12/14/13 Report - Design Features of 1711 - 1713 Mexican Escudos and Beach Conditions

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

Type of Cross Shown on 1711 - 1713 Mexican Escudos.
Illustration from Cobs, Treasure Coins and Pieces of Eight
 \\\by Sewall Menzel.

Yesterday I showed a photo of a one-escudo found by one of this blog's readers.  Today I'll examine some of the features of cobs like that.

First, 1711 - 1713 Mexico escudos displayed a cross with "crosslets" at right angles to each arm, as opposed to the box-ended cross of immediately preceding years.  See the illustration here as compared to the photo of the one-escudo that was submitted.






  

One-Escudo from Yesterday's Post.

The date of this cob, partially shown on the other side of the cob, is 1711.

The design of the cross we see here seems to match that date period.

I'm certainly not a cob expert.  I just pass along what little I've learned from good resources and experience.

If I got any of this wrong, feel free to correct me.

Shield Design For 1711 - 1713 Mexican Escudos.
Same Menzel Source.

Escudos of this date and mint show the OXMJ mint mark and assayers initials, and the Bourbon arms covers most of the lower-right castle.

The date, as you can see, is displayed at the upper left corner of the shield.  And the denomination to the right of the shield.  This particular illustration shows VIII, indicating the illustration is for an eight-escudo rather than a one-escudo.

Here is the photo of the one-real that I showed yesterday.  The shield matches up well.

You can not see the denomination to the right of the shield on the one-escudo, but you can see the partial date at the upper left corner of the shield.

I got out to the beach this morning finally.  The wind was blowing out of the South.  Here is one of the better looking spots that I saw.  The cut in front was about two feet at the highest.

I stopped at another beach, which had no cuts at all.

The front of the beach had a lot of shells that were covered by sand a little sand.  That hasn't changed much for a few weeks.

I'm sticking with my 1 (poor) beach conditions rating.  I think that is what it has been since December and maybe the last week or so of November.

Conditions are poor, but still better than summer conditions.



Here is the fascinating account of a fellow that was saved after spending 60 hours 100 feet underwater in a sunken tug boat.   Amazing!

I think I would have died.  The survivor found the Psalms to be a very present help in a time of trouble.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/December/VIRAL-Man-Attributes-Miracle-Survival-to-Psalm-54/


Unlike most big web sites, I'm not selling, advertising or promoting anything here.  Just a reminder.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/13/13 Report - One Treasure Coast One-Escudo, Erosion and Raid on Fort Pierce Civil War Reenactment

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

Escudo Beach Find

Very nice find!!!

Its always nice to see some old gold coming from the beach.

One reader of this blog found this one-escudo and submitted the photo.

One thing you should know about it is that it did not come from one of the well known shipwreck beaches.

I've said in the past that you should scout around and this is a good example why.

Some beaches that are not known as treasure beaches will produce treasure.

Below is the other side of the same escudo.  I'll probably take some time to discuss some of the details seen on the cob in the future.  But for now, I'll let you see what you can see on it.

Other Side of the Same Escudo.

Take a look and see if you can see a date or evidence of a mint or any other information you can make out.  It will be good practice.

Also, some reales came from the same beach.


The blog polls have provided a lot of food for thought and discussion.

I've received a number of emails with comments concerning the polls.  You always have to figure a margin or error.  The polls I construct for the blog certainly leave a lot to be desired.  I only have the ability to enter a small number of characters and can only do so much in a single poll.  Overall I'm happy about the data that I'm getting and especially the data from the various polls that support each other.   Some conclusions I am fairly confident about.  Others leave a lot of uncertainty.   Over time I'll try to obtain additional data that will help to support or refute conclusions.  One thing is for certain, there is a margin of error.

Different peope will have more or less confidence in the poll results, depending upon their own preconceptions and experiences.  All of the data is there for your own personal interpretation and discussion.  Thanks to all who participated and commented.


I wanted to post the following today in case you were making plans for the weekend.  You might enjoy it.

I haven't had a chance to check out the beaches myself lately but GoldNugget of N. C. reports a new four-foot cut at Jupiter and erosion at other Martin County Beaches.

Take a look at the Jupiter Inlet and Martin County web cams.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/12/13 - Gold and Onyx Ring and November Gold and Non-Precious Metal Finds

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

Gold and Onyx Ring

I'm going to talk about the poll results again some today, but first, other things are still being found.  Here is a nice old gold and onyx ring that was found.

The beach is always being replenished, and not only with sand.

When it comes to gold, it isn't always easy to tell how long ago it was lost.  People still wear around antique and vintage items to some extent.



In the previous post I talked about the poll results related to silver cobs and coins.  Today I'll talk about the results for finds other than reales.  That includes both gold and non-precious metals.

In the most recent poll, fourteen people reported finding shipwreck items or artifacts of non-precious metals.  That includes ceramics, such as olive jar pieces, iron or bronze spikes and other things.

The number of non-precious metal finds looks to be about the same as reale finds, although I do not have exact numbers found for any category - just the number of people that found one or more of a particular type of item.  We don't know from the poll, if those that found non-precious metals also found silver or gold or if it was an entirely different group of people.  I can only do so much with these very limited polls.  I can however over time gather more information in additional polls and put it all together.

Now the very fascinating category - gold.  Two people reported finding gold escudos.   Amazing finds indeed!  One was rumored to be an eight-escudo yet.

Unfortunately I have not received any photos of the escudo finds.  Shipwreck gold beach finds are not real common, but according to the poll results, there were two people who found escudos but only one that found an eight-reale.

There were also two people who reported finding gold or silver shipwreck items other than cobs or coins.  I haven't received photos or any other information about those either and don't know any more about them other than what I previously mentioned about a gold chain segment being found.

Not only are gold finds hard to come by, but so is information about them.

Despite all the limitations of the blog polls, they do provide some good information, certainly a lot more than we had before.  The polls are certainly not perfect and leave a lot to be desired.  There is a lot of information that needs to be gathered in the future. Piece by piece I hope to put together more of the puzzle of beach detecting.  And piece by piece verify or refute various theories.

Plat2pus from Arizona, said he reads this blog on a regular basis and that I need to take into account the people who do not live or detect on the Treasure Coast when I asked who did not detect during November.  He is correct.  I'll try to gather more information on that in the future.  I do have some demographic information on the readers of this blog that is provided by google analytics.

I do know that just over 95% of the visits to the blog come from the United States.  That isn't too surprising.  And the majority of those come from Florida, although I don't know the percentage right off.  I'll have to look into that.  And the predominant age group is 25 -34 -  a bit younger than I might have expected.  I'll have to do some more research.

On the Treasure Coast we're expecting a peak surf of only around five feet on Friday.  Leading up to and after that, the surf is expected to be less.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/11/13 Report - Poll Results and Treasure In Your Own Back Yard

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

Ring and Silver Coins Found in Yard
Finds and Photos by Dan B.

As I've said before, you don't have to drive long distances to metal detect.  Your own back yard can be an excellent place to do a little detecting and add to your skill level.

Dan B., while continuing to learn to use his detector, found these silver coins and ring in his own yard.  He says that the finds surprise him since his property has so little history.

You never know to you look.

If you've gone over your yard many times, don't let that stop you.  I'll bet you can still get something out of it as you learn new things.




In my previous post I mentioned that about one in five people who detected during November found a cob or treasure coin.  During that time period I had a level three rating for a several days.

I've been trying to quantify my rating scale.   Those numbers work out well.   It appears that what I've been calling level three detecting conditions will give you about a one in five chance of finding a cob or treasure coin on the Treasure Coast.

Roughly approximating, I'll say that with level two conditions the probability would be about `10%, level three detecting conditions would give you about a 30% chance, and level five, a 40% and up chance.  Level one conditions would give less than a one percent chance of finding cobs or treasure coins on the beach.

I'll test those hypothetical numbers out in the future and continue to refine my beach detecting conditions scale.  It may be a good while before we get level four or five conditions.  They don't happen often, which makes it more difficult to quantify.  Nonetheless, I've been happy with how well my predictions have worked out so far and how the data has supported my guesses.

One thing I found out in the poll that was summarized in my 11/29 post is that if you found one cob, the probability is very high (about 4 - 1)  that you found more than one.  That data referred to a time period when the conditions rating as level three for multiple days.  I doubt that the probability of multiple finds is as high if the good conditions do not last as long.

I'll address what the poll says about silver cob or treasure coin finds today.

First, the most recently concluded poll confirms my belief that more cobs found on the beach are cobs of smaller denominations. 

Of the reales reported found in this poll, it appears that something like two thirds were either half-reales or one-reales.  The same number of people reported finding half-reales as one-reales (5).

In previous posts I've shown photos of both half-reales and one-reales found during November.

Two people reported finding two-reales and two reported finding 4-reales.

Only one person reported finding an eight-reale.

It has been my theory that more lower denomination cobs are found on the beach, and that is supported by the data. 

I also believe different beaches produce different size cobs.   Bon Steel, for example has long been know for it's small cobs.   The fact that there is no known shipwreck pile adjacent to the beach might be significant, but many questions remain.

The source of the cobs might also be significant.  My theory is that the larger cobs tend to come from the back dunes more than being washed up onto the beach, but that is just a theory with almost no data to either support or refute it.  Can it be that it takes more to wash the larger cobs up onto the beach?  Sounds like a possibility to me, but I can't say.

Very small cobs, especially small half-reales seem to be washed up not too much differently than shells at times.

I've also commented in previous posts about how under-weight many of the beach cobs are and gave weights for some.  It is not surprising that silver cobs corrode and deteriorate in the rough salt water surf.  They will not last forever.  Some appear to have lost nearly two-thirds of their original minted weight.  Of course some are exposed to more hostile conditions, while others remain hidden and somewhat more protected from the rough surf and salt water.

When the back dunes erode, I think more eight-reales will be found.  That will more than likely be during level four or five beach conditions.

There is more good poll information that I'll explore in the future.



Here is an interesting article about the lost colony of Roanoke Island.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131208-roanoke-lost-colony-discovery-history-raleigh/



Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/10/13 Report - Street Sweeper Detector and First Look New at Poll Results

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


As I said in a previous post, I've playfully given thought to building a large frame to carry multiple coils to be dragged over a wide area.   Jim H. sent in a link showing Tesoro's street sweeper. 

Street Sweeper Metal Detector.
See link for source.

This street sweeper covers a wide swath to detect large metal objects.  The difference between my fantasy contraption and this street sweeper would be that mine would employ multiple smaller coils so that it could pinpoint multiple small targets in the area covered by the frame.  It would not simply be wide, but have depth as well as length.

The Tesoro street sweeper only detects larger targets and does not pinpoint.


Here is the source link.

http://www.tesoro.com/IDS/Street_Sweeper.html


As long as I'm talking about Tesoro, I have to remind you to not be fooled if you see Tesoro's "lifetime" warranty advertised.  It is not a lifetime warranty.  As soon s they declare a particular model obsolete and do not stock parts to repair that model, the "lifetime" warranty is over by simple declaration on their part.  That is false advertising.   I own two Tesoro detectors that, according to them, have out-lived their  "lifetime" warranty.



The most recent blog poll has concluded and the results are in.  I learned at least one important thing immediately upon looking at the results.  I'll talk about that one important finding today.

If you remember the poll that was conducted after Sandy and the first one conducted at the end of November, I found that 15 people reported finding cobs or other treasure coins for both of those time periods.  The one thing that I didn't appreciate and was wrong about, is the number of people that did not detect during those time periods.  I simply assumed that most people who read this blog probably detected and the number that did not detect was very small.

What I learned is tht most people who responded to the latest poll did indeed detect in November, but there was also a significant number that did not.  According to the latest poll results, 28% of the poll respondents did not detect in November.

Instead of simply generalizing from the number of poll respondents, now that I have an idea of how many do not detect during a period like that for one reason or another, I have to take that into account in my conclusions.

There are a variety of reasons that people might not detect besides the fact that they don't want to or can't find the time.  Some don't live in the area.  I've mentioned before the number of snow birds that read this blog as well as people who simply live in other parts of the country or out of the country.

After taking into account the 28% who did not detect in November, it was not 15% of those who detected that found cobs or treasure coins, but something more like 20% of those that did detect that found cobs or treasure coins.  In other words, if you did detect in November, when I rated beach detecting conditions as being level three, one in five detectorists found cobs or treasure coins.  That gives us a better idea of the probabilities of making a cob or treasure coin find under those conditions (level 3).

That adds another important piece of information.  Thanks to L. B. who said some things that gave me the idea that I needed to collect data to see how many people did not detect but responded to the poll.  That is one more piece to the puzzle and helps to build our knowledge base.  It also helps me to better quantify my beach detecting conditions ratings.

I'll address other poll findings concerning what exactly was found this November in future posts.  There are other important poll results.

Thanks for your participation in the poll.


Here is a fascinating story about a $10 million, 3000 year-old, small Assyrian gold tablet and its travels that was originally purchased during WWII for cigarettes and food.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/12/04/3200-year-old-gold-artifact-transferred-from-l-i-estate-to-german-museum/


It looks like we'll see nothing higher than a five foot surf this week on the Treasure Coast.  I'm not predicting any significant change in beach detecting conditions.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/9/13 Report - Marbles and How to Tell Their Age

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

Eye-balled Marbles

Yesterday I showed a nice old clay marble found by William M.  I always say that you should keep your eyes open and tuned to anything you might see while detecting.  Not only are there important clues, but you can also find some interesting non-metallic items, both old and new.

The marbles shown above are some of those found while detecting or just scouting around without a detector.  They aren't as old as the clay one.

One was found on a very steep cliff on a West Virginia hillside in the sunken deer hoof print.  It gave me a clue that there could be other things nearby.

A good number of marbles were actually manufactured in West Virginia.

Worn Sea Glass Marble

Little things like marbles can provide good clues to the presence of home sites or other human activity.

Many of these were found near or in the water.  The honey colored one, front and center, is so worn that I would classify it more as sea glass.

Most are very banged up, but a few are in good condition.  Of course, like anything else, condition is very important to collectors, and there are a lot of marble collectors and a lot of different kinds of marbles worth collecting.

The marblesgalore.com website is a good site for learning about marbles and the different types that are collectible.



And there are some that are manufactured with defects, just like with coins.  I always find them interesting.

Exampe of Defective Marble.

You can see the big wave in the surface of this marble.

There are other smaller waves in the glass that are not visible in this photo but clearly visible to the eye.

I don't really know much about marbles, but the marblesgalore.com web site provides a lot of good information.

Below is one of my favorite marbles from this group.  In the group photo above it is beside the honey-colored sea glass marble in front.


In normal light, the marbe shown below appears black, but when held up so the light shines through it, you can see tht it is blue.

Black Marble Held Up To Sun.

The lines and shapes in this marble are reflections.  The actual color is nearly solid.

Some marbles are real works of art.  Some even have porcelain figures of animals or objects inside.

If you find one it is worth taking a look to see if you might have a nice collectible one.

I'm convinced that a detectorist who makes good use of his vision while detecting will benefit by finding more objects and clues.

I've said this before.  I really enjoy eye-balling.  You can develop important detecting skills by eye-balling.  You can learn how things accumulate on a beach and how they cluster.  Eye-balling will also add to your finds.  And you can do it where detecting is not allowed.

Here is a web site that gives six ways to help identify the age of a marble.

http://www.ebay.com/gds/6-Differences-Between-Old-and-New-Marbles-/10000000177633979/g.html


According to the predictions the Treasure Coast could get something up to a 6 foot surf on Friday.  That isn't bad.  There isn't too much else hopeful out there.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/8/13 Report - Off-Beach Detecting, Sand Up Close

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




Variety of Finds by William M.
Photo by William M.

William M. decided to go off-beach for a while since beach conditions have deteriorated from what they were back in November.  He came up with a nice variety of finds.

It is a good idea to scout around and detect some other types of areas once in a while.  For one thing, you'll learn a different type of detecting and increase your skill level.   That is one reason I advise trying some different types of sites from time to time.

William said, I hiked the Indian River Ridge area today.  Some odd finds to say the least..
here are a few of them.. lead seal, clay marble, seed bead, odd buttons...and my strangest find this is solid bronze or copper and it appears to be a miniature sarcophagus.

Nice finds William!   You never know what you might find when you hunt older areas.

If you missed it, back a few days ago I gave a link to a good article on the history of the Indian River Ridge.  You might want to go back and reread it.

According to marblesgalore.com, Clay marbles were first made in America in 1884 by The Akron Toy Company. Prior to 1884 they were imported from Germany.

Billions of the plain clay marbles were made in the USA from 1884 until about 1950...

http://www.marblesgalore.com/clay/

I've eye-balled quite a few later glass marbles on off-beach locations, but clay marbles are older and a good sign of an older site.


Dan B. said,  Finally figuring out how to really use my detector. My yard has alot of debris and bullets, so i have never really tried to clean it up. Yesterday i had some time and decided to only hunt high hits and put my detector to the test. Found my first silver quarter, and a wheat penny. Had alot of fun. The pinpointer really makes it exciting. My 3 year old loves it. I just dig the plug and move on, and she does the rest.

You might be surprised by what you find in your own back yard.  I highly recommend it.  You'll find that it is a lot different than detecting at the beach.  You might have interference from power lines to deal with, and lots of junk and other metal such as fence posts or rebar in drive ways or foundations, roofing nails, etc.   You will probably learn something new about using your detector by working under those circumstances.  

I still take my detector out in my yard once in a while, and I've done it many times before. 

Yesterday I was talking about sand and some of the sand mines that are used and will be used for the upcoming renourishment projects at Indian River County and Sebastian.

Dan took a close-up look at some black sand using a microscope and his iphone.



Photo of Sand by Dan B.

Here is a picture of the stuff you walk on when you go to the beach.  Really quite beautiful.

As I told Dan, I it was sort of funny that he sent these photos right after I was looking at some minute pieces of quartz adhering to a an old silver coin.  I was using a high powered jewelers loop and the quartz particles looked very much like little diamonds.  I was struck by how pretty they were.

I never tried to take a photo through my loop.  Maybe I'll be able to do that.

Thanks for the really neat photo Dan.

Amazing what a closer look can provide!

When out at the beach it is worth slowing down taking a deep breath and looking around.  There are a lot of beautiful sights out there. 

There are some times that I really wish I had taken a photo.   Everything from a gazillion fish swimming through a wave that was above my eye level being back-lit by the sun so I could see the black outline of all the fish in the wave, to a time when it was foggy and raining and I couldn't see anything more than a few feet with a light gray mist surrounding me.   That was the most peaceful serene scene I can remember.   I can't really explain what it looked like, but it was amazing.


After what now appears to be the false hope provided by the predicted eleven foot surf, I don't see anything remarkable or hopeful about the near-term Treasure Coast predictions.  It looks like we'll be having something on the order of a four or five foot surf and a lot of southerly winds.  Not to promising for the near future on the Treasure Coast.


Only one day remaining for the blog poll, which I think is the most detailed that I've done.  I hope you'll respond to the poll if you haven't done so already. 

It looks like it will reveal some interesting and useful information.  I hope the holiday season won't hurt the sample size.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net