Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of tbr2020.blogspot.com.
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| Source: nhc.noaa.gov |
As you can see, Isaias, which I call the E-I-E-I-O storm, is now up north. The other area, Invest 94, appears to be going north into the Atlantic.
We are back to two foot surf.
Surprisingly little else on the map to watch for now.
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As I explained in my last post, I was finding things at Frederick Douglass even though it had been heavily gridded for two days by a lot of detectorists. I found a few things Sunday, and returned Monday to see what remained.
I made some photos of the finds, which started out with a couple pieces of junk jewelry. Here are the first two junk items.
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| Junky Band and Earring Finds. |
I didn't test the band, but know it is just junk. But the value of those two finds is the information they provided.
First, they told me that there was still stuff there despite the fact that the beach was heavily gridded by other detectorists, and secondly, while digging I found that under the coarse brown sand was a thick line of shells, which appeared to run along the beach. It looked like the shell line would run along the beach for a ways, and I later verified that it did.
So the two junk targets were found in the thick shell line that was close to a foot under the brown sand. Even though the targets weren't good, I decided to follow the shell line a ways to see what else it might hold. That led me to a nice 14K ladies ring with pearls and small gem stones.
The junk targets turned out to be valuable because of the information they provided - specifically that there were targets present, and they were in a shell line that I later learned ran parallel to the beach for a good distance.
If you've read this blog very long, you know that I look for patterns rather than trying to cover an entire beach looking for randomly distributed targets, and one common pattern that I've described is a "coin line" that runs parallel to the beach. In this case it was a line, but not much of a coin line. I found very few coins in the line. It was mostly other things.
On Sunday I went home knowing that more probably remained and thought maybe I'd return to that location some other time to see if the line was still there. As it turned out I did return Monday.
Again, the line was there and everything was deep just like the day before, so I followed the buried shell line. The beach had not changed much, and I started close to where I left off on Sunday.
To begin I dug some deep holes. I don't remember what was in the first. I think maybe it was a penny, but don't remember for sure, but the second hole I gave up on. It was deep and I wanted to save myself. That is something I would have never done when I was younger. I would have dug all day until I got it.
Anyhow I followed the line down a ways and dug a signet ring that upon first glance I thought might be old. I didn't really set out Sunday to find modern items, but I took what was there. I'm generally an opportunist like that.
The silver ring has a deceptive patina and is beat up. It didn't really look silver, but it is clearly marked sterling. I haven't tested it to see if it really is.
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| Signet Ring Find Marked Sterling. |
After a few more pieces of miscellaneous junk, but while still following the line, I hit one more nice gold ring with gem stones.
Here are the two gold rings after a little cleaning.
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| Two Gold Ring Finds. |
So which were the most valuable finds? It might seem obvious, but I'm not so sure. The first junk items were valuable to me. They gave me important information which led to the other finds. Without those first two junk finds and the discovery of the buried shell line that seemed so promising, I might have gone somewhere else rather than following the buried treasure trail and eventually making some nice finds.
One day not long ago I talked about sampling. That is what I did Sunday, and it turned out, the first holes gave me some important clues that gave me reason to keep going as well as a direction.
On Sunday it looked like the ground had been thoroughly covered by other detectorists before I arrived. In fact I was detecting where there were definite tracks from someone who had methodically gridded the area from the cut down to the water. And there were three detectorist up ahead that had just passed through the area, but I decided to at least sample the area for myself.
The signals weren't loud. In fact they were faint. And the targets were pretty deep. I'd guess that if they were a few inches deeper I might have missed them.
I still don't know what I left in that deep hole. Maybe I'll try it some other day if beach conditions are right and I can find it again. I know where it is.
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I hate when I go back and read a previous post and find typos and errors, but it happens a lot. By the time I say what I want to say, I often get in a hurry and don't feel like proof reading. That is a mistake, which I always regret. Anyhow, yesterday I had to go back and correct a few things.
I was happy to see a couple young kids with detectors yesterday. I hope they didn't get discouraged.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net