1/23/20 Report - T. C. Beach Conditions Rating Decreased. Beach Developments. One Find.

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

Chunky Four-Reale Dug Yesterday.

I'll do some cleaning and close-up photography and show other finds some other time, but mostly what I want to do now is show what some of the beaches looked like this morning.

Yesterday I showed photos of Ambersands, Seagrape and Turtle Trails.  I have photos of those beaches from this morning so you can see how things changed since yesterday.

First Ambersands.

Ambersands 1/23

You can compare that with yesterday's photo, which was taken closer to low tide.

Damaged Stairs At Seagrape Trail 1/23

The bottom of the stairs at Seagrape have been damaged by the high water lately.  I'm surprised they haven't closed Seagrape Trail yet.  That could happen.

Seagrape Trail Beach 1/23

You can see that the water has been chipping away at the foot of the dunes.

Erosion Control Bags at Turtle Trail 1/23

Last night dumped several inches of sand over the bags at Turtle Trail, which were much more exposed yesterday.

Turtle Trail to the South Near the Second Flag Pole 1/23

Here is a picture of a cut that I posted yesterday from about the same area.  The cut was gone today and the slope was mushy.

Cut on Seen at Turtle Trail Yesterday 1/22

There was more sand on the slope today.  The cuts were smoothed out.  The beach was mushier, but the dunes were still being cut into.   Much of that was into renourishment sand.

Here is another photo of the same area today.

Turtle Trail 1/23

Yesterday the spot shown in the photo above had about seven inches of sand over the older orange sand.  With the additional sand today, there would be somewhere around a foot or more of sand over the old orange sand in that area.

John Brooks Beach Today 1/23

The water had been back pretty far at John Brooks, but the beach was pretty smooth, with only some small dips.

High Water Line At John Brooks This Morning 1/23

It looks like the surf was coming more directly onto the beaches today, rather than having the angle that created the cuts.

I'll get into that more some other time.  In recent years most of the windows of opportunity have been brief.  Lately they have often been occurring early when a front comes through but don't last long.

The more you know about the history of a beach, the better off you will be.  To get the most out of a single beach photo, it should be taken in its historical context.  A day old, or week old or year old photo has value if you know how to use it.  I'd love to have a photo of the same beach from the same  spot taken over the decades, for example,  That would show how it developed and put its current condition in context.  Where the beach was yesterday, last week, or last year, are all important and useful facts that help you better understand where it is today.    I'll get into that more some other time too.  There are a lot of things to talk about.

I was pleased with the performance of the Equinox in rough black sand beach conditions.  I'll get into that more some other time too.

Notice that I didn't decrease my conditions rating to a 1.  Just to a 2.  We'll see which way it goes from here.

The surf is still pretty high today.  It will be decreasing slowly for a couple days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/22/20 Report - T. C. Beach Conditions Rating Now A 3. Some of the Treasure Coast Beaches.

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

Seagrape Trail on 1/21/10

Photo by DJ

I often hear from people tell me how much they like the seeing the beach photos, beach reports and finds.  I guess that is one reason the readership continues to grow without any advertising or promotion and why many of you have been with me for over ten years.  You get some idea of what some of the beaches look like before you decide where or when you want to go.  It's just a little information to add to your decision processes.  I wish I had a site like this back years ago.  It would have saved me a lot of time and wasted trips.

DJ took the above photo yesterday.  You can compare that to the photo I took of Seagrape today.

Seagrape Trail 1/22

As you can see not much changed overnight on that beach.  Below is the view to the north today with some rain starting.

Here is what Wabasso looked like yesterday, thanks to DJ

Wabasso Beach 1/21/20

Photo by DJ

Obviously, Wabasso Beach is open again now.  I'm surprised how little they did after the beach was closed for so long.

I took a photo of Wabasso today, but Wabasso hadn't changed much, so I won't bother to show that photo.  It is almost the same.

Ambersands had a six-foot plus cut to the south today.

Ambersands Beach 1/22

Six-Foot Plus Cut at Ambersands 1/22

Below is the other direction.

Ambersands Beach 1/22

Ambersands is as far north as I went today.

I also visited Turtle Trail today.  The cuts there were not as high as Ambersands, but it had some nice erosion.

Erosion Control Bags at Turtle Trail 1/22

Turtle Trail Between the Flag Poles 1/22

Turtle Trail Between the Flag Poles 1/22.

I tried to get this done as soon as I could.  I can't type while I metal detect.  I was getting emails from people waiting to see my report, so I got it done as soon as I could.

It was raining from time to time so I was limited in when I could take photos, because I didn't want to drown my camera.

Now the bottom line:  I'm increasing my beach conditions rating to a 3.

As you can see from the few beaches I sampled today, not all beaches are eroding, but some were producing today.

Reales were found today.  Pictures of those some other time.  I'm tired now, and haven't really looked closely at all my finds yet.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Looks like we'll have a high surf for a while.  And it also looks like the primary swell will remain northeast, but flattening out a little and becoming a little more easterly.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/21/20 Report - Vero Man and Treasure Coast Fossils. Kang Hsi Notes. Big Surf Coming.

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

Source: SiberianTimes.com web site.  See link below.

The Kotelny island woolly mammoth was killed by humans some 21,000 years ago, say scientists.

Dr Albert Protopopov shared new pictures of the remains found at a location which was then part of the vast Beringia Land Bridge connecting what is now Siberia and North America.

'The traces on the bones show that the mammoth was killed and butchered by ancient people,' he said...

Here is the link for more of that article.

https://siberiantimes.com/other/others/features/arctic-island-woolly-mammoth-shows-strongest-evidence-yet-of-human-slaughter-and-butchering/

You might be aware that some of the oldest things you can find on the Treasure Coast beaches are fossils. It might surprise you to learn that you can find mammoth fossils on our beaches. I've found both mammoth teeth and a section of a tusk.

Mammoth Tusk Section.

Source: SiberianTimes.com (Same link as above).

The tusk section I found was of about the same diameter as the one shown in the above photo.  The end was sticking out of some eroded sand on the Treasure Coast.

Every Floridian, full or part-time, should know about the world-famous "Vero Man" site and James Kennedy's history making find of a 13,000 year-old mammoth bone bearing a human carving.

Wikipedia describes Vero Man this way: Vero man refers to a set of fossilized human bones found near Vero (now Vero Beach), Florida, in 1915 and 1916. The human bones were found in association with those of Pleistocene animals. The question of whether humans were present in Florida (or anywhere in the Americas) during the Pleistocene was controversial at the time, and most archaeologists did not accept that the Vero fossils were that old. Recent studies show that the Vero human bones are from the Pleistocene and are the largest collection of human remains from the Pleistocene found in North America.

See https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/6/110622-mammoth-bone-oldest-art-americas-science/

And also https://www.livescience.com/20088-early-floridians-mingled-mammoths-mastodons.html

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Shards Found South of Seagrape Where Kang His Has Been Found.

Photo by Robert C.

I recently received multiple questions about Kang Hsi porcelain.  As you might know, Kang Hsi porcelain is sometimes found on 1715 Fleet shipwreck sites and on the neighboring beaches.

Robert C., who sent in the above photo showing shards that he found, was wondering if others might know of Kang Hsi porcelain found on the Treasure Coast having colors other than the more common blue and white.

I'm sure he'd like to know if anyone had opinions to offer on the shards shown above.

I've talked about Kang Hsi porcelain in the past, but made some new photos that I think might be helpful for those attempting to identify Kang Hsi.

Below is a comparison of a piece of what I believe to be Kang Hsi porcelain and a piece of common European blue on white pottery side-by-side

Broken Edge of Common Blue on White Pottery (left) and Kang Hsi porcelain (right)

First off, in my experience, the paste of Kang Hsi porcelain is very white and very fine as compared to the common blue on white shards that you'll often find, and Kang Hsi porcelain is generally thin.

Another thing you will notice from the above photo is that the color will sit on the surface of most shards, while the color on Kang Hsi will penetrate the glaze.  The yellow on the shard on the right is encrustation, not a part of the shard.

I am far from an expert on this, and will gladly accept correction if I am wrong about any of it.  From my experience, though, these observations seem to hold.

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It has been a relatively busy year so far.  While there have not been a lot of shipwreck finds, there have been some finds, and there has been periodic erosion at a few spots around the Treasure Coast.  Too bad there is so much renourishment sand to deal with.

The surf predictions look real encouraging.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

The surf will start to build today and peak tomorrow (Wed.).

The wind and primary swell is northerly, but the wind is a bit off-shore until tomorrow

Not only will we have high surf (if the predictions are correct), but we'll also see some swells coming from the north and a few wind direction changes.  Altogether, it looks promising at this point.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/20/20 Report - Some History of Treasure Coast Treasure Hunting: Bruce Ward. Bigger Surf Coming.

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

January 1965 Issue of Argosy Magazine Containing Story of Bruce Ward's Treasure

Submitted by JaminJackUSA.

If you are interested in the history of treasure hunting on the Treasure Coast you might want to find a library copy of the January 1965 issue of Argosy Magazine.  

Several days ago I posted a nice four-reale that was purchased by JaminJack from the estate auction of Bruce Ward.  Jack sent me a copy of the Argosy article as background on the adventures of Mr. Ward.  The article describes Ward's big find, which was made in 1964, early in the history of modern Treasure Coast treasure salvage, and at a time when the Real Eight Corporation and a variety of other smaller and less documented treasure hunters were working along the Treasure Coast.  This is the type of article that no Treasure Coast treasure hunter will want to miss.

Photo Appearing in January 1965 Argosy Magazine.

Submitted to TBR by JaminJack.

Bruce accumulated a lot of treasure, which he did not sell because he planned to make start a museum.

Here is a photo of a homemade dive platform that he created and used until he upgraded.

Photo of Homemade Dive Raft Shown in January, 1965 Argosy Magazine.

Sent to TreasureGuide by JaminJack.

And here is his salvage boat, the DeeGee.

The DeeGee Salvage Boat.

Source: Jan. 1965 Argosy Magazine.

Thanks JaminJack.

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I was working in the yard this morning when I noticed that the wind had changed direction.  It is now coming more from the north, and it feels like a bit of a cool front came through, so it was not surprised when I looked at the surf predictions and saw that the surf will be increasing.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Looks like maybe up to a ten feet surf by Wednesday.  And some north winds before that.

That is a big enough surf to move some sand.  I just wish the wind kept coming from a northerly direction for a longer time.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/19/20 Report - Metal Detected Razor Thin Corroded Coins. Marine Fenders and Floats. Vero/Sebastian Beaches.

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

Dug Copper Coin That Has Been Corroded To A Fraction Of The Original Thickness.

A few days ago I started a series of posts on factors that can make it difficult to tell the age of a dug item from the amount of wear and corrosion.  The first thing I talked about was crusts that form and can protect an object from corrosion, even on a salt water beach.  Today I'll post the second part of the series showing that items can corrode very quickly or slowly, removing surface detail and making it difficult to tell the age.  Below are two examples.  

At the top of this post is shown a copper coin that is almost paper thin.  Originally it would have been as thick as a modern penny.  Can you tell what it is?  Below is front of the same coin.

Same Coin Shown Above.

Top and bottom clipped by photo.

You can still see the profile of Lincoln.  It is a Lincoln penny.  But the back shows that not only is it a Lincoln penny, it is a memorial penny, which tells you it is no older than 1959.  If it is copper, as it appears, and not zinc coated, it would be roughly 38 to 60 years old, despite being much more heavily corroded than many copper coins that are much older.  If I could not make out the Lincoln profile or the Lincoln Memorial on the other side, I would have no idea how old this coin might be.  It is remarkable that with so much of the coin gone, you can still see the shadow of those features.

Here is another one.

Another Very Thin Dug Coin.

This one is a mercury dime in similar heavily corroded condition.  Mercury dimes were made from 1916 - 1945, therefore this coin would be older than the penny shown above even though it is every bit as corroded.

The mercury dime is thinner than the half reales that you will find on the beach.

I have found shipwreck silver on the beach that is this thin, but I don't know if the thin silver was a reale or not.  I suspect not.

Silver dimes seem to corrode differently than reales.  Just an informal observation.  Heavily corroded reales seem to be more flaky or something.   Dimes seem to have a fairly distinct appearance even if they are almost corroded away.

My point today is that it is difficult to judge the age of an item by the amount of wear or corrosion, and that coins and other things will corroded very differently depending upon what they are made of and where thy have been.  Coins can be extremely worn and still be what we might call modern, while very old coins can at times be found in very nice condition.

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Seagrape Trail Saturday 

Photo by DJ

I hadn't seen the beaches in the Vero/Sebastian area lately so I was glad to get these photos from DJ.  There are few cuts to be seen anywhere.

Turtle Trail Saturday 

Photo by DJ

Turtle Trail Saturday 

Photo by DJ

Wabasso Still Closed 

Photo by DJ

I'm expecting Wabasso to open again January 20, or maybe 21.  It looks like the equipment is ready to leave.

Does anyone know where that renourishment sand came from?

Treasure Shores Saturday 

Photo by DJ

\

Ambersands Saturday 

Photo by DJ.

Ambersands lost a lot of renourishment sand so far this year.   It would be nice to see the old sand start to show.

Ambersands Saturday

Photo by DJ

Thanks much DJ.

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I received a couple emails concerning the big back flender or float that I showed yesterday.

Bruce B. said, I saw that fender floating in the surf back on December 27th. I looked up and found Yokahama Fenders that can be even bigger than that one, link attached. It was then a few hundred yards south of the beached sailboat.

Seems like it had only moved about a mile north in three or four weeks.  

Thanks Bruce.

Ron J. said, That big black finder looks to me like the floats that are used for the sand pump pipes and dredging operations as barriers. They would have steel cable attached to each end. I saw that at Sebastian Inlet and in the ICW as part of the marking of the keep out zone. 

My best beach find so far this year was a fishing knife in the soft sand saving someone's feet from a cut and I will use it too!

I think that is probably what it is.  Thanks Ron.

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The surf is down to about three feet today.  It will remain that way for a few days, and then next week might increase again.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/18/20 Report - Higher Surf Recutting One Beach. EO and UFO (Unidentified Floating Object). Random Thoughts

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

Large (Approx. 7 ft. long) Fender(?) On Beach.

I saw this item rolling in the surf Friday.   The size, I would guess, is about 3 - 4 feet high (as it lies) and about seven feet from end to end.  From how it moved I would guess it is empty.  It does have metal eyes on each end.  I didn't get real close to it, but it looked like it might be made of a thick, but hollow, flexible rubber like material, and the ends had a yellowish color, looking like brass or bronze.  I'm guessing it is a large boat fender or air bag.  It looks more heavy-duty than anything I've found online so far.  What do you think?

John Brooks Friday Afternoon.

As of late Friday afternoon, from the few beaches that I saw, it looked like the wind and surf had not yet improved beach conditions significantly.

The cut at John Brooks looked like it was being recut, but the cut was not nearly as big as it was when I increased my beach conditions rating to a two.

The beach in front of the cut was soft and mushy.

John Brooks Friday Afternoon.

Frederick Douglass Beach Friday Afternoon.

The front beach at Frederick Douglass appeared to be building.

Frederick Douglass Beach Friday Afternoon.

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A couple days ago GC was working the shell line at Fort Pierce South Jetty and picked up the usual light stuff along with an interesting EO, which is circled in the photo of finds in the photo below.

Wednesday Objects From the Shell Line

Photo by GC.

Here is how he described it.

Went to FP South Jetty Park on Wed. I see that the dune is cut back further than I have ever seen, but not as tall and vertical. So I guess any goodies are still buried under the renourishment. Lots of shells, and that shell line is where I dug up a curious object 2-3 inches in deep in sand.

     It gave off a very loud signal on my highly technical BH Time Ranger. All I did at the time was check it with my magnet because it was quite heavy. Not at all magnetic. Checked again at home with stronger magnet. Nope. When I tried, perhaps too vigorously, to chip off some of the encrusted material it broke, pretty much in half. The inside material appeared to be carbon, maybe charcoal like substance, in all appearances. and properties. I certainly have no level of expertise in identifying artifacts, but it occurs to me that it is a container or flask of some kind, possibly made of lead. In cross section an outer layer of some metallic substance, and what could possibly be a neck. That is my best guess to explain the heaviness and that layer. There are 2 areas, marked A and B, located within the outer layer, that appear to be shiny and metallic. They could be the inside surface of the container. But A has a very definite circular edge that seems quite different from B. I'm guessing that it was either round, and flattened somehow, or was a very thin, maybe pocket sized thing. The round thought is based on seeing what appears to be a crack at the outside edge in vertical photos.

      Any thoughts, ideas, guesses, would be greatly appreciated...

Two Views of EO

Find and photo by GC.

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You know you are getting old when -


you can't even remember the last time anyone asked about your schooling or occupation, which seemed so important at one time.

you are the only one who remembers the times, places and events of your childhood days.

the only people your age, or near it, that still look half way good are unrecognizable because of an extremely talented plastic surgeon.

you know more dead people than living.

you remember a day when the people you knew seemed to be united by a common view of things.

you realize that you were once just as stupid as you were young.

you realize that you didn't understand what your elders were going through and perhaps weren't as kind and considerate as you should have been.


---

The wind was still blowing early Saturday morning but shifted.  It now is coming more from the south.  That means a change in how the beach was forming.

 The surf will peak about 9 AM, just after low tide.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Like I said, I'm not increasing my beach conditions rating, but I haven't seen the Vero/Sebastian beaches, so could be missing something.  As of yesterday afternoon, the South Hutchinson Island beaches that I saw weren't encouraging.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/17/20 Report - Treasure Auctioned by Ward Estate. Nice Dated Four-Reale. Electrolysis. Frederick Douglass Report.

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

1702 Four Reale

Photo by JaminJackUSA

I received the following message along with coin photos form JaminJackUSA.

I had the pleasure of meeting a member of Bruce's family metal detecting at Turtle Trail many years ago. They were fascinated that I knew who he was and knew him when I was younger. I actually met him on a beach in late 60s in Ft. Pierce. He even showed me where and how to identify shipwreck coins. This beach back then was called Colored Beach, now known as Douglas Beach.

Now to the present. I was tipped off about his estate going to an auction. (Bruce had moved away from Ft. Pierce area, and eventually passed away years, ago.) There were flintlocks, cannon balls, a caravacas cross, and 100s of encrusted coins. Few were clean, but most were in clusters, etc. There were 8s, 4s, 2s, 1s, and halves!

Below is one of the coins that has been through an electrolysis process. At the time I am just trying to clean the lots I won. Later, I may sell some of them.

Dated 1702 Four Reale

Photo by JaminJackUSA

What a shock and extremely rare! I have found a few 1 reales from Charles II, but never a 4 reale Phillip V!! 

And below is a photo of an electrolysis setup from JaminJack.

Simple But Effective Electrolysis Setup Using Battery.

Photo by JaminJackUSA

COA From Estate Auction.

Photo submitted by JaminJackUSA

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Frederick Douglass Beach Early 1/17

Photo by Steve M.

Steve M. sent the following message along with the photos from Frederick Douglass beach.

 We hit Douglas Beach today Thursday, around 8.   Washed down wall since last week.   Very Shelly only found tiny bits of aluminum beer cans , and rusty nails.   Beach still convex.   Surf about 2-3 foot.

Frederick Douglass Beach Early 1/17

Photo by Steve M.

Frederick Douglass Beach 1/17

Photo by Steve M.

Steve also sent photos of the kinds of things he's been finding at Frederick Douglass such as those on the plate below.  

Shells and Things From Frederick Douglass Beach.

Photo by Steve M.

He said he looks for all kinds of things while detecting, including shells, fossils, sea glass, and old artifacts, such as pot shards.  I very much advocate that.  Not only are the other items interesting on their own, but they can give you valuable clues.

Thanks for sharing Steve.

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I had some other topics that I started but I put them off for a short while because I've been getting timely beach photos that need to be posted while they are current.  That's great.  I'll have time to continue the other topics in the near future.

This morning the wind started and undoubtedly the surf is building.  We will have that higher surf for not much more than a day.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net