5/20/26 Report - One Favorite Find Photo. Evolution of Liberty & Minting Technology. Mystery Items ID.

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

Gold Coin Find from the Past.

Yesterday while I was using my microscope system to take photos of my mystery object, I noticed the many photos that I took with the microscope that I still have.  Some of them are pretty old, but I kept them. 

I noticed some that I really liked.  I thought some were very pretty - almost art.  I didn't take them with the intent of making something pretty, but some turned out very nice.  And there were some that weren't pretty in quite the same way but they were interesting and with just a little work could have been turned into works of art.  And there were some I just liked for some other reason, maybe they were especially good photos and showed the object or something about it especially well.

The bottom line is that I went through about half of them and picked out some that I especially liked for one reason or another.  The photo of the coin shown above is one of those.  I think it is a pretty coin and could with a little work be made even prettier, perhaps adjusting the background color and cropping.

The Coinage Act of 1792 stated that all circulating coins have an “impression emblematic of liberty” and the inscription “Liberty.” For more than 100 years of American coinage, that emblem would be the mythical goddess Liberty.

The U.S. Mint’s first coins were portraits of Liberty with free, flowing hair, such as the 1793 Flowing Hair cent. As the Mint refined its process, more detailed versions appeared... Designs featured classical symbols such as the liberty cap and pole, used frequently when representing Liberty during the Revolution. In ancient Rome, the cap was given to freed slaves and the pole was used in the ceremony to free them.

Starting in the mid-19th century... designs incorporated American symbols into the classical style. The Seated Liberty coins feature the Union Shield...

Coins then started to draw on Native American themes for an even more American identity...

Here is that link for the entire article.

The Evolution of Liberty on Coins | U.S. Mint

Looking at the figure on the 1914 shown above, I noticed what I thought looked like the face of Liberty used on Peace Dollars.  The designers of the two coins were different, and while AI tell me the faces are different and the version shown on the gold coin represents a Native American, that might be so, but the two faces are very similar, especially from the nose down. 

---

Here is a good little series on the evolution of coin minting technology from the earliest days up to something like the 1800s.  

The Evolution of Minting Technology–Part I - Numismatic News

The Evolution of Minting Technology–Part 2 - Numismatic News

The Evolution of Minting Technology–Part 3 - Numismatic News

---

Yesterday I told about how completely I was fooled by the mystery object I posted the day before and about another, which was a coin.  I got the following email from Mark G. after I did yesterday's post, even though he sent it before.  Below is his input on both objects.  I haven't really looked into the coin yet, but Mark identified it as a Kingdom of Sardinia coin.  Below is his email.

Your mystery coin is a Kingdom of Sardinia coin (Victor Emmanuel I or II)

Minted between ~1800–1860 Obverse: VICT · EM · MAN (Victor Emmanuel) Reverse: CIVITAS SARDAE / SARDINIAE with heraldic eagle

This matches:

• Wreathed head
• Latin legends
• Heraldic eagle with wings outstretched
• Eagle holding a ribbon/scroll (looks like pearls)
• Circular lettering on both sides

Your mystery object with only the manticore reading could be anything because of it's size the manticore will give a high reading to everything from aluminum to steel. Obviously if your scratch testing it must be heavy like silver, not aluminum or the color of steel. If it was pure silver I would expect the manticore reading to be higher. 

Thanks much Mark.

---

The metal doesn't seem to me to be silver, but I don't know what it is.  It seems harder, but that is just an impression at this point.

---

Jensen Beach Cam.

Fort Pierce Beach Cam.

Tons of sand on the Treasure Coast beaches and in the shallow water.  Kind of nasty and not very good for metal detecting.

Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com.

Pretty calm surf all week.  

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

5/19/26 Report - Shipwreck Treasure History. More About the 1733 Fleet. Bamboozled I Was!

 

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

Closeup View of Small Section of
Yesterday's Mystery Object After More Cleaning.

I soaked yesterday's mystery object another day and then brushed it off.  You can see a closeup microscope view of a part of the object above.

I was bamboozled, dumbfounded, and flaberghasted - an honored member of the Bumbas region. Or to put it more clearly, I was just plain and completely wrong.  

After getting so much of the surface crud off, I saw the object differently.  The object itself is metal.  Before I was convinced there was something inside.  Now I can see that there was only a thin encrustation.  And there is some remaining mostly white material that is extremely hard to remove.

Below is the entire object after another day of cleaning.

Mystery Object After More Cleaning.

The metal is a very hard metal as tested on a touch stone.  In the microscopic view above you can see the granular look of the surface metal. 

What remains of the white stuff was not removed by two days in undiluted 5% acid white vinegar.  Most of the darker material that looked like rust is actually quite granular too, but it mostly came off.  One of those rusty areas on the precleaned object looked like maybe something sticking out of the encrustation.  That was not the case.  

Here is what the remaining very hard enrutation looks like under the microscope. 

An even closer inspection of the remaining whiteish encrustation (below) shows it to be very hard to.  It looks more like mineralization or even a type of quartz matrix.  I need a geologist right now or an XRF test.  Now I'd just like to know what metal it is

---

Here is a little treasure diving history.

    The story of the contemporary shipwreck treasure era in the Keys probably began in 1938 when Islamorada fisherman Reggie Roberts looked up Homestead diver Art McKee to show him an old "cannon wreck" he had found.  The wonderfully curious McKee wrote to Spain after he discovered Spanish coins on the wreck - and received back a salvors' map of the locations of ships of an entire fleet that had wrecked in the Keys in 1733.  It is one of North America's greatest maritime disasters, an event totally unknown to us until the letter from Spain arrived. There is a copy at the Islamorada library of Spain's National Library's letter to McKee stating they had forwarded his inquiry to the Archives of the Indies.  It is dated "28 febrero 1938" to "Mr. Arhur McKee, Jr., Phone Key Largo, 3731, P. 0. Box 165, Tavernier, Florida (U.S.A.)"

I've written before of the time I met Art in the Keys.

And here is another piece from the same article.

 John Colcock of Charleston was sailing near the Dry Tortugas when the hurricane struck and later told the governor of South Carolina that he himself barely survived it and that afterwards at the Keys his ship was approached by a launch with 20-30 survivors aboard, who asked if he would take them to Havana.  He did so and his merchant ship with a cargo of hides was immediately seized by the Spaniards and pressed into the rescue and salvage operations, leaving him and his crew to wander about Havana for the next five weeks.  Upon complaint they told him that "he had two remedies - patience or beating his head against the wall."  Another colonial American ship, the John, was also pressed into the rescue service while at Havana...

Here is the link for more of that article.

IK 1733 Fleet Wreck

That bit about the English boaters and the Spanish fleet.  Here is a little from another article.

During the summer 2004 season, a crew of four archaeologists from the Bureau traveled to the Florida Keys to conduct the field portion of this year-long project. This chapter reports on the results of this research, describes the public interpretation of this intriguing historical event and attempts to answer the question: how can managers interpret significant shipwrecks allowing unlimited access, but also begin to limit the amount of human disturbance they receive?

returned to Havana just after Spanish admiralty officials dispatched a small sloop

to assess the fate of the fleet. Survivors reported seeing several large ships

grounded near a place called “Head of the Martyrs” (present-day Islamorada).

Nine rescue vessels were loaded with supplies, food, divers, and salvage equip-

ment and sent to the scene of the disaster (Smith, 1988a).

Several salvage camps were constructed in convenient locations and the sal-

vage operations were overseen by soldiers sent to protect the precious cargoes.

Nearly half the vessels were re-floated and towed back to Havana; those left were

burned to the waterline enabling divers to access the cargo holds and concealing

the wrecks from freebooters. Salvage of these vessels continued for several years.

When the final calculation of recovered materials was made, more gold and sil-

ver was retrieved than had been listed on the original manifests, tell-tale evidence

of contraband aboard the vessels (Smith, 1988a).

Here is the link for that article.

(PDF) Creating a Shipwreck Trail: Documenting the 1733 Spanish Plate Fleet Wrecks

That is one of those articles written from the perpecitive of an academic, so you know what you'll get.

---

The surf is a little rough and a lot of seaweed is washing up onto the beaches. Beware the little irritating creatures that can ride the seaweed.

Here is the link for the Jensen Beach Cam.

Jensen Beach Live Webcam Stream

Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com.

The surf will calm a little.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

5/18/26 Report - A Mystery Find Challenge. Cleaning Two Mystery Objects. A Difficult Mark.

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

Couple Mystery Objects.

The challenge today is the bigger object on the left. This is a hard one - in more ways than one!  I've had it sitting around for quite a while because I didn't know how I wanted to clean it. I don't know what is in there, but it gave a good clean signal on the Manticore. Below is the readout.

Clean signal, center line, good number. It looks good to me, yet to the eye it looks like nothing more than a roundish flat rock with some orange specs that could be rust.

I soaked this mystery challenge object in vinegar for a day, and here is closeup of the object after the vinegar removed the whiteish surface layer.  

Here are a couple other views.

Mystery Object After Light Cleaning.

It looks just like a rock.  I probably wouldn't pick it up if I just saw it lying on the beach.  Below is a side view.

Tapered Edge on Mystery Challenge Object.

By looking at it, it seems the right size and shape to be a possible coin, but I've never seen a coin in this type of very hard encrustation, but obviously something is in there and the Manticore is giving a possible coin signal.

I hadn't cleaned it before, simply because I didn't know how I wanted to proceed.  I didn't have much hope that the vinegar or acid would work, but it might make some progress.  We'll see.  I've been tested to break it open, but don't really want to do that.  I'll start with what I think are the least dangerous measures and proceed from there.

See if you can guess what it is.  

---

At the same time, I cleaned another object, also seen in the top picture.  It is what appears to be a ancient Greek or Roman coin.  Unlike the challenge object, it cleaned easily.  Here it is along with the challenge object.

It appears to be a fake ancient coin, but I should look into it more.  I need new test acid.  As expected, the surface corrosion came off easily.  Here is what it looked like after a little cleaning.

Obverse and Reverse Views of Cleaned Coin.

I never took this coin too seriously (I don't even remember where I found it), but I should test the metal.  I expected to see a COPY mark on it somewhere but didn't find one.

---

Unidentified Ceramics Mark.

Here is a mark found on a broken piece of what looks like oriental porcelain.  I can't identify it, but it is probably a decorative mark rather than a real mark of antiquity.  I find these Chinese markings impossible and have to depend upon other observations.  I probably can identify the Kang-Hsi mark, but have not been lucky enough to find a piece with the mark on it.

---

Surf Chart from Surfguru.com.

Just a rainy day - unfortunately with some thunder and lightning.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

5/17/26 Report - Spanish Shipwrecks of FL. Unusual Coin Finds. Numismatic Market. Nuestra Senoro de Populo

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

Coin Found on Beach in Plastic Container.

Yesterday I posted a printed shipwreck chart listing numerous Florida shipwrecks from three sections of the United States, which included the Treasure Coast and mostly the Florida Keys.  The chart left out many areas of Florida and for the Treasure Coast listed some of the 1715 Fleet, didn't include the many other shipwrecks of the area.  If you were interested in some of the other shipwrecks you would have to consult other sources.  Today I'll show you one online source that provides some information on 63 old Spanish shipwrecks of Florida as well as the Spanish shipwrecks of the United States and the Bahamas.  The listing of Spanish shipwrecks is extensive, but the information on eac wreck is basic.  

Here is the link to the site.

Journey without return. An inventory of Spanish shipwrecks off the coasts of the United States and Bahamas

Perhaps you noticed on the sections of the chart I showed yesterday the El Populo.  Using the above site, you could use the above link to some find information on the Nuestra Senoro de Populo.  Below is the link to that information.

Nuestra Señora de Pópulo, sunk in Florida (Atlantic Coast) in 1733 | Journey without return

And here is what you'd learn about that wreck.

Date

1733

Period

18th century

Ship type

Merchant ship

Cause

A hurricane

Located

✓

Key figure

Rodrigo de Torres

Command

Rodrigo Torres

Fleet

The Nueva España Fleet

Shipwreck zone

Elliot Key, Florida

Port of departure

Havana (CUB)

Destination

Spain

Cargo

Hides and skins, tobacco, dyes, citrus fruits , and indigo

If that information makes you want to learn more, you'd have to do more research.  Still, the web site can be useful.  It includes some other information as well, such as information on each of the 15 ports in the area, from Acapulco to Vera Cruz.  

The site provides basic information but is exceptionally well organized and easy to use.

The El Populo is now one of many ships protected in the Biscayne National Park.  It was salvaged by the El Africa, one of the luckier of the 1733 ships and by treasure hunters in the 1960s.

Perhaps the most comprehensive list is Marx's book, Shipwrecks in the Americas, which catalogs 4000 wrecks.

---

As you know there is a relationship between coin values and the price of precious metal, but it is not a perfect relationship and it hold more of some types and grades of coins than others.

The performance of gold, and of course gold coins, has been spectacular in recent times. Gold is now settling back into a slightly more modest post-crisis trading range; however, the demand for collectible and rare gold coins continues to hold its own. Heritage Auctions recently pointed out that 10 coins in their late March auction combined to realize $1.3 million (The auction realized about $11.5 million total!). Eight of those 10 coins were U.S. gold coins. The combined value of the 10 coins was helped by a coveted 1895 Morgan silver dollar that, in PCGS Proof 63, realized $91,500, this being significantly higher than had been its suggested trade value.


What all this shows is that there is continuing strength in the rare coin market. Bullion and intrinsic value-impacted coins took a recent hit based on good news regarding the potential end of the U.S. war with Iran, but gold as well as silver have once more stabilized. This has created a modestly lower trading range for coins not being appreciated due to their potential scarcity...

Here is the link for more about that.

Gold Cools, Rare Coins Don’t - Numismatic News

I've written before about how higher metals prices overcame the numismatic value of coins that weren't particularly scarce.  Coins can be scarce in very high grades while lower graded coins aren't nearly as valuable.  One of the most unfortunate things about coin shooting on the beach is that older coins are seldom in good condition.  In fact, they are often in very bad condition, making them valuable as nothing more than the metals in them.  It is rare when you find a beach coin in really great shape.  You have more hope with gold coins, but silver deteriorates quickly on our beaches.

There have been a few times when I've found nice coins in fine condition.  I found a couple encased in a protective plastic holder. One of those is shown at the top of this post.  That was a nice surprise.  A few more were in great condition and undoubtedly were very recent drops.

Here is one that must have been newly dropped.  It is a .925 silver non-circulating One Crown Isle of Man Commemorative. I don't know why it was on the beach, but there it was!

A similar thing happened with the used book market.  There was a time when almost any old book could be easily sold for a premium.  Then the internet made old books so common on the market, that they lost most of their value unless there was something about them that really made them stand out.  Now only books in great condition maintain their value and only if they are by a collected author, publishing house, have an author's signature, a fancy binding or some other feature that makes them stand out.

---

Tons of New Sand on Fort Pierce South Beach

Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com.

Not much new here.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

5/16/26 Report - Looking at a Very Detailed Shipwreck Map from the Past.

 

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

I was looking through some of my old stuff in a back room the other, day and one of the things I noticed rolled up on top of a bookcase was a shipwreck map.  Shown above, it was based upon research by Martin Meylach, the author of Diving to a Flash of Gold, a classic treasure hunting book originally published in 1971 and read by most treasure hunters of the era before the internet and James Dunbar of the Florida Bureau of Anthropology.

Among my old stuff, I often find things that I put away long ago and forgot about.  That was the case with this chart. I pulled it out and looked at it like a new find.  It was as new to me as if I just bought it and received it in the mail.

It is a large chart, and very detailed, but since its publication, some things have changed.  New wrecks have been discovered, and some wrecks now go by different names - sometimes the result of more recent research to identify the wreck.  I think the chart, which gives true compass readings for the wreck locations, would now have more specific GPS locations.  The chart is double-sided and jam packed with wrecks and details. 

The title is Old Shipwrecks of Florida's S.E Coast, and it does indeed cover that entire area with good detail.  It measures about twenty by thirty inches.

The chart is divided in three parts.  Part 1 covers the Sebastian to St. Lucie area and the 1715 wrecks.  Part II covers Fowey Rocks to Alligator Reef, and Part III covers  Alligator Reef to Sombrero Key.

The publisher is Spyglass publications of Chattahoochee, Florida. 

Here is part of the section showing the wrecks of the 1715 Fleet.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you probably know most or all of that, so you'll recognize these wrecks, starting with the Green Cabin, Cabin, Corrigan's, Rio Mar, Sandy Point and the Wedge Wreck.  The wreck at Douglass is referred to on the map as Gold Wreck.  Of course there are other wrecks in the area besides these.  Some are not the famous treasure wrecks, some are lesser known wrecks of other eras.  I'm surprised more of those aren't shown on this section of the chart.

Below is a small section of the chart from Part II (Fowey Rocks to Alligator Reef).  You might not be so familiar with those wrecks.

Included are names such as the Brick Wreck, Mandalay, Swedish Wreck, Pillar Dollar Wreck, Civil War Wreck, and Aladdin Lamp Wreck.  Those, being from other parts of Florida are seldom mentioned in Treasure Coast circles.

Below is a section showing some of the 1733 wrecks in the Keys.

The chart doesn't show some wreck sites.  I talks about many of the 1715 wrecks of the Treasure Coast, but it skips over others in the same area, and it also skips over wrecks in other areas, such as the wrecks around Jupiter, for example.

One thing I've not emphasized in my blog over the years is the amount of reading I did in the early days. I really did a lot of research and have boxes full of photocopied pages.  I read about everything relevant that I could find, including books, magazines, as well as maps and charts like this one.  Much of that probably didn't pay off directly but added to my general knowledge.  Who knows how that might have helped?  I'm sure it did though.

To give an example, I always also read about antiques and collectibles, which undoubtedly helped me recognize the possible value of some old bottles that washed ashore on Key Biscayne after Hurricane Andrew while I was metal detecting for coins.  I told that story before about how I first got into bottle collecting.  

Before the internet, we relied on print.  The internet didn't provide so much easy access to information.  Not only does that have its positive aspects, but probably also some negative aspects.  Now it seems there are few people who would take time to wade through the stacks of books in the library to find something relevant or take time to read through a two-or-three-hundred-page book.  Although today you can quickly find this little fact or another but probably miss a lot that you would otherwise find by wading through the many pages of a book.  

 The internet makes it easy to find information, and has a hugely positive effect, but I feel there is also a cost that isn't fully recognized.  I feel like I'm learning to use AI more efficiently all the time and am certainly finding it to be a very valuable research tool.  One thing there is way too little of (and I'm very aware of that now) is time.  There is simply not enough enough time in a life time to do or learn a small smidgen of everything.

---

Surf Chart for the Fort Pierce Inlet Area from Surfguru.com.

No change here.

Maybe I'll look into the above chart a little more in the future.

Good hunting,

TreassureGuide@comcast.net

5/14/26 Report - Florida Statute Recognizes Gold and Silver as Legal Tender. Sites for Selling Coins Online: APMEX & ModernCoinMart.

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

Fort Pierce South Beach Renourishment Project.

This project is farther south than I expected it to go.  It covers the area I detected the last time I posted my finds.  That area now has tons of sand.  

Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com.

Not much to see here.

---

Florida Recognizes Gold and Silver as Legal Tender: 

The new law builds on Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution, which allows states to "make gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts." Representative Doug Bankson (R-Apopka), the bill's sponsor, illustrated the inflation protection aspect by noting that while a home that cost $75,000 in 1979 now costs $531,000, the same home would still cost approximately 268 ounces of gold in both time periods...

Both U.S.-minted and foreign coins that meet purity standards qualify, providing flexibility for coin collectors and investors who hold diverse precious metals portfolios. Each qualifying piece must be stamped with its weight, purity, and may include refiner or mint identification marks.

Here is the link for to that article.

Florida Gold & Silver Legal Tender Law: Tax-Free in 2026

No one is required by law to accept legal tender, cash or whatever, in payment.  That surprised me.  I always thought that was the point of legal tender, but it doesn't seem to be the case.  So this law does not require anyone to accept gold coins as payment, however if both parties agree, they can use gold coins.  I'm struggling with understanding the point of declaring something legal tender when there is no requirement or enforcement mechanism.

I've had people refuse to accept coins because they were off color or something, and I had one person refuse to take a fifty-cent piece. I've had cashiers that didn't know what a Kennedy 50 cent coin was, and one that wouldn't accept it. It is surprising how many $2 bills have been printed but have never seen one in circulation. No one seems to spend them. Hand one to a cashier, and there is a good chance you'll get at least a strange look.

In FY 2023, 128,000,000 $2 bills were printed, and in 2022, 108,352,000 were printed, while none were printed in 2021 and 2022. That still seems like a lot of $2 bills out there somewhere.

---

A couple days ago I posted about the best places where you can sell your coins online.  There were some obvious choices, but also a couple that I did not know.  One of those is ModernCoinMart.com, which I decided to investigate.

It seems to be a good site for buying, but it wasn't obvious how you could sell to them.  After a good bit of searching, I found the following in the frequently asked questions. 

Does ModernCoinMart buy coins?

Yes, ModernCoinMart does buy coins. Please email Support@ModernCoinMart.com for further questions and inquiries about selling your items.

I guess if you are interested and want to contact their customer support line, it might turn out to be good, but I'd have to research that more to say.

APMEX.com buys coins and other things such as metals and jewelry, however if I interpret it correctly, the minimum is $1000.00.  Here is what that site says.

Before submitting your quote to APMEX, please review the necessary information our Purchasing Department requires. 

If I correctly interpret the wording on their site, they have a minimum purchase of $1000.00.

And here is the instructions for selling to them.

Step-by-step selling process:

Let us know what you want to sell and the quantity. If you request a quote online, you’ll receive an offer in less than two business hours and can complete your order online. If you prefer a personal conversation, call our team at (800) 514-6318.


After we confirm your products and quantities, we’ll quote your price and lock it in online or over the phone. Once your price is locked, you’re protected from market changes while your metals are in transit. If you’d like to trade into another product on APMEX.com, we can discuss that at this stage.


When you use APMEX Logistics, we’ll email you prepaid shipping labels and clear packing instructions. Pack your items in a new, unmarked box. If the packing instructions are not followed, APMEX Logistics insurance coverage may be impacted in the unlikely event of loss or damage.

After packing, drop off your shipment at the approved carrier location shown on your APMEX Logistics label. Carriers may refuse packages that are not securely packed. If you do not ship within two business days of creating the order or cancel the transaction, the Market Loss Policy you agreed to at account setup will apply.

Note: If you must reuse a box, remove or cover any markings that suggest hazardous or dangerous contents, as they may affect coverage.


When your shipment arrives, our Receiving team verifies the products and quantities and authenticates each item using our internal processes. Our Numismatic team is available to review collectible pieces if needed.


Once we receive your full order, we process and release payment quickly. VIP and Elite Bullion Club members are paid one business day after the EPO is processed. Other Bullion Club members and nonmembers are paid within two business days after EPO processing.

Request a quote for your products today


Before submitting your quote to APMEX, please review the necessary information our Purchasing Department requires. Please also keep in mind that our minimum buyback is $1,000, we do not purchase raw ungraded pennies, jewelry items (rings, necklaces, etc..) and unrefined precious metals (dust, nuggets, etc...)



I tried to find reviews and found a summary of 8000 on   APMEX Reviews 2026: What 8,000+ Customer Ratings Reveal which said they got only 1.5 out of 5 stars.  Not that good.  Some comments indicated they were very slow.

Years ago, I sold a lot of things on eBay and that process isn't bad, but since then it has become more expensive.  It seems there are some good pawn shops and jewelry stores, but some that aren't so good either.

---

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

5/13/26 Report - A Lifetime of Metal Detecting Memories: The Search.

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

 I woke up this morning and started thinking about what stuck out in my mind about the time I spend metal detecting.  I can't say metal detecting is the most important thing in my life. It is certainly not, but it does provide a lot of fond memories.  I think the metal detecting memories come to mind so easily simply because I have been writing about metal detecting daily for many years.  When you tell the stories, especially taking enough time to write them down, they are imprinted in your mind more strongly.  And when I woke up this morning, I was thinking about what I'd post, so there it was.  That is what I was thinking about.  If I thought about my childhood, family or professional life, I suspect the same thing would flood my mind.  I'm sure that is true.

But while I'm thinking of metal detecting, it does seem that there are a lifetime of memories.  Some much more prominent than others, but the longer I reflect, the more images and memories come into view.  It seems lie I could do that all day and there would be no end of the times that come to mind.

Some types of memories are more prominent than others.  Among the first that come to mind are the most amazing days of especially big or multiple finds.  And there are many firsts.  My first ring, for example.  That goes back probably forty something and maybe fifty years, I would guess without looking up the date.  I might have my scribbled records of that somewhere.

I remember the first time I found silver on John Brooks beach.  I remember it well, maybe partly because I've told the story before or maybe I would have remembered that anyhow.

But it was almost in front of the beach access.  I picked it up and handed it to my wife.  It was just a thin slice of blackened silver.  She was going to toss it.  I remember telling here not to keep it.  I wanted to take it home and test it and was glad I did.  It wasn't anything great, but I finally found my first piece of Spanish shipwreck silver.  Many first-finds, such as my first ring or first piece of shipwreck silver stick out in my memory.  

The first time I found several reales in a very short time, was also a very memorable day.  That day it was the freezing cold.  I've told that story before too.  Again, there was no one else on the beach.  I did see one fellow walk out onto the beach, but after feeling the freezing wind, he simply shook his head and left.   

In contrast, there was the day I found my nicest solitaire diamond ring.  That was another combination of a great find and a strikingly memorable day.  It was shortly after sunrise.  Again, I was the only one on the beach.  It was very quiet.  It was early enough that the sea was still at rest. The morning breeze hadn't yet begun. The sun was bright, the sky blue, the ocean was bathwater crystal clear, and as my scoop lifted just an inch or so, the sand slid away, and I could see the diamond sparkle through the water.  It was an amazing sight.

Many of my best detecting days come to mind.  There were those two mornings in the water off Fort Lauderdale when the bottom was carpeted with good targets on every foot of sand.  I remember telling Kevn Reilly of Reilly's Treasured Gold that I found $20 in quarters alone in during a four-hour hunt.  I've told before about the rings I found those two days before the treasure window closed.

Or the day after Hurricane Andrew when I found a carpet of silver on an uncovered coral outcrop on one end of Key Biscayne.

I could go on like this for as long as I think about it but I'll go back to the beginning.

It seems that what I am is a collection of memories.  I remember my first time metal detecting.  That goes back more than fifty years, but I can't say exactly how many years ago it was.  I've told about it before.  My grandmother got a Radio Shack metal detector and we went out to the old home site in the hills where she lived for a while as a child.  Only the stone chimney stood, but there were other obvious remains of an old house that could be found between the brush and weeds.  We didn't find coins, but we did find a few iron artifacts.  I was totally unimpressed by the few rusty finds.  

I played with the detector a few times after that but didn't continue metal detecting for some years.  I doubted the Radio Shack detector would even find a coin, but maybe it was my fault.  I really didn't know how to use it very well.

If I took that same old detector out to the same site today, I'm sure I'd have more luck and a lot more fun with it.  I now know enough to find things even if the detector isn't very good and I'd appreciate the finds more now even if they are rusty or not worth anything.  Any small token of grandma's early life would be enough.  In fact, just to stand there once again and remember would be enough.  I'd appreciate the times feel the memories.

If I took that trip again, the road would take me past the historic brick church where I went to Sunday School for a week one summer as a little child.  I remember throwing stones at the old, weathered outhouse behind the church.  I think I got scolded for that.  

I'd pass the baseball field where I played little league ball and hit a home run to right field.

I'd pass the old farm buildings that were converted to a restaurant called the Mansion House where we our family would eat on special occasions.  They served what they called family style.  They put the meal on the table just like you would for a big family meal at home and you'd pass the platters around and serve yourself.  

The road would then take me through the village of Prosperity and the cemetery where my parents and grandparents now lie.  Then through the covered bridge over the winding creek and up over the hill to whatever if anything now remains of the home site.  I'd stand on the unpaved road looking through the wild cherry trees down green valley and remember throwing stones far as I could and grandpa smiling and commenting on how far I could throw.  

It turns out my metal detecting trip with grandma and grandpa wasn't so much about metal detecting after all.  I thought we went out to find coins or gold, as unlikely as that would be, but now I know better.  It took all these years to finally realize what it was really all about.  It was a lovely trip.

Have a good trip,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net.