Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Radio City Rockettes. |
Not all coin lines are perfect. In fact none are. They are more like a beginners dance class than the Rockettes.
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| Dance Class. |
It isn't that all the coins are all doing their own thing, but they come in different sizes and shapes and it takes time to get them all in their proper places. And on the beach you don't have a flat even floor.
Since the coins in a coin line come in different sizes, shapes and densities, some will end up farther from the surf than others. In fact a coin line can be composed of multiple lines, like when you take a school class photo. The big kids are in the back.
In a coin line, the quarters can be in the front line or back line, depending upon a couple factors, but the zincs will usually tend to be opposite the quarters. The dimes and nickels will be mostly in between. Of course, we left out the odd balls such as half dollars and silver dollars and a bunch of other odd balls.
Just talking about quarters, pennies, dimes and nickels, which form the bulk of most coins lines, the quarters and pennies will usually roughly define the top and bottom of the coin line. Whether it is the top or bottom depends upon the source of the coins. Zinc pennies will most often define the top and ends of a coin line. They tend to be at the top of a coin line when the line is closer to the water. They are carried by the water more easily than quarters, for example, and so end up around the edges. Quarters, on the other hand, will travel the least distance. When the line is found near the water, quarters will usually be at the bottom - close to the water. So a normal line like that would have more quarters near the water, then nickels and dimes, and pennies higher up on the slope. Sometimes the line is not as completely formed and only pennies and other easily moved things will be in the line, with other coins and objects remaining in the water below the line.
If you know how coin lines develop, when you find part of the line, you will have a good idea where other parts of the line will be. If you know where the zincs are, for example, you will have a good idea of where the other items will be.
Without getting into a lot more detail, if you know the general principles, you can figure out where things will most likely be. Zinc pennies will normally be higher than copper pennies, for example. And other objects such as gold or lead will tend to lag behind, either being near the bottom or remain in the water.
You can hunt more efficiently, if you know how things tend to line up. In general terms, pennies will often define the top or bottom and the ends of a coin line. Quarters will define opposite top or bottom. Other good things, and also some junk, such as lead, will be closer to the quarters, but on a coin line on a slope near the water, below the quarters. But like I said it will be more like a toddlers dance class than the Rockettes. Things can be messy.
Also, when the coins are falling out of the dunes things can be reversed. The pennies can be near the bottom of the line. That was the case with the line that I described from last week.
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Recently I posted a 16th century coin from the Mexico mint that was found on the Treasure Coast. As with all old coins, the age of the coin doesn't tell you when it was lost, but it does tell you something about the earliest it could have been lost. As you know, old coins can be carried around or kept for a long time, so you don't know how long they existed before being lost.
The 1715 Fleet is a big deal on the Treasure Coast, but we shouldn't forget that there are other shipwrecks near shore. For example, there is the Green Cabin Wreck that has not produced coins dated later than 1618. It is often referred to as the San Martin and thought to be an early 17th century wreck.
There are a couple other older wrecks like that along the Treasure Coast that have been worked to some extent, but they don't get the attention that the 1715 Plate Fleet gets, and that is justified.
If you look through a book such as Robert Marx's Shipwrecks in the Americas, it seems there must be a lot of shipwrecks along the coast that have not yet been found or identified.
If you go to the Florida section of the Marx book, you will find many more wrecks listed than the few that we frequently read about. In fact Marx has 27 listings for Florida shipwrecks before 1600, and many of those listing are for multiple wrecks, such as number 26, which talks about a convoy of no less than 29 ships being lost. Those ships, however, were not known to be carrying registered treasure. Still, some evidence of those wrecks could still be out there.
There are definitely some very old wrecks along the Treasure Coast that are not known or discussed. Some are known and have been worked to some extent, but not to the extent that some of the 1715 wrecks have been worked. There are various reasons for that.
All I am saying here is that there are a lot of wrecks out there besides the 1715 wrecks, and some of them are much older.
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There aren't any big storms to be concerned about right now, although there is one developing way to the south.
The surf is predicted to increase though.
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| Increasing Surf. Source: MagicSeaWeed.com. |
Monday, we are supposed to have 4 - 7 feet, but perhaps more significant is the longer period of increased surf that is predicted to begin on Wednesday.
This might be a good Fall for beach detecting.
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Warning: if you don't like political humor, stop here.
If you've enjoyed all the Trump comedy and are ready to get some balance, here is a funny YouTube skit satirizing the other side.
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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net