1/7/12 Report - Guess the Cob & More

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

See what you can tell about this treasure cob.

Try to get the denomination, mint, assayer, and period.

We'll have a little contest.

I know it isn't real clear. That is the way it usually is with cobs found on the beach.

I'll give the answers in a day or two.



A Treasure Coast Beach This Morning

Some slow lazy waves this morning... pretty calm.

There is a dip in front of the beach here.

There were a lot of shell piles.

And some copper sheets and things.

I've mentioned before that it isn't so much the weight of things that determines where it will be on a beach. It is more the density than the weight. And the shape is very important. Sheets of copper, silver or gold can end up with lighter materials if it is in the form of a thin sheet.

Sheets present a lot of surface area to be affected by the force of the water.

Coins don't move so much. They tend to hug the surface. Sometimes they will flip though, and even sometimes roll.

Here is a sheet of copper I found today in a shell pile. It provides a good illustration. Of course gold is more dense than silver, which is more dense than copper, which is more dense than aluminum.



It has some square holes.

I was finding a variety of things in the shell piles and in front of the shell piles.

It was near high tide so I didn't get down close to the dip.


Today the wind is coming from the southwest.

It looks like conditions won't change in the next few days. We'll have somewhere around two foot seas.

It sure is nice now. Not too hot. Not too cold. And the water relatively calm.


Happy hunting,
TreaureGuide@comcast.net

1/6/2012 Report - Conditions Downgrade

Written by the TreasureGuide for treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Gold Coins Found in Clay Pot.

Photo from the BBC story linked below.

$140,000 worth of gold coins from 1595 to 1798 were discovered in a clay pot in a cellar when the residents were working on their drains.

Here is the link to that story.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14080228



A cardboard box holding six pieces of antique Chinese jade was stored in a Florida home's closet for over 30 years. The owners were offered $2,000 but instead had it auctioned. The censer, used to burn incense, auctioned for $18,000, a jade teapot for $12,420, a ram for $6,210, and a white jade ship for $57,500. Chinese buyers paid almost $100,000 for the family treasures. See March 9, 2011, Kovels Komments.



A skull uncovered by recent erosion was originally found by archaeologists, repatriated to a tribe, reburied,and then surfaced again.

Here is the link to the story.

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20120105/news/301059994/lower-elwha-to-rebury-skull-found-on-beach-near-mouth-of-river


I have another topic but don't have time to get to it today. I'll have to keep it short today. I'll talk about probes some other time.


Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.

I'll drop my beach conditions rating back to a 1 today. There is still some chance of picking up a cob or two that got dragged down when there was some erosion a couple of days ago.

The wind is from the northwest this morning, but there isn't much wind. The seas are down around two feet.

You might check the low tide zones for anything that might have been stirred up recently.

It looks like there won't be any improvement in conditions for a few days.


Happy hunting.
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/4/12 Report - Conditions Upgrade & New Florida Underwater Preserve

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

Three Foot Cut on a Treasure Coast Beach This Morning.

This is the same cut that I showed yesterday. It was only one foot high then.

I'm issuing a level 2 rating on my Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Conditions Rating Scale. That is an upgrade from level 1 (poor)conditions. As you might know if you've been following this blog for some time, my rating scale is a five point scale.

It is a good two in my opinion, although I don't expect conditions to improve much more, and the new rating might be short lived.

That is my big news for today.


People often ask me where to buy a new detector if they don't want to do it over the internet or by phone. I don't know about most of the local detector shops in the state, so here is a one time chance. If you operate a detector shop in the state of Florida, send me the shop name, address, phone number, and short simple statement of types of detectors sold, and I may list the information that I receive some time in the future. You probably won't get this chance again, so don't miss it.

If you want me to list your shop, just submit that info in a form that will make it easy for me to cut and paste. Don't use all caps. Don't include extra information.

I reserve the right to edit the information submitted in any way I see fit and to post or repost that information in any form and at any time I so desire but will not gaurantee anything, including inclusion in any post at all.

This offer is not for the detector super stores of the world.


USS Narcissus, a civil war era ship which sank near the mouth of Tampa Bay, will become a new archaeological preserve. Once covered by sand, the wreck is now much exposed.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20111229/ARTICLE/111229505?p=2&tc=pg

It is still pretty cold out. This morning when it was about 40 degrees on the beach.

I suspect you'll be able to find a few cuts in addition to the one that I'm showing today.

The wind is from the north/northwest. The seas seem to be calming down. The high tides aren't very high.

As I said, I'm not expecting much more improvement to the Treasure Coast beaches.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/3/12 Report - Cold Wind Blows Beach Sand on the Treasure Coast & Poll Results

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

Typical Treasure Coast Beach Early This Morning.

The blowing sand almost looked like a blizzard at times.

It is a cold windy day at the beach. If you go, take your winter gear. I would suggest gloves.

The wind was from the northwest early this morning. You can see the waves. It was pretty rough.

It looked to me like the sand in the shallow water was getting stirred up. It also looked like a little sand was being moved from the front of the beach.

The water had not been up very high yet.

I did see one small area where a little cutting was occurring.


Small Cut on One Treasure Coast Beach Early This Morning.

The cut that I found was only about a foot high and ran only a very short distance.

It did appear as if sand was being removed from the front of the beach, but not very much yet.

I think the wind increased later in the morning and maybe the direction of the wind is changing too. Maybe when the wind shifts from the northwest to be more from the northeast, more erosion will occur.

Early this morning, not too much had happened yet. Maybe later.

It wasn't enough this morning to upgrade my conditions rating yet.

Tomorrow might show improved conditions. If we get the wind from the right angle when the tide is high, that should improve things. We'll see.



The most recent blog poll is over and the results are in. The subject received a lot of interest. I heard from several people, some of whom would swear by dowsing. I also heard from some who planned to use dowsing along with their salvage efforts.

My poll did not determine the effectiveness of dowsing. The poll was only about opinions about dowsing.

It is actually a more complex issue than the poll suggested. One person wrote and told me they believed very strongly in dowsing but that there were other things to consider. They suggested that although dowsing works, it only works when used for certain purposes.

Skill might also be a consideration. You might expect some people to be more skilled at it than others.

What the poll results showed is that nearly 45% of the respondents indicate that they don't know if dowsing works or not.

Of those that did have a opinion about it's effectiveness, about the same number believed that it was very or a little bit effective as the number of respondents who believed it was not effective.

Dowsing appears to be an area where the public has no clear consensus. Close to half claim they don't know, and of the remaining group, there is a nearly equal split between those that believe that it has some value and those who believe it does not work.

I would say that the division is in part due to the fact that a lot of people have little or no direct experience with it.

Nearly one out of five believe that dowsing is highly accurate and effective under some circumstances. That is a pretty good number.

As I said, there are those who will be testing it out this summer when the salvage season begins. I hope we hear about their results.


Palm Beach County decided to not let a two foot wide hole be dug for treasure at DuBois Park. Who would be surprised at that. Too many policitical forces to buck for them to follow up on the initial excitement.

Here is the link to that story provided by James D.

http://coastalnewstoday.com/florida-treasure-the-memory-dont-dig-up-beach-palm-beach-county-tells-treasure-hunter-palm-beach-post/


Happy hunting.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/2/12 Report - Silver Medallion Finds & Tapir Tooth

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

Religious Medallions Found with Metal Detector.

Religious medallions are relatively common detector finds. They can be centuries old or almost new, and made of gold, silver, or other metals.

The medallions shown here are a few decades old and fairly heavy silver.

These medallioins, as you might suspect from simply looking at them, were not found on a salt water beach. They were found in a fresh water lake near Minneapolis.

I've mentioned before how I like the silver coins found in the cold northern fresh water lakes. They tend to get a nice bluish patina. Silver that has been immersed in salt water, on the other hand, are often in very poor condition and sometimes nearly black.

You can often tell a lot about where silver was found by the patina.

Some pieces of silver jewelry can be a lot more valuable than the melt value. Watch out for more valuable designer pieces and Mexican silver.

One of the disadvantages of hunting in salt water or on the salt water beaches is the poor condition of older silver items. Silver coins found on salt water beaches are usually in poor condition. Gold, though, stays very nice even in salt water.

One thing you might do if you have a lot of badly corroded silver, is take a class on jewelry making or lost wax casting. You can then use damaged silver make jewelry of your own design.

I personally like some patina on my silver jewelry. The patina highlights the detail and gives it a nice seasoned vintage look.

Don't forget Bill's coin cleaning instructions that I have listed in my treasure link list to the left of these posts. Look on the left and scroll down until you find the treasure link list.

Silver is now about $28 per ounce.



A woman found her gold ring that she lost 16 years earlier on a carrot that she pulled from her garden.

http://spiritdaily.com/A11ring.htm

Protect your plants from the cold tonight. They might pay you back.


I heard of a shark bite down by Jupiter yesterday.


The fossil tooth that I posted recently isn't a peccary tooth as I conjectured. Fred D., our resident fossil expert sent me an email telling what it actually is.

Here is what he said.

The tooth is most definitely a tapir tooth and judging by the cone cusps, a very early species. Most likely Tapirus Haysi, early Plesitocene. A Perissocactyl related to the horse because it is hoofed.

Thanks Fred.


It is hard to imagine that it is already the second day of 2012.


A cold front will be coming through this afternoon and tomorrow night we'll probably have a freeze warning on the Treasure Coast. The wind is now out of the west and the seas calm but the seas will increase to about four or five feet soon. That probably isn't enough to change beach hunting conditions much, but it might improve a few spots just a little.


Happy Hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/31/11 Report - Happy New Years and Some Past Finds

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

Some Metal Detector Finds from the South Florida Area.

Finds and Photo by Lawrence.

These are just a sample of his finds. Lawrence also found the dagger that I mentioned in my 7/25 post.

People don't think of the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas as being a place to relic hunt, but you can find some old stuff own there. Miami has been a place for ships to stop and get fresh water since the very early days.

Lawrence sent photos of other items that I might show from time to time.

It seems that people publish a lot of lists on New Years Eve. Here are a few items that come to mind for me.

My last gold find in 2011 - the band found yesterday.
My oldest find of 2011 - the Giant Sloth Tooth. Maybe it was actually one of the other fossils, but I know the sloth tooth is millions of years old.
My oldest cob find of 2011 - Mexican half reale of the Carlos era.
Most valuable find of 2011 - Rolex watch.
Most regrettable find of 2011 - hash pipe.

Overall 2011 didn't yield many cobs. But I think it is when things are difficult that you probably learn the most.

I don't think I issued a beach conditions rating as high as a four all year. If I did, it was for a very short time.

There were a few cobs dug on the Treasure Coast beaches this year though. More spikes and other artifacts than cobs.

Here is the fossilized peccary tooth that I briefly mentioned yesterday. At least that is what I think it might be. Fred D. will probably be able to tell me for sure.





Did you notice how nice Lawrence's silver looks? One of the bad things about detecting ocean beaches is the damage that the salt water does to silver. Silver found inland, even in lakes and streams, are usually in much nicer condition. I actually like the effect that the northern cold water lakes have on silver.


Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Forecast and Conditions.

Conditions remain essentially unchanged.

The wind is out of the west and the seas are running down around one or two feet. A good time to check the low tide areas.

When the cold front passes through, the seas will get up around five feet again. We'll have to see what that does.

Happy New Year.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/30/11 Report - A Big Clump, Sunken Plane, Ships Under Sand & Pigs Teeth

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

14K Band Beach Find.

This is the type of thing that is being reported these days from the Treasure Coast. More modern jewelry than older stuff.

I guess we are in the tourist season. And the beaches have been too sandy to find very many old items.



The wrecks of two 19th Century American whaling ships have been discovered below a beach in Western Australia.

Here is the link to the video.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-28/story-4/3750362

You never know what might be under all that sand.


I thought this was a bit unusual. I never saw a modern bottle in a clump like this before. I'm sure it isn't that unusual, but it was for me.

The bottle is a vintage Royal Crown cola bottle. Other pieces of glass besides the bottle, shells and other things can also be seen sticking out of the clump.

It is always a good idea to thoroughly check out any clumps. You never know what might be in there. I've seen silver cobs stuck to iron spikes, for example.


A WWII era Navy plane was recently discovered by divers about four miles east of Jupiter in a couple hundred feet of water. The Navy says don't touch it.

Here is the link to the story.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/aviation-enthusiasts-work-to-identify-plane-found-in-2053582.html?printArticle=y


Wild Pig Jaw.

Something else a bit unusual. I've never seen one of those on a beach before.

I was interested in it because I recently picked up a fossil tooth that I thought might be a peccary tooth so I figured this gave me a good chance to see what modern pig teeth look like.

I'll post possible peccary tooth someday soon. Fred D. will probably be able to tell me if that is what it is.



The wind is from the northeast and the seas are pretty calm and will remain that way through the weekend.

I'd hunt the beach fronts while the seas are down.

A cold front will be coming through soon and the seas will begin to increase again by Monday.


Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net