4/7/19 - Money Can Burn a Hole In Your Pocket - An Idiomatic Expression That Appears To Be Literally True.

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

Surprise Discovery

Could this be the actual origin of the old idiom?

My wife was going through some old clothes that had been in a storage box in the garage when she discovered this surprising sight.

It looks like money can actually burn a hole in your pocket!  I've heard that expression many times but never imagined it could be literally true.

I dig up a lot of corroded coins that have been exposed to salt water.  I think this penny was corroded to some extent before being placed into the pocket, and I suspect the mineral acids interacted with the fibers.  Florida's hot humid environment might have increased the reaction.

This is NOT a corroded coin that was simply falling out of a hole in the pocket..  When I first touched the coin, it was firmly attached to the fibers.  You can see in the photo that the cotton immediately around the hole is discolored as well.

I pulled the coin out just a touch, at first, so I could see what it was, but the photo looks very much like what I saw when my wife first held up the pants to show me what she found. 

The next photo shows what was holding the coin to the inside of the pocket..

Fibers From Pants Pocket Embedded In Corrosion on Penny.

You can see how the cotton fibers were embedded in the corrosion from the chemical reaction, so even if the coin was corroded before being placed in the pockrt, it evidently continued to corrode while in the pocket.

And below is a closer view of the two holes - the larger hole in the outer layer of the pocket, and a smaller hole in the inside layer of the pocket.

Hole in Pocket As Observed After the Penny Was Removed.

You can also see some corrosion still attached to the inside layer of the pocket.  That is where the fibers were attached to the coin.

It looks like the chemical reaction affected the blue dye as well as dissolving the cotton fibers.

When I first saw what was happening, I thought the pants were probably made of synthetic fibers, but the label says it is 100% cotton.

Perhaps a chemist could better explain the chemical reaction.

It does seem to be true that money can burn a hole in your pocket.

Treasureguide@comcast.net

4/6/19 Report - 16th Century Shipwreck. Reader Firsts. Scientific Approach To Treasure Hunting.

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

Copper Sheets From 16th Century Shipwreck.
Source: See nltimes link below.

Researchers found a Dutch shipwreck from early in the 16th century while cleaning up containers that went overboard from the MSC Zoe on New Year's eve. This is the oldest shipwreck ever discovered in Dutch waters, the National Cultural Heritage Agency said on Wednesday...

During the container salvage operation, copper plates and wooden beams were found. An archeological investigation was immediately launched. According to the Cultural Heritage Agency, the wooden beams came from a ship with a smooth hull that was likely around 30 meters long. The wood was further examined and this revealed that it was felled in 1536 and that the ship was built in the Netherlands around 1540. It sank while transporting copper plates.

Investigation into the copper plates dated them to around the same period. An interesting detail is that the plates are marked by the Fugger family, who had a monopoly on copper production in the 16th century. "The find is of very high cultural and archeological value", the Cultural Heritage Agency said...

Here is the link.

https://nltimes.nl/2019/04/03/16th-century-dutch-shipwreck-found-shipping-accident-cleanup

I had this article for a few days but put it on hold to discuss some other things first.

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I like to find different kinds of things.  Some seem special.  There was my first ring, my first Rolex watch, my first Spanish treasure coin, and my first gold nugget, to name just a few.  I often mention reader firsts.  Last month DJ experienced some firsts and shared them with me in an email.  Here is what he said.

... I have decided that your blog is an encyclopedia of information, much of which I was able to use in March. Thank you for sharing this information, it makes the hobby all the more rewarding.  

A list of firsts: First time I found lots of targets, jewelry, first silver ring, green clad lying on top of the sand and first square copper/brass nail. 

Also helpful were the strategy of reading the beach, checking, making myself check another beach if things are not too good where I am. Many examples exist and were put into play this trip...

Congratulations on so many firsts in such a short time DJ.   Many more to come!

I'm delighted that you are making such good use of the blog.

There were others who recently sent me emails of thanks.  I sincerely appreciate them all.  It keeps me going.

Thanks guys!

In a world filled with so much discord and hate, I'm encouraged daily by the fine kind people I meet through the blog. 

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Coming from a scientific background, it was only natural that I would bring a scientific attitude to my metal detecting and treasure hunting.  While a treasure hunter will usually not want to conduct any kind of formal scientific experiments, adopting a "scientific" approach is recommended.  To a large extent that means being abundantly cautious, systematic, thorough, disciplined, reserving judgement, and highly valuing evidence, or data.

There is a lot more to science than laboratories, test tubes and experiments.  Science requires a number of traits and attitudes. It requires a real desire to understand, creativity, objectivity, logic and skepticism.

That might sound like a lot, but you undoubtedly already possess and use some of those traits, and others can be developed and improved.

I can't do a comprehensive treatment of the subject in one post, or even a lot of posts, but I'll discuss some things that I've found very helpful and recommend that you at least consider them.

You'll often see someone make a find and without any serious thought or study, proclaim what the item is.  There are usually a variety of possibilities that should be considered.  I always like to try to think of as many alternative explanations as I can.  It is important to develop theories and hypothesis, which can be tested or evaluated.

They say, "You don't know what you don't know," but I know a lot of things I don't know.  It is important to have an awareness of what you don't know. A scientific approach requires having a deep respect for  how much you don't know.  I wouldn't want to have brain surgery conducted by a podiatrist.  Over-confidence can be deadly literally as well as figuratively.

No matter what you think of the TV treasure shows, they provide a lot of examples and illustrations that many of us have seen and can discuss.  Sometimes you will see a hap-hazard, disorganized, poorly considered approach.  They look here and look there and find this and that, most of which has no significance, and come up with conclusions that are little more than wild speculation.  That creates drama, which is something a TV show must do, but for me, it is not the way to solve a problem.  That is the reason I am so critical at times.

A number of seasons ago on Gold Rush, Parker finally got Tony to drill some test holes to sample some ground.  I thought, its about time.  Sampling is a scientific strategy that I use all the time in a different form.  It is a systematic method of collecting data.  That is just one of many examples.

Don't get me wrong.  A skilled professional who has tons of experience on a specific type of activity can be successful without all the stuff I am talking about today.  My father-in-law was in coal mining his entire life and could tell by just looking at the land where there was going to be good coal.  There is no substitute for that type of experience. You can find that type of experience and skill on the Treasure Coast.

A more scientific approach used by a relative novice will lose to vast professional experience every-time.  However, I believe anyone who wants to and makes the effort can benefit by taking a more scientific approach.  It will dramatically increase the learning curve for the less experienced and prevent costly mistakes and increase efficiency for those who are already skilled.

Taking a scientific approach is not a quick path to success.  Neither can it replace long hard work.  It will help though.  In some cases it might be absolutely necessary - depending upon what you want to accomplish.

Some people will not be interested at all in a scientific approach.  For some, it just will not mesh with their personality, philosophy or goals.

Some people are just out for a little relaxation.  Some people like to go by feel or hunch.  That is fine.   And if you disagree with everything I just said, that is fine too.

I haven't even began to scratch the surface on this topic and may or may not get into more detail in the future.  I suspect I will from time to time.

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We now have a slightly negative low tide.  Other than that there is not much change to report concerning beach conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/5/19 Report - More Thoughts On The Gold Mystery Item. Treasure Beach Ring Find. Tide Coefficient Tip.

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

Corroded Old Silver Ring Treasure Coast Find
Photo and find by Richard W.

It is not uncommon for me to receive a photo of a heavily corroded small silver ring that was found on a  Treasure Coast shipwreck beach.  When found on one of the beaches where old shipwreck coins and items are found, it is natural to wonder if the ring came from a treasure wreck.  After finding the ring shown above, Richard W. sent me the above photo with the following email.

Detected this ring at Golden Sands Beach on March 19 with my Minelab Equinox 800. I took it to the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum and they said it looked “very interesting”. Back home here in Colorado my Jeweler just examined it and she said it’s silver and very old. Also it could have been cast from a mold as opposed to hammered. I detected all the beaches every day from Bonsteel to John Brooks from March 5 thru March 20 and this was the only thing of interest I found except clad coins and lead fishing weights. Met some nice people and had fun at the TCAS Hunt at Wabasso. Hope to be back next year!

It is very difficult to put a date range on these types of rings, but they are obviously old enough to be very heavily corroded, but that can happen in much less than three hundred years.

Without more information or perhaps some kind of inscription or something, I can't say any more than Richard has already been told.

The most experienced treasure diver on the Treasure Coast has said that no silver rings have been found on 1715 Fleet wrecks.  We do, however, know that they have been archaeologically found on land sites of similar age, so it is difficult to ignore the possibility.

I wonder if they might be trade rings. They are generally small and thin and do not show any outstanding design work that would in any way suggest that they belonged to anyone of high status.

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I received a couple more emails on Terry's gold mystery item.  That post received a lot of attention,

Sal G. thought Terry's gold mystery item could have be Incan.  He pointed out the similarity between the gold mystery item and the gold pendants hanging on the Incan funerary mask shown below.

Picture of Incan Funerary Mask
Submitted by Sal G.

\

Closer View of Pendants.
Submitted by Sal G.

Bill K added these thoughts on the mystery object.

...One thing that came to mind when I saw pictures, was that there was a lot of contraband on those old wooden sailing ships and I wouldn't have put it past one of the crew to snitch some, pound it together and punch a hole through it, then tie around his/her neck with a leather strand and try to smuggle it back into Spain. Thus the crude workmanship and punched hole.

Thanks Sal and Bill.

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A lot of my recent posts have been very popular.  I judge by the number of people that read them and also comments I received in emails.

Some topics attract a lot of readers, while other topics do not attract as many readers, they are deeply appreciated by some individuals.

My posts commenting on Oak Island attract more than the average number of readers, and I get nearly universal positive comments about those discussions.  No matter what you think of the show, it gives me examples and illustrations that a lot of people are familiar with and provides a lot of sharp contrasts with my approach.  If you  read what I wrote yesterday and notice how I approach things,, I think you might be able to see some very basic differences.  

Although I don't always know why a particular post gets a lot of readers and others do not, big finds are always popular, as are big changes in beach conditions.  

There are some posts that are read by a huge numbers of people, and i don't know why.  I suspect that they are picked up elsewhere.  One of my all-time most popular posts was the post I published the day after I was interviewed by CNN.  That naturally drove a lot of people to the blog.

On the other hand, there are some posts that I really like that aren't read by many people.  Even though they are read by fewer people, they can be very meaningful to those people that relate to them in some special way, and I get emails telling me so. 

When I started doing this blog I never thought I would have something to talk about everyday, but that hasn't been much of a problem.  In fact right now I have about a hundred pages of content on my mind that might make good posts.  In fact, I keep delaying some items.

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DJ sent the following tip.

... I use the fishing tide tables to scope out future high and low tides that may be good. This site has a handy “Tide Coefficient” that lets you look for a number 90 or higher - they also show the noon phase. You can choose the location - make sure it is for the ocean not river. 

Thanks DJ,

For the next week the surf will be gradually decreasing from the two to three foot range down to about one foot.

The tides will be a bit higher.

Happy hunting,
]TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/4/19 Report - Thoughts and Theories On The Gold Mystery Object. Beach Reports. More Beach Renourishment.

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

Gold Spoon
Picture submitted by Joe D.

I received several emails concerning Terry's recent gold find.  All were excellent, and the nearly unanimous consensus is that it is a Native American decorative item (one person used the specific word gorget) made from shipwreck or Spanish gold.  Coins were mentioned most.

The bowl of the spoon in the picture above bears a remarkable resemblance to Terry's holed gold item.  There is the possibility that the gold mystery item was not made from a coin, but maybe something else, like a bar, spoon, religious item, nuggets or whatever. 

It wouldn't take much to convert the bowl of the spoon.  Even if you don't accept the idea that the item was made from a similar spoon, the spoon does suggest the idea of other possible sources.

Dan B. suggested weighing the object to see if it's weight corresponded to that of an escudo.  Terry's object weighs 4.1 grams, which is less than the weight of a 2-escudo.  A piece of the item is missing, but I don't think that is enough, but maybe it is.   Investigating the weight was great idea, but it turned out to be inconclusive in this case.

Joe D. also mentioned that the shape of the holed item looked very much like a fishing spoon and the possibility that it might have had a more practical use.

A couple people were interested in the smaller item that looked something like a roofing nail in the photo. 

I appreciate all of the ideas submitted, and found each and every one worthwhile.  It is important to be open to alternative explanations.  Some will be eliminated, but you can benefit from getting all the ideas you can and thinking it through. 

What we know now is that the gold item was found on the same stretch of beach as an old sounding lead, lead sheathing, and another small piece.  As found, the items might be taken to suggest the presence of a nearby wreck.  If I generalize from what I've read from people, the consensus seems to be that a piece of gold (possibly a coin) was discovered by a native (quite possibly Ais, as was the opinion of one archeologist), which was hammered into an pendant, and then subsequently lost in the same area.

Now we can start to think it through.  How likely does that seem, and are there other reasonable scenarios?  For example, would it seem more likely that found or salvaged gold would be carried away before being reworked and lost?  

Alternatively, if an item reworked by the local natives was indeed lost at the same site where the gold was found, how might that happen?  I'm sure you can imagine some reasonable scenarios?

Maybe the natives returned to the wreck site on multiple occasions to see what they could find..  Maybe they even had a camp there.  That idea provides a possible direction for future research.  If they returned to the site often or if they had a camp at the site, then you might expect to find more evidence of their presence - perhaps shards in the nearby dunes.

Of course there are a variety of other possibilities.  Maybe the item was manufactured by someone other than local natives, even though that seems to be the favorite theory.  Maybe it came from South America or wherever the hypothesized ship came from. Or maybe the native was on the wrecked ship.  Just a little brainstorming.  Or maybe the gold in the item was given as payment for salvage work.  That might seem like too much unless it was given to a leader for providing a crew of salvage divers.  

Terry and others mentioned that we may never be able to say much more about the item, but if you think it through, develop some theories and hypotheses, you might eventually be able to answer some of the remaining questions.  And in if you are like me, you will enjoy the problem-solving process and learn a lot as you work through it..

The find is great, but it is the story that makes it meaningful, and the process that makes it fun. 

Before closing, I want to report one more thing people said to me in the emails about the mystery item.  They said Terry is a very fine fellow.

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Joe D. reported that both Jupiter and Hobe Sound beaches are being renourished, as shown below.

Hobe Sound
Photo by Joe D.

Jupiter Inlet
Photo submitted by Joe D.

Another frequent contributor sent in the following report last night.

Riomar, Turtle Trail and Seagrape today looked to me like a lot of the sand that left recently is back. Some old broken posts that were 8 inches out of the sand are now covered...

Riomar had a lot of seaweed and the old cuts were knocked down, there were  few short cuts at the bend but were smooth and mushy in front. Targets were few and mainly just can slaw.

Turtle trail, lots of new seaweed and no cuts, scallops or other features. Aluminum high on the beach and a few iron chips low on the beach.

Seagrape was the same to the north but did not go south of the crossover.

Did not take pictures today as it was just sand and seaweed.

Thanks to everybody for the ideas and reports submitted.  Much appreciated.

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Thanks also to those who expressed appreciation for this blog.   It is encouraging to me.

The Treasure Coast surf will be only about two to three feet for a few days.

Happy hunting
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/3/19 Report - Lead Seal Finds. 1715 Fleet (?) Wax Seal Find. Info on Sounding Weights. Cleaning Lead Artifacts.

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

The Nathan-Melech/Eved Hamelech seal found in the City of David.
(Photo Credit: Eliyahu Yanai, City of David)

Archaeologists in Israel have discovered a rare clay seal mark and a 2,600-year-old stone stamp bearing Biblical names amid the ruins of a building destroyed by the ancient Babylonians...

The tiny 1 cm seal stamp has been dated to sometime from the middle of the seventh century to the start of the sixth century B.C. Deciphered by Dr. Anat Mendel-Geberovich of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Center for the Study of Ancient Jerusalem, the stamp features the words: “(Belonging) to Nathan-Melech, Servant of the King.” In the second book of Kings 23:11 “Nathan-Melech” is described as an official in the court of King Josiah. The seal is described as the first archaeological evidence of the Biblical name...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.foxnews.com/science/rare-ancient-treasures-bearing-biblical-names-discovered-in-jerusalems-city-of-david

One of my favorite Treasure Coast finds is a wax seal.  I'm not talking about the seal used to impress a mark in wax, but the actual stamped wax itself.

I found it at the water's edge at Turtle Trail.

The reason I like it so much is the improbability of something as fragile as a small slab of wax surviving hundreds of years on a beach or in the surf.

Unfortunately the design is not clear because of wear and sand impressed into the wax.

Here it is.

It isn't easy to see the design, but there is a bird that looks like an eagle.  On the left photo, the wing is outlined in red.  On the right photo, the head, body and thighs are outlined lightly in red - perhaps too lightly.

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Yesterday I showed Terry's lead sounding weight find.  Lead usually doesn't need much cleaning, however if you want to see the surface, there are some good methods.

The TAMU conservation lab provides detailed instructions for cleaning lead.  Looking at Terry's sounding weight, I don't know how much I'd do to it, but if I wanted to clean it, I'd first look at what could be mechanically removed.  I prefer applying pressure to encrustation instead of strinking it.  A slow increasing pressure will often cause encrustation to crack so it can easily be removed.  Then I might test a little acid and/or electrolysis.

Here is a bit of what the TAMU conservation manual says.

CHEMICAL TREATMENT OF LEAD Because of the ease of treatment and the availability of the chemicals, the most widely used conservation treatment for lead from any archaeological environment is the acid treatment described by Caley (1955). The lead is immersed in 10 percent hydrochloric acid, which will remove any adhering marine encrustation, along with lead carbonates, lead monoxide, lead sulfide, calcium carbonate, and ferric oxide. This treatment is good for lightly corroded specimens, and it gives lead surfaces a pleasing appearance. The surface detail that is preserved by this treatment varies with the degree of corrosion when recovered. For more diagnostic lead artifacts, Caley's method has been superseded by electrolytic reduction, which has the ability to convert mineral products back to a metallic state. For the general cleaning of lead without a lot of hands-on labor, however, Caley's method remains an acceptable and much-used technique, provided that the object is thoroughly rinsed after treatment in order to remove all remaining hydrochloric acid residue...


ELECTROLYTIC REDUCTION CLEANING The ability to control the speed of the electrolytic reaction through current controls makes electrolytic reduction especially useful for lead coins and medals or, indeed, any specimen where surface detail is important or reduction and/or consolidation of the corrosive layers is the objective...  Normal Reduction Lead artifacts with substantial metal remaining can be cleaned by the normal electrolytic reduction process using 5 percent sodium hydroxide, anodes of mild steel or stainless steel, and a current density of 2-5 amps/dm2. Very satisfactory results are achieved by this technique...

With either acid or electrolysis, go very slow and closely monitor the process.

I've discussed and illustrated .electrolysis before

Here is the link to the manual,

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/CRL/conservationmanual/ConservationManual.pdf

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Here is a description of how a sounding weight was used.

Taking soundings, or casts of the lead, is done when the vessel has headway on, the leadsman casting the lead forward and getting the depth as the vessel passes over the lead, resting on the bottom. The method of procedure is as follows:

The leadsman grasps the leadline at the toggle and swings the lead back and forth, parallel with the side of the ship, the leadsman being in a projecting lead stand, or in the chains in a sailing vessel, the lead is sent over head for two full turns and released at the bottom of the swing flying forward at a tangent, and almost parallel with the surface of the water. The motion of the swinging lead is opposite to that of a wheel turning with the motion of the ship. Assuming a right hand throw, from the starboard side, the left hand of the leadsman holds the coils of the line, freely forward, so it can run out without hindrance and without kinks. As the line flows out and the lead reaches the bottom, the leadsman grasps the running line with his right hand and pulls it rapidly plunging it up and down to feel the bottom. Feeling bottom, he plumbs the line up and down as the ship passes by the lead. He bends over and notes the mark above the water. If a mark is directly at the water, he calls out that mark, as "by the Mark five". If slightly under water "Mark underwater, five." If the five is three feet up, ""and a half four", if the five is six feet up," by the deep four." And so on , calling the marks and deeps or the spaces in between. If the mark is seven, for instance, is a quarter fathom out of the water (1.5 ft.) the leadsman would call, "and a quarter less seven." Before the next cast the leadsman will look at the arming and report the state of the bottom and clean the arming for the next cast. This gives you the general idea. The leadsman sings out the marks and deeps. He never uses "sir" as some are apt to do. The soundings should be called out sharp and clear. Leadsmen should practice casting the lead from both starboard and port lead stands...

For more interesting facts, check out this site.

http://www.navyandmarine.org/ondeck/1800soundinglead.htm

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Looks like I won't be able to get out for a few days.  It has been hard sitting out some of these days.  I left a spot half-done  that I badly wanted to finish.

If anyone has beach reports and photos,  I'd like to post them.

Looks like tomorrow the surf will decrease a bit from around three to five feet down a foot or so.

I've received a some thoughts on the gold mystery find that I posted the yesterday.  Still looking for more.  I expect to address that tomorrow.   Thanks to all contributors.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/2/19 Report - Two Great Treasure Coast Finds. One Amazing Gold Mystery Object.

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

22K Gold Find by Terry S.

Photos by Terry S.

Terry Shannon found this 22K gold item Sunday.  Here is how he described the find.

I was detecting by a very large cut. The ground was very hard almost like gravel with a lot of small stones and shells. After you broke through that the sand was a grey color but pure sand that I believe is the original sand. I had the sensitivity on my detector turned way up and was going very slow scrubbing my coil right over the sand. This was down at least 20 inches and was really just a weak blip and I decided to dig it.

The hole is punched rather than drilled.

The following photo shows the thin layers or sheets.

Closer View Showing Layers or Sheets.

Terry has some ideas about this item, as do I,  but he wanted to get any thoughts you may have about the item and what it might be.  I don't want to influence you so won't give our ideas yet.   Let me know what you think.

To put the item in context, here are some other recent finds made by Terry along the same stretch of beach.

Lead Sheathing, Another Small Item And A Sounding Weight.

Photo by Terry S.

That sounding weight is a great find and might give up some more clues.

Two More Views of the Sounding Weight

Photos by Terr yS.

Terry mentioned a couple interesting facts about ssounding weights.

In addition to their use in determining  the depth of water under the bow these sounding weights also had a hollowed out area on the bottom. A wad of tallow was usually put in there to bring up part of the bottom sediment ( sand, pebbles, clay, shells ) and if it came up clean it meant the bottom was rock....

These [sounding weights] are usually found on the wrecks itself by divers so I think it’s pretty neat. Now for an interesting piece of history passed on to me by my friend Chris from Jacksonville. On the Mississippi River in the 1850’s, the leadsmen also used old-fashioned words for some of the numbers while taking soundings, for example instead of two they would say twain. Thus when the depth was two fathoms, they would call by the mark twain. The American writer Mark Twain, a former river pilot took his pen name from this cry...


Great finds Terry!  Thanks for sharing.

I'll going to continue with this tomorrow.

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Maybe one of the most important things that I should have added yesterday is what got me started doing the blog.  I started it shortly after my dad became ill, and I had a lot of things that kept me from getting out to detect.  Writing about it helped some when I couldn't get out very much.  In the past ten or more years I've only spent about one percent of the time in the field that I would have liked to. It has been a variety of things.  Maybe yet.

I also should say how helpful the hospice care people were, and thanks to them!

---

I'll plan to pick up tomorrow with some more on Terry's finds.

Let me know your thoughts.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/1/19 Report - Free Treasure Book. Karat Bearing Carrot. Coins and Caches Found Around Homes. About The Treasure Guide.

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

How Many Rings Is This Carrot.
Source: See BBC link below.

A gold ring that was lost in a garden twelve years earlier was found on a harvested ring.

Here is the link.  https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-45220825

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A coin dealer posted a list of significant coin finds in and around homes.  Included are caches and collections.  One cache, for example, consisyed of two sealed pipes full of hundreds of mercury dimes.  

He does a blog and has a number of posts that you might find interesting.  

Here is that link,

https://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/signal/coins/soltaylor062307.htm

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The Book of Buried Treasure written by Ralph Delahaye Paine and published in 1911 is available as a free ebook.

Here is that link.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/33318/33318-h/33318-h.htm

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People sometimes ask what my name is.  If my blog was like some of the others my name would be in large print, top and center, but unlike those blogs, the primary purpose of this blog is not to promote the author.  The focus of this blog is on the ideas - not me.

After many questions and much prodding I decided to take part of one post out of the thousands that I've done to try to answer some of the questions in the way that I think will be the most meaningful.  I guess most sites have an About the Author section, and it might actually help you get a better idea of where I am coming from.  I'm sure you've gathered a lot from what I've already put out there over the years.

My name wouldn't tell you as much about me as my actions and the words that I post nearly every single day.  I'll sum up what I am in two words - systems analyst.  I'm a systems analyst by nature, personality, training and career.  I like to figure out how things work and figure out how to do get things done.  It isn't confined to one type of system.  It includes beaches, as the dynamic systems that I've described many times, educational systems, businesses, computer systems, and humans, as information processors.  I apply the same tools of analysis and problem solving to all of those and have taught psychology, computer science, education and business classes in universities.  The same analytical tools are  applied to those various fields of study.  I can't describe myself as an IT person, or psychologist, or an educator, because what I do can be applied to almost any field and has been applied to many, including metal detecting, and especially beach metal detecting, which I took up some years and ago and pursue to this day.

Somebody asked if I came to Florida because of metal detecting.  The answer is no.  I wasn't metal detecting yet.

Listening to the recent discussions about the Boeing 737 crashes on TV and all the talk of flight systems and flight training reminded me of what brought me to Florida a few decades ago.  I received a consulting contract to develop computer-based pilot training for Eastern Airlines, and their training center and headquarters was in Miami.  I was living in Atlanta at the time.

Eastern Airlines had purchased A-300s, and needed to train their pilots on the new planes.  Having never been in a cockpit, I used the A-300 manuals, which the Eastern Airlines ground school people liked to say were written in Frenglish (Airbus is a French company), to develop simulation software for the AFCS (Automatic Flight Control System).  Of course, everything was verified by their flight training personnel before it was adopted, but it is probably the one thing I was able to accomplish that makes me the most proud.  It demonstrates how the same analytical and problem solving tools can be applied to many different kinds of problems, including beaches.

I started detecting not long after coming to Florida, but almost always had a project like this to work on and spent my leisure time detecting.  Often I took my detector when I traveled on business and got a few hours in after work at different locations around the state and country..

I hope that helps answer some of the questions, although I'm sure it won't answer all of them.  I'm not totally comfortable with talking so much about myself although everything I do on this blog has a lot of me in it. To some extent it is unavoidable.

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I spoke a little too soon.  It seems that all the swinging and digging caught up with me even though I limited my detecting on each outing.  I had to take some days off even though I really wanted to go out.

It looks like we'll have a couple more days of around three foot surf, so I don't expect things will change to much, although you could get a little improvement or deterioration on different beaches.

Still having trouble with my camera too.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net