll, and another. By the time he was done, he had turned up more than 500 no-logo coins.

And yet, the respected International Coin Certification Service – which doesn’t sell coins, just grades them – had only 290 on record until Ed’s find.

If you discover a 2006 magnetic, no P, no logo specimen in your penny jar, you might get $50 for it. But the real prize is for uncirculated coins – factory fresh, mint condition.

And on eBay, one of the uncirculated pennies recently sold for $500, uncertified. Ed’s are certified, and he’s going to sell them for $635...

Here is the link for the entire article.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/talk/paul-wilson-ed-checks-his-penny-jar-and-finds-300-000-1.1380742

There are times when a mint produces coins on the wrong type of planchet.  And there are times when a magnet can be helpful in identifying those coins.

Did you know that most many Canadian coins are magnetic.  I had a pile and wanted to find any that might be silver.  After separating the non-magnetic copper pennies, I simply used a magnet to eliminate all of the magnetic coins, which were all but two.  One was a penny that I overlooked and the other was a 1963 Canadian dime.

I recreated the process for the following video.  

https://youtu.be/dO9HNBp-GDk

When I originally did this, I started with a much larger pile.  It only took seconds to eliminate all but the silver dime and copper penny.  I had no idea if there were any silver coins in the pile, but knew this was one quick way to tell.

Don't leave the coins in a big pile.  Spread them out.  Otherwise magnetic coins under non-magnetic coins may not get picked up, and non-magnetic coins on top of magnetic coins will get picked up and stuck between the magnetic coins and the magnet.

Now for the precautions.  This is a strong magnet.  It should not be used with valuable coins that can be damaged by scratches.  You can use a less strong magnet with no sharp edges.   You can cover the magnet with a cloth.  It will still work.  But if you have uncirculated or mint coins that might be valuable, this is not the right procedure.  For miscellaneous coins that you aren't worried about, it is a much quicker method of scanning coins than going through and checking the date of each one.

---

Two  Brown Applied Lip Blown Bottles From Late 1800s.

These were probably beer or ale bottles.  The bubbles in the glass show they are blown as opposed to machine made bottles, and the lips are applied.  They probably both date to around 1880 or 1890.

The bottle on the left has I. C. CO. L.  on the bottom.

I.G.CO.L indicates the Ihmsen Glass Company, Limited, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (c.1876-1900). Also listed as Ihmsen Window Glass Company. Pittsburgh directory listings show this company included the “Limited” in their name from 1876 to c.1896.

Bottle on Left Above.
Applied Lip

Bottle on Right Above
Showing Applied Lip and Bubble Near Shoulder.

More views of these bottles are available in TGBottleBarn.blogspot.com.

Happy Independence Day.

Be Safe,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/3/18 Report - Shipwreck Awarded To France. The Search After The Hunt. 17th Century Mexico Devotion.

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

What Is Wrong With This Penny?

You don't have to look very close to see that the last digit of the date is almost invisible.  You'll see oddities in your finds like that if you pay close enough attention.  

The coin could have been damaged in circulation, but in this case the explanation seems to be that grease accumulated in the part of the die where the "1" was engraved.  In the coin collecting community, this penny would be called a greaser.

Here is a closer view.

Missing Date Digit on Penny Find.

It is possible to find valuable error coins.  This one isn't valuable, but it is a bit of an oddity.

Searching for error coins can be both fun and profitable.

You might not pick up pennies, and if you do you might not pay any attention to them, especially if they aren't old, but if you learn what to look for, you can add a whole new dimension to your finds.

I recently found a mint error coin that was listed as the first known example of its kind.

Mint errors can be difficult to identify, and it is easy to mistake coin damage for a mint error.  Like most anything worth while, it requires study and practice.  I just got into it more deeply in the last month or so and have to rely extensively on the opinions of more informed people.

After you find something, that is the end of one hunt but the beginning of another as you search to learn more about the find and its significance.

---

According to The Record, June 29, 2018, the wreck found by Global Marine Explorations and thought to be

French explorer Jean Ribault’s flagship, Trinité, was awarded to France by a U S Magistrate, Judge Karla Spaulding.

It appears that the State of Florida will excavate the wreck in cooperation with France.

Here is that link.

Trinité shipwreck awarded to France - News - The St. Augustine Record - St. Augustine, FL

Thanks to Brain B. for the link.

---

The second most popular image of Mary in Mexico, second only to Our Lady of Guadalupe, is the statue of Our Lady of St. John of the Lakes. In the early years of the 17th century, the holy Franciscan missionary Fray Miguel de Bolonia brought the statue to the village, then known as San Juan Bautista Mezquititlan, which was inhabited by the Nochiztleca tribe. Depicting the Immaculate Conception, it soon became a favorite of the Indians and was the center of their devotion. It became known beyond the village during the year 1623 when, according to an early legend, a spectacular miracle occurred...

Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/abbott/140220

---

What would you do with bunches of miscellaneous foreign coins?  Any and all ideas wanted.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/2/18 Report - Cleaning the Roughest of Coins: Acid and Electrolysis Comparison. Easy to Build Electrolysis Tank.

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

1935 Buffalo Nickle

I noticed a couple of old coin finds that were heavily encrusted.  They were the size of nickles, but that is about all I could tell from the green crust, attached sand etc.  I decided to see what they were.  

I couldn't find my electrolysis equipment so I started cleaning the first coin (below) with acid.  Then I decided to throw together an electrolysis tank, which I used on the other coin. 

1935 Buffalo Nickle.

They say never clean coins, but when they are badly damaged and you know the surface will never be good, there is no harm in it.  That was the situation in this case.

The key to using either acid or electrolysis is to watch it carefully and not over do it.  You can easily remove too much material.  In this case I just wanted to see what the coins were.

I remember that the first coin I ever used electrolysis was on a Buffalo nickle and I did over do it.  I learned to watch the process carefully as it proceeds so you can stop before it goes too far.

I couldn't find the electrolysis equipment that I've used the last thirty or forty years, so I quickly grabbed what I had and made a new kit.  Here is what I used.

AC Adaptor From An Old Book Light.

I found the AC adaptor you see in the photo above, cut the cord and stripped the wires and attached alligator clips.  Got an old ice cream container, filled it with water and mixed in a spoon full of salt.  One clip was attached to a bolt and the other to the coin.  I taped the wires to the container so the items were in the water, but not the alligator clips.  Then just plug it in and check every once in a while to see how it is going.

You can see it better in person than in the photo, but the date "1935" appeared on the coin.  Also notice the clear high relief of "FIVE CENTS." The coin was evidently lost while in nice new condition, but the years in the ocean took its toll.  You can see there is still encrustation on the coin, which could easily be removed if desired.  And there is a big glob of rust under his tail.

It only took a couple hours, which I was very pleased with.   This adaptor is only 500 mAmp, which I thought might be slow, but it worked fine.

The coin that I cleaned with acid turned out to be a 1944 silver war nickle (below).

1944 Silver War Nickle.

I've given directions for cleaning coins with acid before, so I won't repeat all of that.  I use the smallest container and as little acid/water as will do the job - just enough to immerse the coin.  A plastic cap, such as a cap from a spray paint can will do.

Reverse of Acid Cleaned Silver War Nickle.

 Notice that there is still corrosion that could be removed.  Also note the P mint mark above Monticello.

It wouldn't take long to clean this one up a little better.

When I started, I didn't intend to do a comparison, and I should have taken photos of the coins before they were cleaned, but what I found out is that the the acid and electrolysis treatments were both similarly effective in about the same amount of time.

---

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a treasure diver?  Not many people have done that.  I'm not talking about an occasional recreational dive, but committing to an entire season of full time work on a treasure boat, putting everything else aside for the long shot chance of making the big discovery that most people only dream of.  I'm going to be able to tell you what that is like.

Most of us metal detect recreationally.  We metal detect when we feel like it.  We walk out on the beach and hope to find something, but we don't take the risk of committing a full season to the quest.  You never know if it will be a good season or a poor one.  It is a real gamble.

I'm going to be able to tell you how one fellow not only became a treasure diver, but also became a part of one of the biggest and most historic treasure finds of all time - the 2015 1715 Fleet 300-Year Anniversary find worth 4.5 million dollars.

I plan to do that in the near future in one form or another.

---

Also, for another time, I have a summary of the courts ruling on what is thought to be the Trinite shipwreck near Cape Canaveral.

For now,
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net