10/16/25 Report - Issue of Fort Pierce Erosion in the News Again. Part II of the How Coins Move on a Beach Series.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Source: Article linked below.

High tides and recent tropical activity are intensifying beach erosion in Fort Pierce, creating large cliffs near the Inlet. Locals are increasingly calling on St. Lucie County for a long-term solution to the endless cycle of sand dumping and erosion.

Rough surf and high winds in mid-October currently leave beachgoers with dramatic, cliff-like views. The perpetual nature of the problem is concerning residents, including Adam Morris.

“I just never knew how much sand they put here. What is it every year, every other year, they’re coming with tons and tons of sand, and it keeps eroding away. I don’t know if that’s a waste of money or not. It’s kind of like, we could be spending the money a little better,” Morris states...

The County is currently planning a beach nourishment project for early 2026, where they will bring in nearly 100,000 tons of sand to the Jetty. However, long-time Fort Pierce resident Samantha Tusso says there needs to be a more permanent fix...

Here is the link for more about that.

Beach erosion worsens in Fort Pierce with no immediate solution

What do they say about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result?  Or maybe they expect the money to keep rolling in as long as the sand keeps rolling out.

It goes to show what happens when you create and inlet and a jetty that cuts off the flow of sand along the beach.

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A couple days ago I started what I hope to be a series on the topic of how coins move on a beach.  This will be Part II.

In Part I, I talked about how the flow (or force) of water required to move sand is less than that required to move coins and other objects, and how different objects require different amounts of force to suspend and transport them.  

As the amount of force decreases, the items are dropped out of suspension.  It takes more force to get coins moving than it takes to keep sand moving.  Coins drop out of suspension at greater force levels than sand.  That might sound simple, and in a way, it is, but there are complications.  

On the beach, the water from each wave moves two ways: first it moves up the beach and then back down, often interacting with other incoming or outgoing waves.  In the simplest case, the water slows as it gets higher up on the beach until it drops whatever was being transported.  I'll discuss other interactions or complexities later in the series. With the continually increasing and decreasing flows, interaction of waves, and the wide variety of objects, including different types of sand, the whole thing gets pretty complex.

I highly recommend that everybody become familiar with the chart I've posted several times before.  It charts the suspension, transportation and sedimentation points for a variety of materials.  It is really a great chart.  I won't post the chart again, but if you aren't familiar with it, here is the link.

Treasure Beaches Report: Pt. 2. (2020 and Beyond). : 7/17/22 Report - Basics of Beach Dynamics. History of Malthusian Thought.

The picture below shows a wave breaking and sand suspended by a wave in a wave tank.

Figure 2.a.

The yellow arrow points to the turbulence where the wave breaks, and behind (to the left of) that you see the sand suspended (orange arrow) by the turbulence.  There is more to see there than you might think.

When sand moves the sand at top is suspended first.  The layers of sand under that do not move as much.

I got that clip from a video that will show you how the sand is suspended and how the beach is changed in a wave tank by a series of waves.  It is well worth studying.  You can skip over about the first third of the video.  Here is the link.

Study of coastal erosion under wave action + improvement for design of coastal protection structures

I was watching the water running between the sand bar and beach as it flowed back into the ocean at low tide.  I could clearly see that top layer of sand was moving faster than the sand below that, and the sand below that was moving less, and the sand under the moving layers was not moving at all.  Of course, it isn't really layers.  It is a gradual transition.  To restate that: the sand on top will move most with, but as you go deeper the sand will be moving less until you reach the layer that is not moving at all.  

The three arrows of the represent the movement of three layers of sand being moved by a current (flowing right to left).

Figure 2.b.

The top layer of sand is suspended the most and moves the fastest and the greatest distance.  Layer B will not move as fast or far and layer C will be moved less.  

Also, the grains in the top layer will also be spread apart the most.  You can see that in the picture of the breaking wave shown above.  The particles, or grains, closer to the stationary sand are closer together than those that are higher in the water.  That picture shows a breaking wave, which is different than a flowing current.  

With respect to coins, this level of current and sand movement, might well leave a coin unmoved.  Any coin remaining in the stationary sand, would certainly not be moved.  

Figure 2.A shows sand being suspended by a crashing wave.  Figure 2.B represents a steady stream or current.  If I had a good picture of sand suspended by a steady stream I would have used that.  But you do need to be aware of the different cases.  Fig. 2.b would be more similar to the water of a wave flowing up or down the beach after the wave broke.

The crash zone where the waves break will cause a lot of turbulence and suspend a lot of sand that is then transported by the water that flows up the beach.  Coins would do the same thing, but only if there is great enough force to suspend and transport coins as well as sand.  Also, remember that any coins in deeper layers of unmoved sand will not be suspended or moved.

For coins to be moved, in most cases, they must first be exposed.  The force must be sufficient to first pick up the coins and then move them.  

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I'll end Part II there.  It isn't easy for me to make this clear.  There are so many complications, that in most cases, I have to simplify things.  And I make mistakes anyhow, as I saw when I went back to look at Part I.  Most of my mistakes are typos, but not all.

Surf Chart for the Fort Pierce Jetty Areas from SurfGuru.

Not much to say about this today.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

10/15/25 Report - Big Hoard Find. Big Salvage Find. Big Gold Prices. Big Nugget Find B.ig Sellers(?). New Gold Rush.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Reports.

A man went digging for worms outside Stockholm and made the discovery of a lifetime: a hoard of up to 20,000 silver coins intermingled with pearls, pendants and silver rings.

The hoard dates to the Early Middle Ages and weighs about 13 pounds (6 kilograms)...

The worm digger, who found the hoard by his summer house, reported the finding to local government officials. Archaeologists are now examining the treasures, which had been placed in a copper cauldron that has largely degraded over time...

Here is the link for more about that.

Up to 20,000 coins from Early Middle Ages discovered by man digging for worms near Stockholm | Live Science

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The price of gold is still soaring.  Today it was over $2225 at one point.  That is sending people back to the gold mines.  Below is the beginning of a story about one such gold rush.

Drive an hour south of Kumasi, Ghana’s bustling second city, and before long the dense jungle gives way to denuded hills peppered with rickety timber frames. On every slope, gumbooted workers shovel the tawny earth down to muddy pools in the furrows, from whence the sludge is pumped to the frame’s zenith to gush down a shallow ramp lined with webbed plastic matting. At the base, more workers sweep the outflow with metal detectors.


Several times a day, the incessant din of diesel engines pauses while the mats are delicately removed and placed in outsize tubs for washing. It’s only then that the glistening purpose of this toil materializes through the murky soup: gold—tiny flecks, yet with global prices breaching a record high of $4,000 an ounce, valuable enough to render any other labor foolish by comparison....

Here is the link for the new gold rush.

The New Gold Rush

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In 1869, a discovery in Australia set a world record that still stands today. A pair of Cornish miners unearthed a gold nugget so massive it weighted more than an adult man. The find was so extraordinary that it couldn’t even be weighed using conventional equipment and had to be broken into pieces before its full weight could be measured.


Details of this extraordinary event were originally recorded in notes by miner John Deason, which described how the nugget was uncovered and extracted from the ground...

Here is the link.

The World’s Largest Gold Nugget Was So Heavy, It Had To Be Broken To Be Weighed

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It would seem there are tons of 1715 Fleet or other similar shipwreck treasure coins for sale in stores around the Treasure Coast. Lucie county.  I visited a couple stores last weekend and saw shop cases full or silver reales.  Escudos to a much lesser extent.  One jewelry store had many coins certified by the West Bay Trading Company in their cases.  Another store had many coins, but I didn't see certifications except a very few items with salvage company tags on them.  I saw one place offering small worn half reales for over $300 each.  I'd bet the store paid a fraction of that price to the seller, but that is how business works.

There seems to be no shortage of silver reales on for sale, yet I never see anyone buying them.  I assume they must be bought by someone otherwise I wouldn't think they devote so much retail space for them.  The price on nearly all the reales and shipwrecks relics I saw seemed very extreme, so maybe the profit margin is there.  I still don't know how their buyers are, but maybe the tourists like them as souvenirs.

Then there are all the coins for salve by the auction houses like Sedwicks.  

Unfortunately, beach found reales lack the appeal of of being certified to a shipwreck and salvage company.  Still, you can get them certified by West Bay or I suppose by coin certification companies.

It hasn't been easy to find treasure coins on the beach lately. The challenge remains high for the beach metal detecting.  Too challenging for some.  

For each individual there must be a sweet spot. The game, if you look at it that way, has to be somewhere between challenging and or discouraging or seemingly impossible.  Some people can tolerate longer odds than others.  Some people like a difficult puzzle.  Others need an easy, or at least a fairly occasional victory, to keep going.  But there is a challenge, and a big part of what makes it fun.

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Did you know...

• Thousands of people win lotteries every year across various games and countries. These include both jackpot winners and those who win smaller prizes.

• The number of winners depends on the type of lottery, ticket sales, and how many prize tiers are offered. For example, games like Powerball and Mega Millions in the U.S. have multiple prize levels, meaning many people win something in each draw—even if it's not the jackpot.

• Jackpot winners are rarer. For instance, in the U.S., there have been hundreds of jackpot winners in major games since their inception, but not millions.

That is what google says.  

That is a pretty vague of general answer.  There is a big gap between "hundreds" and "millions." 

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Here is another article on one of this year's big salvage success.  You've probably read about it before, but here it is again.

Divers recover more than 1,000 gold and silver coins from 1715 'Treasure Fleet' shipwreck in Florida | Live Science

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Did I mention that both Walton Rocks and Blind Creek were closed Monday.  Blind Creek is getting a big makeover, including a large, paved parking area.  I think it is likely they were improving the access road at Walton Rocks, but don't know for sure.  It was terrible the last time I was there.

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I was planning on doing the series on How Coins Move post in a daily sequence, but that is too restrictive, xo I'm going to do one as often as I can and then patch them together, maybe into a single post at the end.

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Source: SurfGuru.com.

The Treasuere Coast surf didn't look as rough today, but will pick up a little tomorrow.  The King Tides remain big.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

10/14/25 Report - Reale Found up North. Highlights of Auction. Part I of How Coins Move on Beach Series.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Finds from the North.
Source: See ack.net link below.

Reales are found in places other than the Treasure Coast.  Here is the link to one such story.

History unearthed: Metal-detector finds rare Spanish silver on south shore | Lifestyle | ack.net

Thanks to Trevor M. for this link.

With the recent storms and King tides in North Carolina, I'm sure they'll be finding some good old shipwreck treasure.  Some of the Outer Island roads were closed.

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I forgot to mention that both Walton Rocks and Blind Creek were closed yesterday.  The access road at Walton Rocks was terrible, so maybe they were fixing that.  Blind Creek is getting a paved lot and other improvements.

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Below are some of the highlights from the current Sedwick Treasure Auction, which is now online.

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I'm going to start a series of posts on how coins move in sand.  That has been a popular topic lately, and I want to address it.  I've never found it easy because it is so complex, which means it will probably take several posts to cover.  I've posted some on the topic in the past, but some of those posts were long ago, and this time I'm going to try to put it in a series rather than different parts of it at different times.  I don't know if I'll succeed or not.

 I'll start today with some necessary basics. 

Here are five ways I've observed that a coin will move on a beach. 

1. Fall out of an eroding cliff, cut or dune.
2. Slide down the face of a cliff or dune.
3. Move within a rush of water.
4. Roll down a slope.
5. Flip.

As I've said many times, there are other things beside the density of an object that will determine how it moves on a beach.  Shape is an important characteristic. 

Detectorists often talk about heavy objects, but it is more about the object's density than weight, although when everything else is the same, weight is a factor.  As I said long ago, a ton of Styrofoam is heavy, but it still floats, but there are other important factors besides density.  Shape is an important factor.  Roundish things are more easily moved than flat disks, for example.  You can see that simple demonstration by using this link.  The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 8/5/13 Report - What Actually Determines How Obects Move On a Beach Or In the Water.

To sum that up, density, shape, and even weight (to a smaller extent) will determine how various objects will be moved on a beach.  Coins, being relatively flat, do not present much surface area to the force of the water.  You might say it is aerodynamic, although we are dealing with fluids.

Before being moved (or transported) by flowing water, objects must first be suspended.  If a coin or other object is lying on the sand and the water flows over it, the flow will move more easily moved materials around it (such as sand).

Sand takes relatively little force to be moved.  Pebbles, rocks and objects like coins, generally require more force to move them.  When there is a small amount of flow, or force, sand will be moved but coins will not.  If there is sufficient force, both sand and coins will be moved, but the sand will move more, or farther, than the coins.

Objects will be suspended before they are transported by the flow.  Some objects require more force to suspend than others.  An interesting illustration is clay, which is not as easily suspended as grains of sand.  Sand, of course, is suspended more easily and quickly than things like coins.

The force of water flowing on a beach constantly varies.  When it gains enough force, objects will be moved, and when the force diminishes, objects will settle.  This is one way it gets very complex.

When the flow of water is sufficient to move both sand and coins, both will move, but the sand will move farther. Coins and rings will generally lag behind the sand.

I used to say, "Follow the sand, but don't catch it."  When sand moves it goes somewhere.  It leaves one place and ends up someplace else.  It goes somewhere. People may not think about that.  Coins and things can lag behind the sand to some extent. 

To give an example, imagine a sand bar a little way out from the beach.  If there are coins on that bar, maybe buried a few inches, a moderate to small surf will can move from the back of the bar to the other side.  And it can fill in the dip between the bar and the beach.

During summer conditions when you have small waves, sand will often build up on the beach.  Not only is it washed up, it is dropped there.  There is a change in the flow that makes that happen.

Clip from a Video of a Wave Tank Showing a Beach Profile.

Wave tanks are unrealistic in many important ways, but they also illustrate some basic principles.  The dotted line shows the starting profile of the beach before the waves were started.  You can see the beach profile after some time of wave action.  You can see a small cut at the top of the beach, and you can see where the sand piled up at the bottom of the beach under the water level.

That is a pretty good picture of what happened on the beach I showed on the Fort Pierce beach cam of the area south of the Fort Pierce jetty.  I think it was 8/29 or thereabouts.  A very similar small cut occurred at the top of the beach.  A day or two later, the cut got washed out and a day or two later a larger cut formed a little lower on the beach.  In both cases the sand removed from area in front of the cut was pulled down the slope.  That continued for days.  A day or two ago, I showed how the beach at Frederick Douglass was made smaller and the sand bar that was created in front of the beach.  The sand bar was exposed at low tide, which is when I took the photo.

Wave tanks fairly show fairly accurately what happens to real beaches when the waves hit the beach straight on, but wave tanks never show a beach being hit by waves coming at angle.  The situation with real beaches are usually more complex.   The beaches do not run in a straight line.  The shoreline is curved or crooked and the curves cause waves to be reflected.  There are also reefs and other things that will affect the flow.  And wave tanks almost always show a wall at the back of the beach, which is something like a beach that has a large cut dune at the top.

I need to stop there for today.

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Source: SurfGuru.com.

Looks like we'll get another little increase in surf in a day or two.

The King tides remain high.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

10/13/25 Report - Treasure Coast Beaches Providing Lots of Metal Detecting Targets in Low Tide Zone. Impressions of Manticore.

 

Written by the TreasreGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Frederick Douglass Beach Monday Monrning Near Low Tide.

I went out this morning to check out the beaches and try out the Minelab Manticore metal detector.  The beach showed a lot of erosion, although there was still a lot of renourishment sand.  Sand got pulled off  all the beaches recently.  

John Brooks had a nice sand bar and a little dip in front of the beach.  The water was running along the beach behind the bar at low tide.  There were a good number of targets, mostly modern coins but also some junk.  There was also a nice shell line along the lower beach.

John Brooks Beach Monday Morning Near Low Tide.

This was the first time I had Manticore out, and I didn't really know it very well, so I won't give a report on the Manticore except to say that even with the basic settings, it did quite well.  It detected targets well and I found the target ID system good.  I'll have more details on the detector in the future when I give it a better test.

John Brooks Beach Monday Morning Near Low Tide.

Despite the sand look of the beach, there were plenty of targets down low on the beaches, without exception.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Monday Morning Near Low Tide.

They lost tons and tons of renourishment sand at Fort Pierce South Jetty, but there was still a lot of sand on the beach.

The cut there was six feet or so high and ran for a long distance.  

There were a lot of targets near the water, including both coins and junk.  

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Monday Morning Near Low Tide.

I suppose they'll be dumping sand on this beach again before long.

This Mornings Finds.

I enjoyed the outing this morning.  The weather is nice.  There was a good variety of targets to test the metal detector.  I was pleased with iron ID, as well as target ID in general.  I still have some dug targets to investigate.  Don't pay too much attention to my Manticore observations.  This was just my first outing and a few of my first impressions.  I'll have better information on it in the future.

Enough sand has been moved that I'd expect a few cobs will be found on the Treasure Coast, if you can find the right spots.

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Clip From SurfGuru Fort Pierce Jetty Beach Cam (South View Zoom).

This clip shows the area just south of where I took the Fort Pierce photos this morning.  

Surf Chart for Fort Pierce South Jetty Area from SurfGuru.com.

The surf is smaller, but that isn't all bad.  It gives you a chance to get a little farther out in the low tide area.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

As you can see there is another tropical storm out there.  We'll see how that one goes.

I'm plan to put together a series on how coins move on the beach, but I've had a lot of other stuff to post recently.  

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/12/25 Report - A Look at a Number of Indian River County Beaches. Report on Finds from an Inland Metal Detecting Adventure.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Wabasso Sunday
Photos by DJ.

I received these photos and the report below from DJ today (Sunday).

Turtle Trail Today (Sunday)
Photos by DJ.

Ambersands Beach Today (Sunday).
Photos by DJ.

Below is DJ's report.

Took a look south of Ambersand beach access. As expected, sand and seaweed moving back onto the beach from east wind and high tide. But another good storm might help things.

There was very little lightweight scrap aluminum can slaw and a couple bottle caps. The 1/4 silver dime placed on the sand and swept about 8 10 inches high tested around 46. Interesting as I had to increase the gain to about 25 to get that depth. The depth meter showed about 7 shovels (approximately 21-28 inches displayed).

One reason I walked south of Ambersand was to get near the location of the Anchor wreck in an old treasure site map. The Anchor wreck was also mentioned by the Captain of the Mighty Mo, the boat that just found a “sack” of silver and a claim two more vags exist. Found in 6 foot and further

One guess why size and depth number is off could be the if expected coin size being detected is different than the size of a “coin” defined in the programming. Perhaps a smaller target fools the machine into calculating a 1/4 dime at the surface “looks like” a quarter (for example” buried deeper.

Seem to remember you had built a coin depth plastic pipe that worked nicely.

Photos: In a couple places there were tells as to loss of sand. One is a new stair that was painted down to the sand at time of construction. Now there is raw wood lower than the paint.

Another shows evidence of water driven into the edge of the dune top.

Turtle Trails and Wabasso pictures only

(I did want to check Wabasso south around the bend to see how far water made it into the old dune. Where you made a find several years ago.

Regards

Thanks much for the photos and report DJ.

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Relic Finds by Mark G.

Just got back from Connecticut metal detecting my father’s family’s old homestead. My aunt still lives there, I wrote her a letter last week asking her if I could have a look around the yard with my metal detector. My Aunt was OK with it and I think she wanted to find treasure as much as I did because she was out there to help me from the first day. But after several days of watching me swinging and pinging and digging up junk the weather got colder she would still check on me from time to time. First time off beach detecting using the park and field modes on the legend. Not going to lie there was a lot of trial and error or what I like to call test holes (junk). I studied for the trip by watching YouTube channels specifically one that was consistently digging old colonial sites deep in the green mountains of Vermont. No 250 year old coins like the one I found 50 years ago there but consistent with the period finds I saw on YouTube and some interesting finds none the less. I’ll list the finds in their dirty photo (Oct 7 Homestead) top to bottom plus a few interesting facts. The second photo (Oct 10 Homestead) is post soap and water wash.

 

1. 2 Spoons, Found the gravy ladle end of the ornate plated spoon, no markings, in a very productive area, found the rest of the handle in same area.

2. 2 Cap guns, 1950’s Hubley “Star” cap gun single shooter (we think it was my late uncles) and a tin gun missing grip which I am most certain I dropped playing in my grandmother’s apple trees.

3. Mystery item, possibly automotive related has male threads on back, midcentury?

4. Ornate tin cover, Appears to be aluminum

5. Airplane Insignia, Cast metal maybe hat, ribbon or pin, my dad was in the Airforce.

6. Ornate copper button, Very fragile has the loop on the back probably hit it with the shovel no markings, copper.

7. Mysterious 2 hole plate, I thought it might be a heel plate to the shoe buckle (which isn’t a shoe buckle) that I found in the same area, now I don’t know.

8. Something ornate, Same thought, it might be part of the shoe.

9. 4 to 5 inch long hair clip, This was mangled pretty bad when I dug it up, hand forged copper crudely made.

10. Rusty screwdriver

11. 1950’s Annual registration plate, commercial license plates used these replaceable yearly tags (now we use stickers)

12. Lead “Hem Weight” (I thought it was a button too) used to hold down hem of dress or curtains common no markings hard to date drop.

13. Thimble, Mangled but still identifiable.

14. British strap buckle, 1800’s possibly for British sword, This is what I thought was a shoe buckle but isn’t, has the words; ENGLAND on one side and SWORD and MAKER on the other.

15. Large ornamental face, brass??

16. Watch flywheel (was in 1 piece before I had to check my bag)

17. Rifle and shot gun shells

18. Lighter guts and a valve stem cover

19. 2 Nickels 1959 and 1962

20. 5 wheat pennies

21. 1 modern penny and 1 modern dime

Coins with Other Finds by Mark G.

Thanks Mark.

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Source: SurfGuru.com.

Looks like the surf will continue at a similar level for several more days.  The high tides will continue big too.

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In response to some recent questions and interest, I plan on putting together a post on coin movement.  

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

10/11/25 Report - How Much Metal Detectors Miss: Revisiting the Topic. Comments and Cautions on Detecting Strategies.

South of Fort Pierce Jetty Near High Tide Saturday Morning
Source: SurfGuru.com.

We are still having the King tides, which in the photo above, has the water still hitting the base of the dunes.

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As I said a few days ago, I recently noticed that YouTubers were talking about things we talked about in this blog ten or twenty years ago.  I already mentioned one or two of those. and I'll address another today.  One Youtuber seemed impressed by the performance of a new metal detector when he found a few targets in a field that he had covered many times before with other detectors.  He attributed the finds to the remarkable capabilities of the new metal detector. It is reasonable to feel good about a metal detector that makes finds in areas that have been detected before, but there is something that must be realized.

One of the most important posts (actually it was a series of posts) I ever published in this blog was about how many targets remain in the ground even after the site has been metal detected many times and finds are diminishing.  I'm talking about the posts about the tests conducted by Russ P., who after metal detecting the same site several times along with other detectorists who detected the same site, then bull-dozed and sifted the entire lot and found that there were still many coins remaining in the ground. When that ground was sifted, hundreds of coins were found even after all the metal detecting.  Here is the link for the post that summarized the findings of that study.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 3/26/18 Report - First Investigation Ever To Really Answer Two Big Questions: How Much Is Actually In The Ground As Compared To How Much Will Be Found Using A Metal Detector.

As far as I'm concerned, that post is a MUST READ for any detectorist.  I've never seen another study that involves sifting an entire lot after it has been heavily detected.  It is the only study I know that shows how much can be missed by metal detecting.  Normally, detectorists never know how much they missed.

It must be acknowledged that that ground was not the typical piece of ground.  It held an unusual amount of silver coins. But the important part is that it shows how much can be missed.  And it was not a large piece of ground, so you might expect good coverage.  To summarize the results, the detector finds were less than one third of all the finds made by sifting.  There were hundreds of silver coins remaining in the ground.

It should therefore not be at all surprising when continued metal detecting continues to produce some coins when a new detector is used.  I'll maintain that using the same detector might produce results if new settings or techniques and the same detector are used.  That is the basis for my Progressive Step-Search technique.  Using another detector is just another step that could also be expected to produce a few additional results.

One problem we have as detectorists is that we typically never find out what we didn't get.  You only see your hits (or finds).  You never find out what you missed.  It is something like taking tests in school and only finding out how many you got right but never finding out about the ones you got wrong.

In metal detecting, you learn a lot when you learn what you missed.  My metal detecting changed a lot when I found out that I was missing small gold rings when I used a certain level of discrimination.  After changing to using mostly all-metals mode, which I did for many years, my productivity changed dramatically.  You can go around forever feeling good about the great find you made without ever learning the painful truth of the ones that got away.

How can you tell what is left behind?  Unless you do something like Russ did and sift it all, you won't get such a full accounting, but you can check and double check some of the things you do by systematically making changes and trying different things.  

Maybe there are times when you did get it all, but I wouldn't bet on it when there is any size to the area or when the area has accumulated many targets over time.

First, detectorists seldom cover an area as well as they think they did. I've proved that to myself many times.  I've talked about such things as imperfect sweep patterns, discrimination of various forms, target masking and more.

Most modern metal detectors provide an endless variety of settings and typically detectorists only select one setting for each hunt. Modern detectors make automatic adjustments.  That in itself can cause missing targets.  A metal detector can lose depth while working to adjust.  Tradeoffs are involved when metal detectors attempt to filter out noise, adjust to mineralization or avoid junk.

Also, site conditions change over time due to geological forces, weather and sources of ambient noise.  Coins and other objects change position in the ground as a result of geological factors, weather and animals. 

In short, there are many reasons that coins can be missed on any particular outing.  The operator changes too.  The operator changes behaviorally, physiologically and psychologically during and between hunts.  Focus attention change as the operator becomes tired or discouraged.  All of that can affect decisions, coverage and results.   

The bottom line is that it is easy overestimate your effectiveness and underestimate what remains.  By taking all that into consideration, you should be able to make better decisions.  

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Discrimination is a similar matter.  Again you don't know what you miss, but you can check yourself once in a while, which is something I recommend.  In fact, my recommendation would be to start on a site without discriminating, and after finding out what kind of stuff you are dealing with, then deciding what your strategy will be and what settings you will choose.  

If you will really want to know what your metal detector is telling you, there is no substitute for actually digging the signals and holding the object in your hand.  That is the best way to check and know with certainty.  Actually, you don't always know what you have when you hold it and look at it.  It sometimes takes years of research, so why would you expect your detector to be able to tell you all you need to know about possibly valuable or complex objects.  Most detectorists will never spend the time to really conduct studies to do a real analysis of the benefit or loss of their decisions, and that is certainly ok if detecting is just a hobby and you just do it for the fun of it.  You might be happier not knowing what you missed.

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Here is a academic study that discovered that AI agents under certain conditions will be deceptive or just straight out lie.

Moloch's Bargain: Emergent Misalignment When LLMs Compete for Audiences

Again, while AI can be useful, there can be significant risks that you should know about.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

Jerry is still out there, but the pattern this year has kept the storms far out to sea.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

The Treasure Coast surf is still up around four or five feet, and the surf has a little more angle to it this morning.  We had a bit of a front come through, and the weather is not as hot as it has been all summer long.  I like the cooler weather, and I heard we won't be getting so much rain.  I think the beach weather will be nice.

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I received some questions conerning coin movement and plan to address that sometime soon.

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Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

10/10/25 - Most Recent Sedwick Coins Treasure Auction Now Online. Vulture Nest Artifact Hoards. AI and Metal Detecting.

Treasure, World, U.S. Coin and Paper Money Auction 38 Live on the Internet, Thursday-Saturday, November 13, 14, & 15, 2025 This auction brings together one of the most complete and exciting selections we have ever offered, combining important named collections with individual rarities from all across the world of numismatics. The result is a sale that captures the full story of coinage in the Americas and beyond. As usual, it is consignors and bidders who make this possible, so we thank you all! ... everything we sell is guaranteed and certifiable at any time.  First, it is our privilege to present the Sedwick-Downing Collection of Charles-Joanna Coinage of Mexico City, the result of more than a decade of study and collecting... For this auction, we hit the ground running with the McGregor Collection of Gold Cobs from the 1715 Fleet...  While this collection showcases a full range of denominations of gold cobs from Mexico City (including a fabulous Royal-dies 1714 8 escudos) and Lima, it also contributes to significant offerings from Cuzco and Cartagena...  In fact, in this sale we feature all of the famous United States shipwrecks, namely S.B. Pulaski (1838), S.S. New York (1846), S.S. Central America (1857), S.S. Brother Jonathan (1865), and S.S. Republic(1865).... Finally, our auctions are unique for offering treasures in coin jewelry and shipwreck artifacts in a wide range of time periods (over two centuries), particularly from the Atocha (1622), Concepción (1641), Bannister’s pirate ship Golden Fleece (1686), 1715 Fleet, and S.S. Central America(1857)... Session Schedule Thursday November 13 Session I Gold Cobs & Shipwreck Coins 9:30 AM EST - Lots 1-517 Session II: Silver Cobs 6:00 PM EST- Lots 518-821 Friday November 14 Session III: World Coins 9:30 AM EST- Lots 822-1340 Session IV: Medals, US Coins & World Paper 4:00 PM EST- Lots 1341-1444 Session V: Ancient Coins, Coin Jewelry & Artifacts 5:30 PM EST- Lots 1445-1554 Saturday November 15 Session IV: Express 9:30 AM EST- Lots 1555-1950 --- The above information was obtained from Sedwick Coins.  Here is the link for more information.   Upcoming Auction – Sedwick & Associates, LLC ------ Here is an interesting article about a surprising place where old relics were found. Bearded Vulture nests found to have hoards of cultural artifacts—some up to 650 years old They say, "Between 2008 and 2014, we carried out intense research focusing on more than 50 well-preserved historical Bearded Vulture nests in parts of southern Spain, where the species became extinct around 70–130 years ago. A total of 12 nests were examined, and the remains were identified and analyzed layer by layer, following established archaeological stratigraphic methods."... The team rifled through centuries worth of vulture eggshells, remains of prey, and nesting material and among these they also found 226 items that had been made or altered by humans—providing a window into both past ecosystems and human cultures from the region. The hoard included items like a slingshot made from esparto grass, shoes, a crossbow bolt, a decorated piece of sheep leather and a wooden lance... Here is the link. Bearded Vulture nests found to have hoards of cultural artifacts—some up to 650 years old --- With the rougher surf I've been talking mostly about the weather and beach conditions. I had a lot of other things to talk about, but I kept them for when things slowed down a little. In the past I showed a number of ways detectorists can use AI. There are also risks involved with using AI. I mentioned, for example, that AI gossips. It might feel like you are having a confidential discussion with a friend, but AI gossips. It stores your interactions and justifies that by saying it is to improve performance, but you never know exactly how your interactions might be used in the future. Authorities recently found the arsonist responsible for the Palisades fires (See Jonathan Rinderknecht: Prosecutors arrest man for L.A.'s Palisades Fire). They used his interactions with AI as evidence.  I doubt the suspect anticipated his AI interactions being used in that way.  Your AI interactions might be used in ways you never anticipated even if you never do anything illegal.  That data might be used for marketing or any of a variety of unanticipated ways. On another topic, metal detector manufacturers could use AI is to improve the user interface for metal detectors. Wouldn't you rather verbally tell your detector what you want to do, for example, increase discrimination, select mode X, or increase earphone volume, rather than plodding through menus. Your detector might even ask you what you want to do at setup and select or suggest the best settings? That kind of user interface could make using metal detectors more efficient, especially those who are just beginning to learn how to use their new detector. --- Surf Chart for the Fort Pierce Jetty Area from Surfguru.com. Not much new here, but the surf will be getting a little lower on average. We are still having some nice high Fall King tides. --- I'll soon be posting some tests of the Manticore metal detector as well as discussions concerning the conduct of metal detector tests. --- Good hunting, Treasureguide@comcast.net