4/9/16 Report - A Distinction Between Metal Detecting and Treasure Hunting - My View. 1930s Donald Duck Figurine.

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

It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Everybody knows what that means. You might say the same thing about treasure, but I'd like to make a distinction.  Treasure is not so much in the eye as it is in the heart.

That might sound like poetry or psychology or maybe just some kind of mystical mumbo jumbo, but there is a lot of truth in it, and I'm going to try to explain what I mean.

I'm going to make a distinction between metal detecting and treasure hunting.  The distinction isn't perfect, but it might help me make a point.

Metal detecting might be considered to be a type of physical activity.  It can be done without a lot of thought or contemplation.  It can be little more than a way of spending some time and picking up a few coins or whatever else happens to pop up. That is the way some people metal detect.

Treasure hunting, on the other hand, might be thought of as more complex.  Unlike the view of metal detecting that just presented, treasure hunting is not a series of unrelated hunts,   It has a more focused long-term goal.  It is more like a war than a battle.  A series of obstacles must be overcome, and as a result, as the person is tested time and time again, personal growth is likely. Treasure hunting is as much about the journey as the objects.  There can be a mythic quality about it as the quest unfolds.

Over the years, my metal detecting turned into treasure hunting.  I noticed that there were always challenges.  I found that there was usually something protecting the best treasures.  To put it another way, there was always a dragon to slay.  The best hunting was often during a storm, or in the pitch darkness of night, or under rocks or mud, under stumps or roots, in deep or rough water, buried in tons of trash or something. The dragon could take on many forms, and it could be big or small, but there was usually a dragon.

Without a battle or obstacles to overcome, there is little excitement.  Just watch an Indiana Jones movie.

Excitement is one thing, but without a battle there is also no victory.  If an item is too common and too easily obtained, it is not treasure.  Part of what makes it treasure is the quest.

There is a good story in the Bible where Jehoshaphat and his people were about to be attacked by the Ammonites (I think it was), and Jehoshaphat was told, "The battle is not yours, but God's." Well if the battle is God's, why did the people have to go out against the enemy?  Here is the answer. By demonstrating faith and going out against the enemy, they were put in position to see the victory and pick up the spoils.  Without the battle, there would be no victory, and if the people did not go into battle, they would not be in position to pick up the spoils.

Many people who get into metal detecting think that it is an easy way to strike it rich, or at least pick up some money or maybe a bauble or two.  That is fine.  Metal detecting is still a fun hobby, but people like that seldom advance in the hobby, and when they find that it is not everything they expected, they give up and quit.

True treasure hunters, on the other hand, are committed to the quest.  There is more to it for them than picking up some nice items. They might not analyze it, and they might not be able to communicate it clearly, but in their gut they feel that it is about something bigger.  As they overcome obstacles in the world while seeking treasure, there is an internal victory over personal limitations, and what is gained is greater awareness and a fuller life.  For those who pursue it in that way, treasure hunting is more about the journey than it is about the treasure.

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I've noticed that a lot of my readers are religious or spiritual.  I'll still plan to explore that issue in the future.

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1930s Donald Duck Bisque Figurine.

The Donald Duck shown here is like the one I found.  Mine lacks the head, and the paint is gone.  It is from the 1930s.

There were a variety of Donald Duck figurines, each slightly different and bearing a different serial number on the collar. They have the same copyright marking as the one I found.

It is bisque, not porcelain.


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There are only two days remaining to respond to the current blog poll.  Your responses are appreciated.

Saturday we'll have a smooth surf and gentle north winds, but the tides will be bigger than normal.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/8/16 Report - Not a Mickey Mouse Find. Markings and Copyright Laws. More on Elks Item.

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

Porcelain Body of Donald Duck

There is no accounting for the taste of some people. Here is a picture of an item I recently found while surface hunting - Donald Duck without head.

The figure is about four inches tall and made of something like porcelain.  It appears to me to be an early Donald Duck figurine.  If he only had his head I would prize it more than a common 1715 Fleet cob.  That is what I mean by not being able to account for some people's taste.

I still need to do some research.  The markings appear to be very early.

On his back collar is what looks like S1334.  Don't know what that might mean.

And on his bottom is the copyright symbol followed by "Walt Disney."

Those two things should eventually tell me everything I might want to know, including a date range.

Donald's Bottom Showing Copyright Mark.

Mark On Donald's Collar.

If anyone can tell me the meaning of those markings and save me some time I'd sure appreciate it.  Thanks for any help.

Here is an informative web site telling how Disney drove the copyright laws in the past and possibly into the future.  Very interesting!

http://artlawjournal.com/mickey-mouse-keeps-changing-copyright-law/

And here is a web site showing various production marks used by Disney over the years.  The one on this item is not included in those listed on this web site.

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Disney-Collectibles-Production-Marks-Disneyana-/10000000000072493/g.html

You always learn some interesting things when researching finds.

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Not too long ago I posted a picture of an Elks item found by John C.  I wondered about the clock.  Here is what I found.

THE ELEVEN O'CLOCK TOAST
At every meeting of the BPOE, and every social function, when the hour of 11:00 p.m. tolls, the Lodge conducts a charming ceremonial known as the "Eleven O'clock Toast." In fact, the clock tolling the eleventh hour is part of the BPOE official emblem, and is directly behind the representation of an elk's head in the emblem of the Order. 

Regular meetings of Subordinate Lodges have always been held at night. In the earlier days, they were usually held on Sunday nights and were concluded about eleven o'clock. As the participants departed, the Brothers made inquiries about the absent Brothers and expressed sympathetic interest in the causes of their absence. 

It soon became a custom for some member to propose a toast to the Brothers who were not present. And in the course of time, this custom was quite generally observed whenever a group of Elks were together at eleven o'clock. Eventually, the Grand Lodge specifically provided for such a ceremonial to be observed during Lodge sessions; and designated it as "The Eleven O'clock Toast." Under this provision, whenever a Lodge was in session at that hour, the regular order of business was suspended for a few moments while the Exalted Ruler recited the beautiful ritual prescribed, concluded with the words: "To our absent Brothers." Since women were permitted to join the Elks since 1995, the toast is now pronounced as "To our absent Members." 

For more information about the Elks, here is a good web site.

https://www.elks.org/lodges/LodgePages.cfm?LodgeNumber=183&ID=8896

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SuperRick, who usually hunts meteroites and nuggets out West, was on the Treasure Coast and found this cut on the 6th.

Photo by SuperRick.

The weather is absolutely super for being outdoors.  The wind today is mostly from the west. Tomorrow it will be coming from the north.  Even though the surf won't be big, the tides will be pretty big.

I'm working on some stuff for future posts.  I'm also working on a foreword for a book that you won't want to miss when it comes out.  I read a draft of the book and loved it.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/7/16 Report - Odyssey Marine Exploration Business. Important Artifacts From Tortugas Shipwreck.

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

Source: http://www.shipwreck.net/documents/OMEPapers37.pdf

I haven't mentioned Odyssey Marine Explorations for some time.  They went through a period when they had a lot of financial losses and the price of their common stock plummeted.  That changed. OMEX stock recently went from around $3 per share to over $9 per share.  You don't often see moves like that.  I won't go into a complete analysis, but here is what they say about the shipwreck part of their business.  They are also into deep-sea mineral exploration and mining.  The following summary is from http://www.odysseymarine.com.


In the fourth quarter of 2015, a third-party company contracted Odyssey to recover cargo from a shipwreck located in the Mediterranean Sea. Odyssey recognized $3.0 million of revenue in 2015 for these services. The recovered cargo is the property of the contracting party and was not part of the Monaco transaction summarized below.

On December 10, 2015, Odyssey sold certain intangible and tangible assets primarily related to its shipwreck business to Monaco Financial, LLC and affiliated entities for aggregate consideration of approximately $21.0 million. The company's shipwreck database and research library was acquired by Magellan Offshore Services, Ltd. ("Magellan"). However, Odyssey retained its vessel, equipment, tools, and specialized offshore team members. As part of the Monaco transaction, Magellan agreed to exclusively hire Odyssey on a "cost plus" basis for any shipwreck search and recovery projects conducted in the next five years. In turn, Odyssey agreed not to compete with Magellan in the shipwreck search and recovery business. Odyssey is also entitled to receive 21.25% of the net proceeds from any monetization of recovered cargo. As part of the Monaco transaction, Odyssey retained four pre-existing projects, including the HMS Victory 1744 and HMS Sussex projects. Magellan may participate in funding the recovery costs of these projects in the future, and will have the right to receive up to 50% of Odyssey's net proceeds, if any.

Monaco Financial, LLC acquired all of Odyssey's remaining coins, ingots and bars from the SS Republic, "Tortugas," and SS Gairsoppa shipwrecks, as well as an interest in the proceeds payable to Odyssey under the Master Services Agreement for the SS Central America project. Monaco Financial also purchased Odyssey's headquarters building and leased office space back to Odyssey.

Seascape Artifact Exhibits acquired Odyssey's artifact collection, exhibits, and all of Odyssey's shipwreck intellectual property and copyrights, including video, photos and publications.

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Odyssey Marine is a company that produces a lot ov very good research.  One paper examines a couple of plates found on the Tortugas shipwreck.  At the top of the page is a photo of one of those plates.  Here are two paragraphs from a paper about those plates produced by Odyssey.

Given the Tortugas plates’ specific imagery and chronological context, it is plausible that their presence on the Buen Jesús merchant vessel in early September 1622 archaeologically reflects the presence of administrators or missionaries of the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith returning to Seville on this Tierra Firme fleet ship. In this historical hypothesis their personal belongings stowed on an Americas-bound vessel earlier in the year would have included two plates freshly thrown under papal commission. Of humble service, albeit highly appointed, one might imagine that a single plate would have sufficed per individual. 

The two examples recovered from the Tortugas wreck could suggest the presence of two such missionaries gracing the ship’s deck. Within this context it is relevant to recall the other select religious artifacts found on the wreck, which included rosary beads, a Virgin Mary clay figurine, a brass medallion dedicated to St. Catherine of Sienna, and two Seville Blue on White bowls painted with ecclesiastic inscriptions, of which only the letters ‘CAR’ written above ‘MO’ are preserved on their interior roundels (Stemm et al., 2013: 82-3, 96).
 

This is a great example of how much an artifact can tell if it provides some clues and thorough research is done.

Here is the link to the paper if you want to read more.

http://www.shipwreck.net/documents/OMEPapers37.pdf

 I do highly recommend reading this excellent paper.  You will learn more about the markings, symbolism and the history of the times.

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The weather is beautiful today for anyone who wants to visit the beach.  I'm not expecting any improvement in beach detecting conditions though.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/6/16 Report - Beaches Around The Treasure Coast This Afternoon.

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

It was windy last night and this morning as the cool front came through.  I wanted to get out to see what the beaches looked like but didn't get to until this afternoon.  Here is what I saw.

Frederick Douglas Beach This Afternoon Near Low Tide.

Frederick Douglas looked interesting - more interesting than shows from the photo.  For one thing, between the peaks you see here, there were cuts in between.  The cuts were unusual.  I don't remember seeing cuts just like that.

The front beach was relatively firm, and the cuts up around the bend were not spaced like the ones shown here.

I'd say beach conditions definitely improved a little here, but maybe not enough to find cobs - at least not in numbers.

Pepper Park This Afternoon Near Low Tide.

No cuts here.  And the beach front was not low.  The only good thing about this beach is the dip in the shallow water.

Two Detectorists At Pepper Park.

 One of these detectorists had a Garrett Ace.  I heard him say he found eleven cents.  I think the other fellow (bending down) had a Bounty Hunter.

Turtle Trail Looking North This Afternoon

The Turtle Trail beach had features that looked very much like those of Frederick Douglas.  It was surprisingly similar.

South of Turtle Trail This Afternoon.

This is the area that was producing back at the end of 2015.  Notice that the blue bags are not showing.

Area North of Seagrape Trail.  

Not much interesting around Seagrape Trail.  However, the front beach was firm.  It was similarly firm around Turtle Trail.

Digger North of Seagrape Trail.

This detectorist was digging one big hole.  I've seen other people trying to remove the same item over the years  So far none were successful.  Maybe this guy will be.  If he does dig it up, can he carry it away.  Maybe.  I once carried a fairly large anchor a long distance.  I wouldn't do it today.

There it is.

Thanks for your responses on the blog poll.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/5/16 Report - Lawrence of Arabia's Bullet. Sifting Temple Mount Dirt. 2 Million Copper Coins Found.

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

It wasn't too long ago that I did some posts on how every artifact has a story.  Here is a very good example about how one bullet confirmed an important story.

A bullet fired by Lawrence of Arabia during one of his most famous acts of guerrilla warfare has been discovered in the Arabian desert by a team of archaeologists, led by the University of Bristol, confirming the accuracy of Lawrence’s own account of the attack in his war memoir Seven Pillars of Wisdom...

Dr. Neil Faulkner said: “Lawrence has something of a reputation as a teller of tall tales, but this bullet – and the other archaeological evidence we unearthed during ten years of fieldwork – indicates how reliable his account of the Arab Revolt in Seven Pillars of Wisdom is.”

Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2016/march/lawrence-of-arabia-bullet.html

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Just yesterday I was talking about sifting.  Here is an article about an important sifting project.

In 2004, on the western slopes of Mt. Scopus at Emek Tzurim National Park, archaeologists Dr. Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira under the auspices of Bar-Ilan University established a project for sifting the earth debris that had been removed from the Temple Mount. The sifting is funded and operated by the Ir-David Foundation with the cooperation of the Israel National Parks Authority and the research and publication of the finds is funded by private donors through the Israel Archaeology Foundation...

Here is the link to read more about that.

https://templemount.wordpress.com/brief-introduction-to-the-project/

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Anyone need change? TWO MILLION copper coins weighing a whopping 10 tonnes found inside 2,000-year-old tomb

Tomb discovered in Nanchang, capital of East China's Jiangxi Province
It also includes 10,000 gold, bronze and iron items, chimes, bamboo slips
Experts hope it will shed light on the life of nobility from ancient times
The value of the coins is said to be around £104,000 ($157,340)

To read more:


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3311808/Anyone-need-change-TWO-MILLION-copper-coins-weighing-whopping-10-tonnes-inside-2-000-year-old-tomb.html

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We have a beautiful day on the Treasure Coast.  Smooth surf too.  The predictions are for an increased surf Wednesday - up to 4 - 6 feet.

Thanks for your participation in the blog polls.  I have a series planned.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/4/16 Report - Sifting for Treasure.

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

When you metal detect it is not surprising that you find mostly metal.  There are a lot of other things you could find.  Some of those might be interesting or valuable.

I do a lot of eye-balling, both when detecting and otherwise.  As a result I find a good variety of things that are not made of metal.

If you think there might be things worth finding that are not made of metal, you might consider sifting.

Sifting is sometimes done on shipwreck sites.  That can result in finding things like emeralds.

I know of one sifting project that was conducted on a home site recently.  Finds included a lot of vintage marbles.

I've done some sifting in the past.  I once posted pictures of a very portable home-made sifter that I used.  It is easily carried in the car in case it is needed.

Any time you have a good heavy concentration of interesting items, you might try sifting.  You'll discover things that you would otherwise miss.  You might discover stone tools such as arrowheads, wax or clay seals, fossils gems, or even gold that is so small that it could easily be missed by a metal detector.

There were times when I sifted a beach instead of detecting it.  I had a sifter that could be pulled through the sand.  It picked up everything large enough to not fall through the wire screen.  It picked up pull tabs as well s coins and things, but you could easily pick up the coins and good things and dump out the junk.

Sifting can be a good choice when there is so much trash that detecting is impossible.  That can be the case around picnic tables that are surrounded by a carpet of pull tabs, bottle tops, tin foil, etc.

It can also work well around walks, driveways and fences where it is impossible to detect.

Sifting can be done a variety of ways.  You can use water to more quickly wash materials through the screen.

I plan to make a video of a small sifting experiment to show you in the very near future.

If you are a water hunter, a floating sifting screen can be useful.  It is easy enough to make one, and it can be a quicker than using a hand scoop.  The water speeds up the process.

The first fossil that I ever found came up in a scoop when I was digging a target in the water.  I didn't know exactly what it was at the time but kept it until I found out what it was.

You can buy sifters if you want, but they are easy enough to make.

Simple Portable Sifter

This is as simple and inexpensive as it gets.  All you need is four pieces of board and some chicken wire.

The way it is you can roll it up for hiking.

Just two more boards and you can make it rigid.

Add some styrofoam and it floats.  Add legs or a tripod if you wish.  

Remember, if you want to find things there might be methods that are more effective than using a metal detector and picking them up one at a time.

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You might have noticed that I added a poll to the blog.  I appreciate your participation.

I have some more polls planned, but wanted to get this information first.  All responses are anonymous.

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On the Treasure Coast the surf will be smooth Monday and Tuesday.  It is a little cooler.  Very nice weather.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/3/16 Report - Survey of a Few Beaches and Beach Conditions Update.

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

I took a look at some beaches this morning.  The sand on the front beaches had been stirred up a little, but only superficial stuff.

The wind changed and was coming from the north today.  That had an effect.

In the photo above you can see at the top of the picture where the dunes were cut into a little by the high tides not long ago.

In the picture above you can also see a dark strip where there was a little black sand on the recently steepened slope.

This beach is different from the one above.  It is much more broad and there is a lot more flat beach in front of the dunes.

This beach is also mushier than the one shown above.  The one shown above at the top was firm.

The second beach has new mushy sand piled on the very front of the beach.

Here is a view of a beach that in some respects is similar to the second one.

There were both scallops and small cuts like the one shown above on various beaches.

Overall, I'd say the beaches that I saw weren't very promising, although at least one (the one in the first picture) was interesting enough to spend some time detecting.  I wouldn't expect any real good old objects though.

It was such a mixed bag that I would not be surprised if there were some small productive spots somewhere on the Treasure Coast even though I didn't see the..  I would look for areas where there are obstacles to the flow of sand, for example rocks, inlets, etc.

The surf is running about two or three feet now, and the tides are moderate.

The north wind will continue for two or three days, only shifting a little.

I'd expect no significant changes in detecting conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net