8/17/13 Report - Erin, Gold Increasing in Price, Robots, Old Gold & Piggy Bank Full of Silver Coins

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

National Hurricane Center Map

Erin is moving West/Northwest at 18 knots.

That is the important thing for me today.

It appears to be weakening.

The weather system down by the Yucatan looks like it will not come our way.


Gold prices hit two month highs Friday at around $1371 per ounce.

Demand for gold is strong in India and China.

Here is the link about gold prices and demand.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/499636/20130817/gold-prices-demand-china-india-wgc-cga.htm


When hunting modern gold jewelry, I'd rather find a piece of old gold than an item that was recently dropped.  Why?  Because if it has been lost for a number of years that might mean that the conditions are changing to expose older accumulations.  Sand is being moved and old items are being uncovered.   Even if a new item is dropped where old items are being uncovered, it will probably be easily found instead of quickly sinking or disappearing, like it might if conditions were not as good at that spot.

Although gold does not corrode much (remember it does corrode some because it isn't pure), it does corrode some.  Often old gold will show some sign of being lost for a long time, even if it is only a surface patina.  Sometimes you can tell by the wear and tear on the item.  Sometimes you might get an idea of its age by the design or type of the item.  Take a look at how gems are cut or set.   In any case, inspect modern jewelry finds to try to tell if it might have been out there a long time or if it was just recently dropped.  That can be good information that you can use.


A convention for unmanned vehicles was held this week.  They are for land, sea and air.  There is quite a variety of remotely controlled submersibles with video cameras available.  You probably know how those are used to explore shipwrecks.  There are some small inexpensive versions.

I've often wished I had a small drone to fly down the beach so I could see the beach conditions.  It actually wouldn't be too hard or real expensive.  One problem is the sea breezes that might be a problem for very small and light drones.

You may have seen the remotely controlled vehicles used by the bomb guys in Afghanistan.  I don't think it would be too hard to make a metal detecting robot.   I've thought about how I would design one.

Here is a link to an article about the unmanned vehicles convention.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/robots/robot-human-interaction-photos-from-an-unmanned-vehicles-conference#slide-1



Here is a nice story.  I post it partly because not too long ago I mentioned about detecting around trees.  That was after one of this blog's readers found a nice cache including silver dollars under a tree. 

This video and article is about a young detectorist that dug a lead piggy bank under a tree.  He found the bank was full of silver coins.

Here is the link.

http://www.peachridgeglass.com/2012/12/bottle-collector-finds-huge-cache-of-silver-coins-in-piggy-bank/


Some day soon I'll do my experiment to illustrate how the shape of an item, in addition to the item's density, affects how it will sink in the sand.


On the Treasure Coast the conditions are still the same.   The surf today is only about one foot.  The low tide will be around 11:30 AM.

The surf will increase to about 2 - 4 feet for Monday and Tuesday.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/16/13 Report - Important Factors for Site Selection, Disappearing Sand, Treasure Dump

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

Site selection is important.  Reading a beach is important, but that is not the type of site analysis I'm going to talk about right now.  Site analysis should be based partly upon both past and expected finds, their probability, expected frequency and value, and your personality.

If you've kept good records, you have a good idea of how much time it takes for a site to produce a significant find and the average value of those significant finds at that particular site.  If you haven't figured that out for sites that you regularly detect, you should. 

I use the term "significant find" because it depends upon what you are targeting and what you want to maximize.   For example, if you are interested in finding items with the highest economic value and have even a small amount of success in finding gold items, the number of modern coins found will not significantly affect the total value of your finds.  On the other hand, if you are targeting something else, like old treasure ship items, you will keep track of finds and make decisions on site selection using other criteria.

Let's assume you want to maximize the total economic value of your finds for the remainder of this discussion.

The first thing to realize is that one big find can be worth hundreds of little finds.  That will affect  site selection.  Some sites will never (almost never) produce a really big find.   Some sites will seldom produce any significant finds, and other sites will produce many finds, perhaps of lower quality, or possibly a good number of higher quality finds.   Both number and quality of finds is important.  So are site conditions, but I'm not talking about that right now.  For this discussion, consider beach detecting conditions equal for all sites even though we know they never are.


There are personal differences that will consciously or unconsciously affect your site selection decisions.  Some people, for example, prefer to take a chance, even if it is a very long chance, on a big payout.  Those people will buy a lottery ticket week after week hoping to win the biggest possible jackpot even if the probability of winning is very low.   Other, often less optimistic people, would rather play a game in which they have a much better chance of winning something even though the payout won't be nearly as good.  They'll play the games that pay maybe twenty dollars instead of millions because there is a better chance of getting something.   Those are different kinds of decision strategies made by different kinds of people.   Some people want to maximize the biggest possible win even though the chances are very poor, while other people want to win something on a regular basis even if the largest payout is not very big.   The same decision making processes are at work when it comes to site selection.   Some people can spend years and years going after one big target, like the Atocha, even though the odds are long, while other would give up without some kind of success on a more regular basis.  You should be aware of the decision strategies you use and be willing to reconsider how you make those decisions.

To maximize the long term value of your finds, which is the goal that I'm adopting for the remainder of this discussion, you need to have an idea of the average value of expected finds and the frequency of finds at different sites.  That comes from keeping good records over a good period of time and making some calculations.   The site that produces the greatest number of finds will not necessarily produce the greatest total economic value. 

Some beaches have items of a lot higher value than others.  One beach that was near where I used to live produced a lot of finds, but they were lower quality.  For example, many of the rings would be 10K or plated, and there were a lot of silver rings.  You could find a lot of gold, but seldom 18K, and if there were any gem stones, they would be small or low quality.  Other beaches produced much fewer significant finds, but the finds were higher quality.  If you want to find the highest total value over time, that is something to consider.  

You can approximate the average value of  finds for each site and how long it takes to make a significant find at each site. 

My main point is that it might be worth hunting a site with higher quality finds even if the frequency of finds is much lower.

One find worth tens of thousands of dollars can be worth more than a hundred other less valuable finds.  The results of one high quality find can be worth more than an entire year of finds at another site.   Consider that.  It comes down to math and decision strategies and personality.  Would you rather find something on a frequent basis even if it is not real valuable, or would you rather find higher ticket items even if they are not found as often?   Approximate the average value of finds for each site, and figure out how long it takes on average to make a significant find at each site.   If one particular site produces finds that are worth on average $500 and another produces finds that are worth something more like an average of $50 (as a simple and easy example) but you find only half as many significant items at the higher quality site, then over the long term, the total value of finds at the higher quality site will still be five times higher than the total value of finds at the lower quality site.

Of course there are other things to consider such as beach conditions.  If the higher quality site is sanded in and the probability of a significant find there has dropped to near zero while the lower quality site has at least average conditions, you might be better off at the lower quality site. 

With experience you can estimate and quantify how beach conditions affect the probability of a significant find and add that into your decision making.   This will help make you more aware of your decision making processes.  Maybe you've been making  decisions based on personality that wouldn't be supported by a conscious decision based upon total expected value.

Your estimations will also consider how heavily hunted the area has been.   Don't be intimidated or afraid of going in after a lot of others, but do realize that the total number of targets can be thinned. 

I specialized in finding my own spots and was always amazed at the number of good over-looked spots.  There are still many good producing areas that are relatively over-looked by most.

Spend some time exploring for those over-looked spots once in a while.  That is a type of field research.



Miami and Broward are running out of sources of sand for beach renourishment.  They are talking about getting it from the Bahamas or Treasure Coast.  

http://local.msn.com/miami-sand-shortage

I think they'll find it south of Miami down in the reserve.

Thanks to Doug for the submission.


Hundreds of ancient coins, oil lamps and gold jewelry have been discovered in Israel, mysteriously thrown away centuries ago in a Byzantine garbage dump.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/08/13/history-dumping-ground-400-byzantine-coins-gold-jewelry-found-discarded-in/#ixzz2c7ixsqzF


On the Treasure Coast today we're supposed to have a nice one-foot surf.   That will pick up a little in a couple of days.

The storms haven't changed much since yesterday.  Erin is still way out there.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/15/13 Report - Storm Erin, Lots of Sea Weed, and The Importance of the E Factor in Metal Detecting

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

From National Hurricane Center

We have a new named storm - Erin.  As you can see it is over by the Cape Verdis just coming off of Africa.  It will be over a week before Erin will be in our neighborhood, if it does make it this way.

The other weather system is approaching the Yucatan.  Maybe it will go back into the Gulf after that.

Bill S. sent in this report.  Here is what he said.

...I chose today to make my first dedicated survey of the beaches opposite the 1715 wreck sites from Wabasso Beach Park northward. I can verify the seaweed was thick just north of the Amber Sands beach access. Regarding the sandbar, in the troughs a good amount of material collected, trapped there by the water movement. ... About all I found at the edge of the surf was some sea glass (a nice green piece, and some smaller amber pieces), and a boat load of iron flakes. 

I had the good fortune to see one of the salvor's boats working an area about 200 yards offshore and not far south of the McClarty Museum...

I also had the good fortune to see an amazing sight: a shark lunging into a school of bait fish just beyond the beach break. (Small fish were thick in the surf zone this morning.) Incredible!

Thanks for the report Bill.

As I showed yesterday, there was seaweed on the more southern Treasure Coast beaches too.  That is always a bad sign indicating sand and other light material washing up onto the beach.  It is a good sign when it starts to leave.



A lot of money went down the drain in the form of mashed hundred dollar bills.

According to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, their D.C. factory location produced a botched batch of more than 30 million hundred-dollar bills—that makes for a useless 3 billion dollars. 

The latest printing error, called "mashing," results when too much ink is applied to the paper and does not fit within the marked parameters, making for imprecise details on the bill's artwork.

Here is the source of that quiote and the rest of the story.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100960164?__source=xfinity|mod&ticket=ST-5514-blBPj7yzCQCanbknOWS7eij7I4oaDmKxu3v-20&rememberMe=null



I started to create a formula for detecting success.  Here is what I had.   S = L x T x Sk x D x E

S stands for the amount of long term success.

L stand for general location where the detectorist lives. Some areas present many more high level opportunities than others.

T (Time on Task) is total time spent detecting.

Sk stands for the skill level of the detectorist.

D stands for the quality of the detector or detectors used.

So far these are all weighted the same.  That will definitely change as I fine tune the formula.

E stand for effort.  Maybe I should call it Ee for Extreme effort.  This factor was added recently.  It includes the willingness and ability to do things like walk miles to a site, work in extreme weather, including cold, heat, storms, and in very rough water, or on rocky bottoms, etc.

One person suggested that this factor should be perseverance, and I can see that, but I would factor perseverance in with T.

Research is a factor, but now I have that lumped in with Sk.

I'm open to suggestions on this one.

I know that many detectorists think there is too much  competition these days, but believe me, you can find spots that are pretty much your own if you have the E factor.   There are things that prevent others from finding these little detected areas.

Sometimes people think that the reason nobody is detecting at a location, is because there is nothing there.  That assumption can be a mistake.  A lot of people follow the crowd.  They go to the places they hear about or where they hear somebody else has found something.  While I have no objection to hunting where others have been, there are a lot of good places that you can have pretty much to your self.

Sometimes those places are hard to get to.  Sometimes nobody knows that anything interesting ever happened there.   Sometimes the spot is hard to hunt because of something like trash or rocks.  There is usually some barrier or reason that most people avoid those spots.  They can be good spots though.  Those are the kinds of places I spent most of my time.

If you are willing to adjust and make the effort those areas can be some of the best.  And they can be right in the middle of a very busy and otherwise over-hunted area.


On the Treasure Coast the wind continues from the southeast.  There will be a small ( 1 foot) surf for the next couple of days, then increasing to two to three feet by Monday.

Not much will change real soon.  Keep watching those storms.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/14/13 - Sandy Conditions, Seeds of Two Storms & CAP Program

Low Tide This Morning on One Treasure Coast Beach

The beach conditions were terrible this morning, except for the nice calm and inviting surf.  The sand was bad.

In the above photo you can see a number of negatives.  First, is the convex built-up loose sandy beach front.  Second, is the sand bar right in front of the beach.  The line of white water shows where the water was breaking on the east side of the sand bar which was right up next to the front of the beach. And third is the sea weed.  All three are signs of poor detecting conditions.  The gradual slope of the old cut above the beach front is another bad sign.

I had some things planned today for the blog but forgot to take the materials that I was going to use for an illustration to the beach.  Maybe that was just as well because I was hitting the wrong button on my video camera and getting still shots rather than videos.  I would have been really disgusted if my well planned experiment was beautifully executed and then got home to find that I failed to capture it on video.

Anyhow, it turns out that not only did I fail to conduct my planned experiment designed to illustrate the effect of the shape of an object on how it sinks, but I also failed to get any videos.

At least the photos show some nice features that shows the beach conditions.

Another Photo Showing Gentle Surf Breaking on Sand in Front of Beach.

I'll just have to conduct my experiment some other day in the near future.

I did see one area where there was about a three foot cut that ran for some distance.  It wasn't the same one that I showed a few days ago at Jensen Beach, but it was another beach that was rapidly losing renourishment sand.

As you would suspect, those cuts don't produce much of anything old unless old objects were in the sand that was dumped on the beach, as it appears happened on AmberSands Beach.  There were some older US coins in some of that renourishment sand.

If you think about it, really a lot of our beaches are covered with renourishments sand.   It seems like most of South Hutchinson Island has been covered in recent times.


Back earlier this year there was a bit of a movement to initiate a Civilian Archaeology Permit program, that was in some ways similar to the old Isolated Finds program.   The Florida Public Archaeology Network came out against it.

Here is a discussion of the failed Isolated Finds Policy and objections to the proposed Citizens Archaeology Permit program as expressed by FPAN.  Notice that it doesn't address beach finds where there is no archaeological context.

You should read their comments.  Here is the link.

http://www.flpublicarchaeology.org/blog/blog/2013/03/27/fpan-statement-on-the-proposed-citizen-archaeology-permit-cap/

Did you notice how "archaeological site" is defined?   Here it is.

• Florida defines an archaeological site as three or more artifacts within a 30 meter diameter area that are not obviously redeposited (Division of Historical Resources, Cultural Resource Standards & Operational Manual, Module 3, Guidelines for Use by Historic Preservation Professionals, Section 2.4.2.5 Site Bounding, p.18-19).

As we know, most everything on a beach from the swash to the dunes has been redeposited.  A beach is composed of redeposited sand.  That is what a beach is.  And then when you consider all of the trucked in or dredged sand dumped on our beaches, you realize that besides the naturally redeposited materials, there is a massive amount of redeposited material on top of that as the result of all the beach renourishment programs.

Since finds on the beach are redeposited, they have no real archaeological value.  That is exactly what the archaeologists tell us about artifacts out of context.  Therefore there is no reason that the beaches should not be open to recreational activities for the public, including the collecting of artifacts.

I've stated before my favorable impression of the ery successful British model that provides a clear mechanism for reporting and handling other finds.

I have never gone out hunting Indian artifacts.  I have found a few.  Anyone who spends a lot of time on the beach will find a little of everything eventually - old things being no exception.  It is unavoidable if you are on the beach and keep your eyes open.  You'll see whatever the sea presents to you at any particular time.  The ocean constantly turns over material, sometimes dumping everything from aluminum junk to space shuttle debris to old stone artifacts on the beach.  Those things are constantly being worn away by the constant churning.  They might be brought to the surface and appear for a short time and then disappear with the next tide never to be seen again for years or decades, and if they do appear again, they'll likely be much worse for the wear.   That is just the way the beach is.

Anyhow, I hope you'll read the above linked article.


There are now two low pressure areas that have a very good chance of developing into tropical cyclones.  One is just coming off of Africa and the other is down below Cuba.  We'll have to wait and see how they develop.  Until then we can expect more of the same hot weather and poor detecting conditions on the Treasure Coast.

I had such a hard time getting my act together today I'm surprised that I even finished this post.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/13/13 Report - Second Seminole War Studies and Artifacts From Florida, Age of Nails and Five Karat Diamond Found

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

5.15 Karat Brown Diamond Found by 12-year-old
Photo from The Christian Post
See link with story below.

Here is a nice academic thesis on Second Seminole War fort sites.  It is full of good information on Florida history and artifacts from the period.

http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1951&context=etd

This study presents a lot that will be of interest to anyone anybody interested in Florida history including a brief segment on how to identify the age of a site from the type of nails found.

It shows some maps too.

Nails are often one of the most common finds on old detecting sites.  It is convenient that you can tell something of the age of the site from the nails.

Along the beaches, large concentrations of old nails have been found in the dunes or on the beach as the dunes erode where there were once camp fires.   

That is another good reason to not use discrimination too much.  Iron objects such as nails can be good clues.

Illustration from University of Vermont Historic Preservation Program
http://www.uvm.edu/~histpres/203/nails.html

The study referenced above  refers to the "Fort Pierce Collection," which is a large collection of artifacts from the old fort of Fort Pierce.  That study contains a lot of photos of artifacts, including a very good collection of military buttons.  It can be found by using the ninth link down in my reference list of links found to the left of this post on the first page of this blog.

It is really worth looking through and is one of the better collections of metal artifacts from the period.

Always study dug artifacts when you get a chance.  I wish I would have recognized things that I've seen in the field in the past that I did not recognize at the time.  As one example, when hunting on a Carribbean Island years ago, I didn't recognize the first gun flint that I found or the twisted piece of metal that was  right beside it.  I now know that the twisted piece of rusted metal was the hammer that held the gun flint.  Things like that are important clues that can tell you a lot about a site.  


Another thing to watch for are any changes that become visible during extreme weather.  They are finding a lot of new archaeological sites during a severe drought in England and Wales.

You can see some of the new historic sites identified from the air in the photo gallery.  You can see where old structures were located.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-23628630


A 12-year-old boy found a 5-karat plus diamond in the Crater of Diamonds State Park. 

http://xfinity.comcast.net/video/Boy-finds-huge-diamond-at-state-park/41752643823/Comcast/Today_in_Video/?cid=hero_sf_TIV

You might know the story of pig-farmer John Huddlestone.  One day farmer John noticed something sparkling in the dirt of his pig farm.  Not knowing what it was, he picked it up and kept it for a while and eventually sent it to a gemologist in New York.  It turns out the shiny stone was a diamond.  John sold the first diamond real cheap, but before the story is over, farmer John's pig farm turned into a diamond mine now know as the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.   That story has a great lesson and has been the subject of sermons for a long time.

Good things can pop up where you don't expect them.

Could it be that something in the muck and mire of your life could turn out to be your diamond mine?

You can visit Crater of Diamonds State Park and do some prospecting of your own for a small fee.  Sounds like fun to me.


I was recently talking about genealogy research as a good method for finding detecting sites.   Ancestry.com has a free two-week trial period.  You might want to give it a try.


On the Treasure Coast we're stuck in a summer pattern.  The wind continues from the east/southeast.  The surf today is still around two feet, and will be about the same, maybe decreasing just a touch the next few days.

There is a tropical depression down below Cuba, but it doesn't appear to be headed this direction.

I strongly recommend studying the two Seminole War period articles that I mentioned today.  You'll want to be able to recognize the identity and age of artifacts like that if you happen to come across them in the field.  A few will be seen on the beaches from time to time.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/12/13 Report - Using a Scoop Like a Hoe and Harvesting Dense Target Areas

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

Erosion on Treasure Coast
Submitted by Micahel E.

Here is one of the few eroded spots on the Treasure Coast.
This one was at Jensen Beach a couple a few days ago.  And this one, like the other eroded spots that I've seen recently, are in renourishment sand.   That is an important fact that makes a big difference.

It doesn't take much to erode renourishment sand.  Often it isn't even the right texture to hold.  But most importantly, it is out of place and will be taken quickly.


Not too long ago I showed you how to convert to a wood handled scoop.  And then a short time after that I told you about foot fanning.  Today I'll talk a little more about another way of using a scoop.

One alternative, and one that I very frequently use both on land and in the water, is to hoe.  When I first mentioned that to an old timer many years ago, he said he didn't use it because it created currents.  Actually the currents created by using a scoop like a hoe can be an advantage.

This technique will not work with all scoops.  It works best with scoops that point out at roughly ninety degrees from the handle.

Below is a simple illustration.  Simply turn the scoop down, as shown in the illustration below.  Use your foot to push the scoop down and into the sand and then bring the scoop back towards you and up.  This can be done with one hand on the handle of the scoop.

If you need to move a lot of material quickly, for example when waves are coming up over the hole, or when there are significant currents, let go of the deterctor, use two hands on the handle and hoe very vigorously, almost like fanning.  When using two hands to hoe, you have to put your detector down or tether it.  Not only will the scoop move a lot of sand, but if you are in water, the currents you create will also move sand.

You can easily detect the moved material to see if the target is in the moved sand since it is moved towards you.

As you probably know long and heavy gold chains tend to slide off of the front of the scoop in water.  Using this technique makes it easier to retrieve chains.

Hoeing works very well when you detect a target in the loose sand or on the face of a small cliff of shell sand at the edge of the water.

If you use this or any technique such as foot fanning that moves a lot of sand, be sure to detect the lowest area where the sand was moved from as well as the slopes.

If you are hitting rocks or large shells that make penetration difficult, move the top of the handle in a circular motion, and try to feel where the large objects are, and try to get the lip of the scoop under one edge of the rock or shell or whatever.  Then apply a lot of force to move the stubborn object.  You need a strong handle for this.  Once you manage to dislodge the large object, that will unpack the material to some extent, making it much easier to remove the remaining material.

Below is an illustration showing three targets buried in sand.  After moving sand to recover target A, the hole is detected again revealing target B near the slope of the hole.  It is now more easily detected because sand was moved to recover target A.  Target B is pinpointed and removed, and the depression detected again, now revealing target C, which was lower than both A and B.

If you are working in an area with a high density of targets, keep detecting the depression.  In some cases  more targets will be revealed as the depression grows larger and larger.  In one case years ago, a depression in an area with a packed rock bottom was the source of hundreds of targets that were recovered  as the depression continued to deepen and expand.  If you are in an area like that, it doesn't hurt to foot fan even when you don't have any more signals and then detect for new signals.  Either foot fanning or hoeing or a combination of both will work well.

Gold Bracelet Find.

One of the readers of this blog, Jim M.,  has the following Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II for sale.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/141033442599ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

On the Treasure Coast we're getting mostly east and southeast winds.  The surf is a little rougher than it has been lately, around 2 - 3 feet.  That might help the beach fronts a little.

Nothing special with the tides right now, and no storms brewing in the Atlantic.

Happy hunting,
TreaureGuide@comcast.net

8/10/13 Report - Silver Dollars Found in Florida Cache & More

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

Cache Found Including Two Silver Dollars (upper right).
See link below for source of image.
Find by Rob B.  Submitted by James F.

Did you ever notice how many large farm fields have one large tree remaining somewhere in the open expanse of the field?   They very often do.  Maybe not on those huge corporate farms, but on the family farms that I'm familiar with up north.

Normally if the field is large, somewhere there will be one large standing tree.  I  hadn't thought about it much, but it could have been intentionally left for shade.   That is how we used them.   When it was time for a water break, we'd take a little break, sit for a few minutes in the shade of a tree, take a drink and feel the breeze.  Then back to work.

Those trees were also a place for children to gather and play, hang from limbs or do a little climbing.   It would also be the place to leave equipment so that it would out of the work area and not be in the way of the tractor or other farm machinery.

The lone tree was always a focal point that was distinct from the otherwise formless expanse of the field.

If you metal detect rural areas like that, it is often worth  detecting under trees like that.  I always do.  You are almost always guaranteed to find something.  Sometimes some old rusty farm implements or parts.  Sometimes a coin or two.  And sometimes something better.

The cache shown in the picture above was found at the bottom of a tree here in Florida.  It was found by one of James F.'s hunting buddies Rob. B.

Here is what James, who submitted the story, said.

Will, one of my hunting buddies (actually a newbie) Rob B. and I were detecting in an area that was once farmland with our Minelab E-Tracs. Under a rather old oak, he got a signal, but due to the very strange target signature was not sure if he would dig it. He scanned it from one direction and the next then scratched his head a bit and scanned it some more. He went off and dug up a few clad coins here and there, but kept going back to the spot. Finally he came over to me and said "You wanna' take a look at this? I'm not sure what it is."

I wandered over and scanned the area under the tree and also got odd, but consistent reading...on the E-Trac a 01-43 is interpreted as a silver dollar, which, you have to think must be a mistake...a silver dollar??? No way, right? The signal garbles from a solid 01-43 into a solid 44-36...steel or stainless steel...then garbles again into 45-45...iron/steel. These were consistent and solid from one sweep to the next. Finally, the we dug it and about 10" deep, Rob says "What is that?" A package wrapped up in cellophane (Remember CELLOPAHNE?) held together with some rotting string. The pinponter beeps again and digging a little deeper finds another cellophane pouch containing several squares of damp and soiled brown paper with an embossed circle ringed in dirt. His hands were shaking when he unwrapped the paper. A gleaming 1921 solid silver Peace dollar lay in his palm. Rob's hands were shaking so bad, he nearly dropped it! The second paper was unwrapped to reveal a soiled but solid silver 1922 Peace dollar coin. Heavy and solid, no telling how long they had been down there, but we had to cut through a two inch root to get down to it. Also, there was a German Army mess kit (Rob's wife is German and he is fluent in it...the mess kit was embossed with the German army,s moniker) as well as what looked to be a switchblade of French manufacture. There was a small packet of tools, machine bits, small saw blades and some random hardware in a smaller separate package pried out from under the roots. We had no idea who buried it or why...the various packages of different metals gave our machines a fit, but the readings were actually accurate. I did a short unlisted YouTube video on my channel and shot a few pics...here's the video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5wURlA6RNk

James followed up correcting the date of the silver dollars.  He said...

Well, turns out one of the silver dollars found in that under-tree cache I sent you the video about yesterday was a 1921 MORGAN Silver Dollar and the other was a 1922 Peace Silver Dollar...

Peace dollars can be worth good money, depending upon condition, of course.

This is a type of detecting that you might enjoy when the beaches aren't behaving.  You probably won't find so much gold, but an occasional gold item might pop up.  And some interesting finds of other types.  You might be surprised to learn how well  rusty farm implements and other vintage items sell.

Example of 1922 Peace Dollar.

Also some rusty items, like a tobacco tin, for example, could hold old paper money.  It has happened.  And I see no reason to pass up things like that.

Here is another thing you might expect me to point out.  When in doubt, dig.  Actually my advice is to always dig.  Rust does not mean the item will necessarily have no interest or value.

Great find Rob!  Thanks for submitting the story James.

As James discussed in another email.  When the cache was buried, the person who buried it probably didn't have a detector to recover the cache.  Therefore it would be buried by some landmark or something so that the item could be recovered without digging up half the field to find it.  Therefore when cache hunting, look around and figure out where you might bury something.  People think remarkable alike.  What makes sense to one has a good chance of making sense to another.   I guess there is a knack to reading any site, not just beaches.

I also think when our shipwrecks were originally being salvaged by the Spanish or Indians, there were probably a few people who decided to quickly conceal an item or small personal caches on the beach or back in the dunes.

On the Treasure Coast the wind is still mostly from the east/southeast.   The surf was up a little yesteray.  This weekend and for a few more days it will be running mostly around two feet.

There isn't any storm activity in the Atlantic.

There are a few spots where there is some erosion, but it is in beach renourishment sand, like down at Jensen Beach.

I've seen a good many turtle nests lately.  A lot of them were raccoon buffets.   I couldn't believe how many complete nests were eaten.  That is nature.

Happy hunting,
TreaureGuide@comcast.net