3/31/21 Report - The Very Best Metal Detecting and Treasure Hunting Opportunities Are Rare and Can Easily Be Missed.

 

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

When I think back over the years, I especially think of the times when metal detecting conditions were exceptionally good.  There are times that really stick out.  They are rare.  They occur once a decade or  less.

To give some examples, there was the legendary Thanksgiving Storm of 1984.  I've mentioned it a lot in the past and presented the weather conditions from historical weather and news reports.

There was hurricane Andrew, which did surprisingly little to the most of the Broward and Dade County ocean beaches, but there were some spots that produced a lot of treasure.

In 2004 there were hurricanes Frances and Jeanne that produced large and widespread erosion.  I think that changed some of the South Hutchinson Island beaches for the long term.

And there were other times when exceptional hunting occured that weren't associated with a hurricane and don't have a name.  Some of those were more local in nature.

If you have been reading this blog over the years, you know that there was a time when I gave daily  beach conditions rating for the Treasure Coast beaches.   Most of the time conditions were nothing special and I got tired of giving the same old level one rating every day.

My rating scale is a five point scale.  A 1 rating indicates poor beach metal detecting conditions,  and a 5 indicates great conditions.  A five would indicate widespread massive erosion including erosion to the dunes.  That occurs infrequently.  The Thanksgiving Storm, for example, was many years ago but is still talked about today because of how rare it was.  It was one of those times that people remember and talk about for decades. 

Great beach metal detecting conditions (level 5) are rare and poor conditions are very common, similar to the curve shown above.   Bdsides the time that beaches are essentially not changing or are filling, they also often erode a little, but too little to do any good.

When I was giving my beach rating on a daily basis, level one (poor) conditions existed most of the time.  Occasionally I would get up to a level two, which indicates slightly improved conditions, or what I later came to call "transitional" conditions, but seldom did I issue a four or five rating.  They are unfortunately very rare.

See Treasure Beaches Report Part 2. 2020 and Beyond: 9/23/20 Report - Last Day of Big Surf For A While. Beach Conditions Rating Scale. Dune Erosion Slight. (tbr2020.blogspot.com) for more about the rating scale.

Great beach metal detecting conditions can be widespread, as was the cases during the 1984 and 2004 storms, or more the good conditions can be scattered and local.  I tried to take that into account to some extent in my ratings.  Of course when only some beaches are greatly affected, as was the case in the Fall of 2020, it is easy to miss out on it.  Some people will discover the right spots, but many won't.

You will have a better chance of finding one of those localized opportunities if you are spending a lot of time in the field and keeping you eye on a lot of different beaches - including those that might not have produced much of anything in years.

In the Fall of 2020 we had an unusually high surf and tides but one spot that produced some of the best finds was not one of the beaches that was considered to be one of the better shipwreck beaches, and as a result, many people missed some of the best action.

Hurricane Andrew in South Florida was something like that.  As I said most of  the Broward and Dade beaches were not eroded, but there were a few places that were very good.  Key Biscayne near Virginia Key produced a carpet of silver coins and artifacts.  

Besides how widespread the erosion of a productive area is, there is also a duration factor.  Sometimes an area will open up for only a day or even a single tide cycle, and at other times it will be several days.  I remember one day that I've talked about before, when a Fort Lauderale beach opened up and produced a carpet of good targets for two days.  Every foot for at least a hundred yards produced a good signal.  The second evening I was working the area, I noticed a front coming through, and when I returned the next day the carpet of targets was gone.  There was a lot that I didn't get.  I should have appreciated how rare the conditions were and worked it more intensely.  

A third, and very important factor is access.  During some of the best times, the beaches are closed just when you most want to be there.  Some people can have access when most don't.  Either they live on the beach or have a constructoin or utility permit or connections.  But access is a big factor.

I missed the best hunting after Francis and Jeanne voluntarily.  There was so much damage to homes in the area that I decided to help people instead of going metal detecting.  As a result I totally missed it.  It was also the year my wife's father passed away and a lot of other things were going on that took priority.   I do remember seeing the eroded banks of Indian River Drive, part of which fell in, and the west side of the river was paved with bottles.  For bottle hunting, I have seen nothing like it since, and it has now been nearly seventeen years.

I forget which year it was now, but there was a similar fossil hunting event.   That was the only time I've seen it like that.  One beach was lined with fossils, including some very big ones.  Some shipwreck wood also washed up during that event.  It seemed like that time a lot of things that were normally covered with sand under the water got washed up onto the beach.

To sum it up, the very best hunting events are all too rare.  Those events can be widespread or localized.  They can be of short or longer duration.  And they can easily be missed, but if you manage to be there at the right time, they will be long remembered.

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Here is a pattern I mentioned yesterday.  It is the pattern of fading big surf predictions.  It is not uncommon to see a big surf predicted seven days out, but as time progresses, it seems that very often the predicted big surf fades, and we end up with something much smaller than the earlier prediction.

We saw that this week again.  I think it doesn't happen as much as it did in the past.  Maybe the model was improved.  Now we are down to a prediction of a 3 -5 foot peak surf.  That is getting down to the point that I wouldn't expect much, however the tides are high now, and it will also depend upon the direction of the swells, which I'll look at more in the next few days.

Surf Predictions.
Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/30/21 Report - Spatial Pattern Recognition. Stone Anchors Found. Hunting Sites. Slightly Increased Surf Predicted.

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

Stone Anchors Found in River.
Source: See BBC News link below.

A trove of Roman artefacts has been uncovered in the River Wear which could cast "significant" new light on life in the area nearly 2,000 years ago.

The find, in North Hylton, Sunderland, includes five stone anchors, thought to be the first time they have been discovered in a river.

One theory still to be examined is that it may have been home to a small port...

Here is the link for more about that.

Stone anchors found in River Wear could reveal Roman port - BBC News

There are some good reminders in that story for us on the Treasure Coast.  One is that interesting things can be found in rivers as well as on the ocean beaches.  Another is the possible importance of non-metallic finds.  Coins were found there too.

You can miss the lessons in a story if you don't look for the more general applicable priniciples.

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I didn't go metal detecting yesterday but I did do some eye-balling and found a couple more old stopper-top bottles.

Four Old Clear Bottles
Found in The Past Two Days.

The Gordon's Dry Gin bottle and the small bottle on the left were from Sunday.  The bottle in the middle and the one on the right were found Monday.  They aren't great finds, but indicate that there are still old bottles out there to be found.

One of the first bottles I collected from a beach was a Gordon's Dry Gin bottle.  It was older than the one shown above and came from an ocean beach down south after hurricane Andrew.  

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Here is something that is very relevant.  I'm not sure a person can learn it by practice.  It might be that you are either that type of thinker or not.  

You might not see the immediate relevance to beach detecting, but it is all about noticing significant characteristics and identifying patterns.  The skill applies directly to metal detecting as well as many other things in life, including assessing the character and style of people and analyzing current events.

For metal detecting, the same principles are used to identify patterns, not only of beaches and hunting sites, but also target distribution.

Take a look.  You might or might not see the relevance.   It is fascinating if you see the point of it.

Non Verbal Reasoning Test Tips and Tricks for Job Tests & Interviews - YouTube

This is really the essence of what I talk about a lot of the time.

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A lot of movies and TV episodes have been shot in Florida.  It can be interesting to hunt some of those sites.   Old movies were often made in the clear water springs of north Florida, and a lot of TV has been shot in South Florida.  

Here is an article that lists where some of the movies have been made in Florida.

13 Movies You Didn't Know Were Filmed in North Central (and Other Areas) of Florida - WUFT News

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Talking about identifying patterns, you will see a common one in the most recent surf predictions.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

The predicted higher surf is now a little smaller and spread out.  It is 3 - 5 feet now.  Earlier it was predicted to be higher.  Very often in the past a very high surf would be predicted seven days or so in the future and then it would get smaller.  That still happens to some extent but not as much as it did in years past.  I think the model has been improved some.  Nonetheless, it is very common for the (and I hate to say it) but "the curve will flatten."    

We are having nice high and low tides now.  That helps.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net.

3/29/21 Report - More Relic Hunting. Big Back Yard Fossil Find. Maya Salt Trade. Bigger Surf Coming.

 

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

Railroad Construction.
Source: Gettyimages - Underwood Archives.

Since I've been digging up lots of railroad items in an lot that was partially cleared, I did a little research and found the photo above.  Notice the keg in the foreground.  I've found hoops and wire loops from a keg similar to that.  Also notice the heads on the hammers.  I found four of those in a group.  I showed those in a previous post.

I spent some time detecting the lot Sunday too, but didn't have as much luck.   Still using the Ace. '

I did find one more of the tin cups, which was very similar to the previous one but slight different size.

Tin Cups Found On Recently Cleared Lot.

Both have holes where the handle was attached.  Maybe they were discarded after breaking, but I can't be sure of that yet. I haven't found any handles so far.

I also found some more loops from kegs and a one or two more spikes and rail anchors.

I'm still looking for an old coin or marked railroad item, but so far have mostly been clearning out the big stuff.  There is iron everywhere, and a lot of wire from kegs and fences or whatever.  It is difficult to find the better smaller items when there is so much ground clutter.

Most of us are not really relic hunters.  Beach hunting is much more comfortable and less dirty and grimy.  

In relic hunting there are a lot of bugs, dirt, leaves, twigs, and nasty roots that seem to entangle everything you try to dig.  It is a different kind of hunting.

There are some similarities though.  Some of the things I always say are still true.  Birds of a feather flock together.  If you find one of a thing, the chances are much higher that you'll find another.  I've found several groups of things, and now found the second tin cup.

In one old post in the treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com I posted the results of several polls and found that  overall your chances of finding a cob is relatively low, but if you find one, the chances are several times greater that you will find more than one.  

For example, lets say that 10 of a 100 people (10%) who detect found a cob on a particular day.  It would not be uncommon  for something like 4 of those people (40%) to find more than one cob.  The point being that if you find one of something, the chances are much greater that you will find more of the same thing.  I often sum that up by saying birds of a feather flock together.  It also illustrates what I have called the signal or "sign" value of a find.

Here is a link to the results of one such poll.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 11/29/13 Report - November Treasure Coast Finds and Poll Results

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Source: See The Guardian link below.

A six-year-old boy has found a fossil dating back millions of years in his garden after receiving a fossil-hunting kit for Christmas...

“I was just digging for worms and things like pottery and bricks and I just came across this rock which looked a bit like a horn, and thought it could be a tooth or a claw or a horn, but it was actually a piece of coral which is called horn coral. I was really excited about what it really was.” ...

 

Here is the link.  Thanks to DJ.

Boy finds fossil up to 500m years old in his West Midlands garden | Fossils | The Guardian

Never overlook your own yard.  Not only is it a good place to practice, there also might be a surprise.

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BATON ROUGE – The first documented record of salt as an ancient Maya commodity at a marketplace is depicted in a mural painted more than 1,000 years ago at Calakmul, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. In the mural that portrays daily life, a salt vendor shows what appears to be a salt cake wrapped in leaves to another person, who holds a large spoon over a basket, presumably of loose, granular salt. This is the earliest known record of salt being sold at a marketplace in the Maya region. Salt is a basic biological necessity and is also useful for preserving food. Salt also was valued in the Maya area because of its restricted distribution.

Salt cakes could have been easily transported in canoes along the coast and up rivers in southern Belize, writes LSU archaeologist Heather McKillop in a new paper publishes in the Journal of Anthropoloical Archaeology.  She discovered in 2004 the first remnants of ancient Maya salt kitchen buildings made of pole and thatch that had been submerged and preserved in a saltwater lagoon in a mangrove forest in Belize. Since then, she and her team of LSU graduate and undergraduate students and colleagues have mapped 70 sites that comprise an extensive network of rooms and buildings of the Paynes Creek Salt Works...

Here is the link for more about that.

 Worth One’s Salt (lsu.edu)

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This is rediculous.  Lets face it - there is no legal system.  The laws are only for getting whoever the administration wants to get, but if you are on their side you can commit any crime and not be prosecuted.  

Oregon: Patriot group gathered for a flag wave attacked by Antifa | GOPUSA

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Still looks like we will get a rougher surf.  The tides are bigger now.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/28/21 Report - Seeking Explanation For Coin Finds. Encrusted Object and Embossed Bottle Finds. Inconsistencies No Surprise.

 

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

Older Foreign Coins 
Found by Michael T.

Michael T. wrote the following email and sent the above photo. Michael has some questions about these coins and would like your thoughts and opinions.   It is a good topic for discussion as I'm sure that others have had similar unexplained experiences.

Below is what Michael said.

Good morning. Mike T here. I wanted to throw this out to you for some possible input and opinions from you and your readers. Over the last three months or so I have found the foreign coins in the attached photo. I have found many foreign coins in different beach locations over the years mostly more modern and generally European or Canadian in origin.

  The odd thing about these finds is that they all came from a very small piece of the same beach maybe within a stretch of about 100 feet total. I did not find them all at the same time they just keep randomly popping up when I work this section and it is generally after we get some good wind and erosion or heavy surf as we’ve had this past week. There are two Mexican 5 centavo pieces dating 1954 and 1955. There is one Swiss franc dated 1968. The Vietnamese 10 dong is dated 1964 and the last coin I found yesterday at the low tide is a Turkish Kuru dated 1949. I can honestly say that I have never found any coins like these anywhere else especially in the date ranges that these are. They obviously have been in the ocean a long time due to their condition. The one Mexican centavo I cleaned with electrolysis  just to see how it would clean up. They are bronze coins and are quite patinaed when they came out of the sand.

    I have also found numerous green and older American coins in the same small section as well as several rings some gold some silver.

I have been trying to make sense of this for sometime since I started finding them and wondering if you or anyone else has ever had an experience like this. My mind has wandered to whether someone intentionally threw them in the ocean years ago perhaps a coin collection belonging to someone else or someone passed away there are so many unanswered questions. Any input is always enjoyed from you or the readers as we have such a large group of people with such a vast amount of experience! Thanks as always for your writings and experiences.

Send me your thoughts for Michael.

I'll add a few observations of my own.  As you know, you can make sense of finds.  Some places produce one kind of find and other places produce other kinds of finds.  For example, when I was down south, a lot of Canadians visited Hollywood Beach, and you would find a lot of Canadian coins there.  Down in Miami at some of the international resorts, you would find coins from around the world - more from some countries than others depending upon resort marketing etc.  And some locations were populated by communities from different parts of the world.   And of course different areas or layers corresponding to time periods of activity occasionally open up.  Just last fall, one area opened up and produced a lot of early to mid-19th century coins, and that area had produced virtually none of those for years in the recent past.

I'm eager to receive you thourhts for Michael.

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I visited an area that I believe is near a little searched shipwreck (possibly 18th century), and found this encrusted artifact.  It is less than a half foot in diameter, and obviously needs cleaning.

Encrusted Object From Suspected Old Shipwreck Site.

And on another walk I found some old bottles including an embossed Gordon's Dry Gin bottle (not one of the older ones), a brown cork-top bottle and this embossed milk of magnesia bottle.

Embossed Phillips
Milk of Magnesia Bottle.

That isn't one of the older Milk of Magnesia bottles.  The older ones are round and darker blue.

I considered this one a good find because I only saw a very small bit of blue sticking out from the sand before I uncovered it.  It was more about finding it than the value of it, which is little.

They sure put a lot of words on that bottle.  It reads as follows:  MILK OF MAGNESIA, TRADE MARK, REC'D IN US PATENT OFFICE, AUG. 21, 1906. THE CHAS. H. PHILLIPS CHEMICAL COMPANY, GLENBROOK, CONN.

That is a lot of embossing for a bottle.

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Not long ago JamminJack said one of his friends was predicted three dollar a gallon gasoline at the pump.  We are getting close.  I'm still expecting four dollars, maybe another year down the road.

If you got your stimulus check, hold onto it.   If you haven't spent it on gas, they are talking about raising taxes so you'll need to give it back then.

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I've thought many times about talking more about the "attack" on Captial Hill, but kept putting it off, but now ABC and the other news outlets put out a big story about the inconsistencies that are creating problems for the prosecutors.

First of all, the FBI says this is one of the biggest investigations ever.  It is a shame how many citizens are being harrassed just because they visited the DC and attended a political rally.  It amounts to a mass roundup of political participants.  No wonder the FBI was late on the mass shootings. Investigating Trump and Trump supporters has been their primary activity since  botching the Clinton cover-up, false FISA warrants, etc.

Did this picture ever strike you as being strange?  A guy that was part of a "violent mob" that had to fight his way into the building poses for a photo by himself in unsmudged makeup and perfect costume photographed, or documented, by a known Antifa member that was not charged, unlike the Trump supporters. 

I could go on about this for a long time, but won't.  I'll let the ABC report pick it up from there.

I will add that the attention seeking Viking Guy said that a policeman opened a door and waved him in, and I did see what appeared to be police open a door and allow people in during the live coverage.  

Here is the ABC link.

Prosecutors struggle with consistent story in Jan. 6 cases - ABC News (go.com)

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The good news is that there is still hope for an increase in the surf in a few days.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Until then I have plenty to keep me busy.

Now we are having some nice tides - higher highs and lower lows.  

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/27/21 Report - Another Day Hunting a Wooded Off-Beach Site and Current Progress. Bigger Surf?

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

Railroad Track Anchors.

Yesterday I reported on a hunt I began on a partially cleared wooded lot.  I found some railroad sledge hammer heads and some hoops and twisted wire from what was probably a rotted nail keg.  I guess the wood could have been burned rather than rotted, but in any case, it was no longer present and I saw no evidence of burning.

So I decided to search the same lot a little more on Friday morning.  I decided to use the Garrett Ace, a cheap little detector that does a nice enough job on dry land.   it did great ignoring the power line interference, but one thing I didn't mention about it yesterday is the small coil, which can be a good choice when working between trees and bushes and in tight spaces, although contact with vegetation often causes false signals.    

It didn't take me much more than a few minutes to make some more finds.  I found my first coin from the lot - a banged up penny that was destroyed beyond dating.  

Then there was a group of what I learned through research are called rail anchors.  They were also in a group like the sledge hammer heads that I found yesterday.  Six of the rail anchors are shown above.  I know there are a least one or two remaining in the same hole.  I'll get them out some other time.

Then came a bit of a surprise.  This piece of a two-sided enameled sign was dug up.  When I first felt it I thought it might be an old license plate.

Two Sides of Same Piece of Old Sign.

I'm still hoping that the other piece of that sign can be found.  If nothing else, I'd like to know what it said.

Saturday morning I returned to the same site with the Garrett Ace.  I was going to head to the area where the sign was found but got distracted and never got there.

The first find this morning was a twenty-two shell.  Next came a couple more hoops and twisted wire - evidence of another wood keg. 

Then I hit a hole that kept me busy for a while.   You'll see why.

I found one of these tie plates yesterday and forgot to mention it, but found two more this morning.

Railroad Tie Plates.

Next were some spikes, bolts and rail anchors.

Miscellaneous Railroad Hardware.

Funny how often like things are found together.  First I found bolts, then later I found a group of nuts, then later, I found a group of bolts with the nuts still on them.

Fish Bolts and Nuts.

Here are the names of the parts from railway-fasteners.com.

Most of those came from one BIG hole.  I don't know why so many parts are so far away from the tracks.

I'll continue searching this land.  It is the type of place that when you look at it you don't have reason to believe it will yield anything, but it has been interesting, and I'm eager to hunt it some more.  My hope is to find more of the enameled sign, some marked railroad parts and some other types of things.  My search strategy involves first removing a lot of the junk that might mask other things.  So far I have found very little junk other than the railroad iron - just a couple nails and a couple pices of foil.  I'm sure there will be more of that when I'm done picking up the railroad items.  Unfortunately it has been so rusted that if there were any marks, I couldn't find them.

I'll stick with the Ace for a while, and then switch to another detector.

I've also been back to what I'll call the west shipwreck site, where I found an interesting looking item that needs cleaning.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

From the surf predictions, it looks like there is a long-shot that we might get an increase in surf next Friday or thereabouts.  Good chance it won't happen, but still hoping.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/26/21 Report - Comparison Of Two Metal Detectors. Exploring A Wooded Inland Site. First Finds and Observations.

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

Four Railroad Spike Sledge Hammer Heads.

I always say, if there is an piece of ground that is available to you, hunt it.  You might not find the queen's jewels, but you might be surprised by what you do find, and you'll probably learn something from the experience even if you don't find anything good.

Yesterday I hunted a piece of gound not more than a hundred yards from my house that was recently  cleared.  It was nothing but a tangled mess of trees and vines, but Iwas eager to see what was there.  Within the first 15 minutes I found these four hammer heads (above) together in one spot.

I was using the Minelab Equinox with iron response turned off.  The hammer heads sproduced a 14 on the digital display.  

The area has some power lines overhead that created a lot of static on the Equinox. 

Come to think of it, the first target dug was the metal end of a shot gun shell.  I just stuck it in my pocket.

After the hammer heads, I started hitting these twisted wire hoops, which measure about fourteen inches across.  Also what looked like a barrel hoop, which I didn't get out of the ground because of all the roots growing through it.

Twissted Wire Loops.

The last item found during what I would guess was a twenty minute hunt was the metal cup shown below.  It looks like it had a handle that rusted and broke off.

Dug Metal Cup.

That was my first exploration of the area.  I will probably hunt it many more times.  I think there are still more hoops and other big things to remove before I start getting more of the smaller items.

After a break, and after writing the above, I took a Garrett Ace out to detect the same area.  I knew there would be a lot more stuff out there, including a lot of big stuff that I wanted to remove.  Unlike the Equinox, the Ace had almost no static, even under the power lines.  

With the Ace, it seemed like a different world.  It reacted differently, and I was hearing different things than I heard with the Equinox.  Nonetheless, I picked up some of the same kinds of things.

Here are some things I dug with the Ace.  You can see two metal hoops with the nails still in place, plus another twisted wire loop.  These hoops and wire loops were found on top of each other.

Hoops and Loop Dug From Woods.

So what were the hoops and loops for?  A little research turned up the following photo.

Wooden Nail Keg.

The hoops and wire loops match those shown on the wooden nail keg shown above.   It looked like the this wood keg could have rotted in place, and the hoops stayed where the keg originally sat.

If I use the Oak Island method of interpretation, the keg probably contained gold being carried by the Knights Templar, but if I'm more reasonable and if I put it associate the keg with the hammer heads, maybe the keg was filled with spikes.  That is a working hypothesis anyhow.  I don't know why the items were so far from the tracks, especially in such a thick woods, if that is what the area was like at the time.

Trying to get an idea of a possible timeline, here is what I found.

Before it became the FEC, the Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Indian River was constructing a line southwards from Daytona Beach in 1894. Fort Pierce was reached on January 29, and West Palm Beach on March 22.  

If these materials are from the original construction of the railroad line (I don't have evidence that is the case), that would have been about 127 years ago. I know there was a camp for the railroad workers about a half mile away where the railroad workers threw their bottles into a lake formed when sand was dredged for railroad construction.

Anyhow, I was happy to find such an exact match for the hoops and loops.  Since the hoops are intact and the nails are still in the hoops, I assume the wood just rotted away.

So far I have been surprised by the relative lack of individual nails.

I often advise covering land sites multiple times with multiple detectors.  On the intial hunt, you are just getting an overall impression, developing a mental map of finds, and removing some of the big targets that would mask many other targets.

Here is a post on how to conduct what I call an intensive step-search.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 7/22/14 Report - Tropical Depression Two Moving West & How To Conduct An Intensive Step Search

It is good to detect different kinds of areas.  You will always learn something when you detect different types of land.  If you are a beach hunter, you'll find that detecting a land site can be difficult, especially if it is wooded.  Your pinpointing skills will be tested.  Recovery of items will be more difficult when you can't just sift a scoop of sand.  All the leaves, twigs and roots can make it more difficult.  

When there are power lines or other sources of ambient interference, you'll have to learn how to deal with that.  You might have to select a different frequency, and you might learn that one detector will work better than another under those circumstances.

I like to cover the same ground with different detectors.  You'll find items with one detector that you will miss with another.  When you switch detectors, you'll discover advantages and disadvantages of each detector.

The Ace and Equinox detectors reacted to this situation very differently.  The Ace was great with the power lines, but I missed the digital numeric output of the Equinox.  If I made some adjustments, maybe I could get the Equinox quieted down around the power lines, but the Ace required no adjustments.  

I'll be going back to this site several times.  I haven't covered much of the open ground yet, and I know that so far I have only barely scratched the surface.  I am beginning to form a mental map based upon the first targets detected.  I missed many spots, including some that were still covered with vegetation.  I know there are more hoops and loops to be removed before I get to focus on smaller targets,

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We are getting a south wind and two-foot seas.  That is what is predicted for the next several days.

The tides are getting a little bigger.  I'm hoping to catch a good low tide some time soon.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/25/21 Report - Finds: Past and Present - Brooches to Lapel Pins. Shootin the Breeze.

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

Gold Enameled Family Pin
Found on Florida Beach. 

Yesterday I posted a picture of an American flag lapel pin that was recently found.  Lapel pins are not often found on the beach, but they aren't really rare either.  I don't know who would be wearing a lapel pin on a beach, but you do find them.  Above is one such find.

It is stamped 10K on the back and the pin is broke off.  It was found with a bunch of older coins, including many silver from around the forties.  A part of the beach was eroding where I think there was once a road or parking area that was later covered by sand and vegetation.  Part of an old post remained that I think could have belonged to a gate.  The area was packed or paved at one time unlike the rest of the surrounding beach.

Of the lapel pins I've found, many are interesting in one way or another.  They often tell something about the person, and many are gold and have small gems.  

Of course the flag pins are popular these days, as are pins showing affiliation with some cause.  Group membership is often indicated by a pin.  

Below is another 10K pin find.  

10K Kappa Delta Pi Pin.

Kappa Delta Pi, is an International Honor Society for educators that was formed in 1911.

One old find that I showed before is a press pin.  Here is it.

Old Find - Press Pin.

I found an old press pin like the one shown above offered for sale on the internet for $375.  It was in better condition though.

Then there are the company service pins.  One day I posted one I found, and Duane C. sent in this picture of a similar one from a hospital.

Service Pin.
Photo by Duane C.

I suspect that the lapel pins evolved from brooches.

Cultural influences such as Queen Elizabeth II, below, who celebrated her 90th birthday this year and has a close affinity for brooches, and the new generation of women who think of jewellery as more than just bling, are shedding a new light on these adornments of the past. But brooches didn’t start out as jewels. They began life as functional, utilitarian items that were used to secure pieces of clothing, like a loincloth. The first recorded brooches were made of thorns and flint, while pins crafted from metal date back to the Bronze Age.

Here is a link for more about that.

A history of brooches: the style evolution of a classic jewel | The Jewellery Editor

I've posted many brooches in the past.  Some come from ancient hoards and some came from our local shipwrecks.  You can find many of them on the old TreasureBeachesReport.blogspot.com.

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Dan B. wrote in about the mystery items I posted yesterday.  Here is what he said.

Pretty hard to tell about the "bronze coin" and the "silver object" from the photo alone. The metal shows signs of what pewter plates looks like from the shipwreck. But if it is hollow on the back and is a cast metal then it may just be a pot metal ornamental piece. The old pewter will fall apart in a very similar way.

He also said.

I found this yesterday in dry sand but ended up being a prank. Someone playing a trick on their friend. 

There was some confusion and yep..you guessed it. No hefty reward. 

Prank Find.
By Dan B.

I was watching an old fellow detect along in front of the Wabasso walkway one day when there seemed to be not a single target and was tempted to throw out a coin or two myself.  People do that sometimes.

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Many detectorists spend a lot of time shooting the breeze between low tides or during the off season.  

I received the following email from JamminJack and it just seemed to be the right time to pass it along.

Supposedly, there was an individual that worked with salvagers on 1715 wrecks with same nickbame, but not to be mistaken for the person I ran into recently.

Here it is...

I met a very interesting person in the state park where I have been fishing since covid.

Mike "Mad Dog" worked with Mel from day one. He would ventured out west for the other half of the year looking for gems, dinosaur bones, etc. He told me he missed the year Mel discovered the silver bars.

He was around during the time when I was stationed in Key West during early 80s. We knew Mel, Deo, and his kids; Kim, Kane, and Taffi. He knew all the divers, but one of the more popular characters was Pat Clyne. Pat used to do the dividends. Pat later wrote a book about some of the stories Mike and I talked about. A lot went on other then treasure hunting. (Pat passed away February 2020.)

Mike was friends with John Brandon and worked with him when John started on his own as a Salvager. They did a lot of operations together.

Mike was in Vietnam, and saw a lot of action. When he joined Mel the crew would call him Mad Dog. He was one of the few that would dive near the 500 pounders. They were mostly practice bombs, but still deadly. They covered a lot of the wrecks, including the 1733 wrecks. One story was when they found a slew of emeralds under one of those piles. Mike found one of the few known 1732 8 Reales. Because only a few were ever found there was controversy amongst numismatics. They would not acknowledge there were Pillar reales made earlier then 1733.

He told me after the passing of his wife, and living in the Keys for nearly 30 years, that he simply got exhausted of all the drama. We both agreed when it is no longer a passion that it is time to do something else.

Hoping to get back with him.
Stories on top of stories. He lives up this way, but a hour from where I live. He said he drove over to Gainesville to get a Covid19 Vaccine, because his county ran out of vaccines. After his shot, he thought the park would be a nice break before headed back home.

That is 2 old timers from Kip, and Mel era that I have ran into while hanging in this park! Lucky Me!!

Hoping to share more stories.

Jammin Jack

I hope you print this story...a lot of people knew this guy and he was a key figure in the Atocha, as well as 1715 Fleet operations.

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If you remember the signet ring I posted with an eagle and lions rampant holding a crown, a lot of research has been done on the shield, but Scott B. sent this photo he saw that reminded him of the eagle on the ring. It is very similar.

Eagle on Polish American Social Club Sign.
Submitted by Scott B.

Thanks Scott!

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Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/24/21 Report - Some Local Finds: Old and New. Oldest Maryland English Colonial Site Found.

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

Enameled Flag Lapel Pin Find.

Given the conditions and situation, I decided to hunt modern this morning.

Lapel Flag Pin.

Odd 10K Ring.

Any ideas on this one?  The two odd symbols or designs shown center repeat around the ring.

Same Ring Showing 10K Stamp.

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The first colonial site in Maryland has been found.  

Much like the famous Jamestown fort, which marked the first permanent English settlement in what would become the United States, its exact location had been lost.

The original 150 colonists, including many English Catholics fleeing Protestant persecution back home, had arrived at St. Mary’s on two ships, the Ark and the Dove, in late March 1634, Parno said...

White wrote that the colonists, “to avoid all occasion of dislike, and colour of wrong,” purchased from the local Yaocomaco Indians the land for 30 miles around, paying with axes, hoes, cloth and hatchets.

The Yaocomaco Indians tolerated the newcomers, he wrote, because the Indians had enemies: The “Sasquasahannockes … [who] come sometimes upon them, and waste and spoile them and their country.”

And the archaeology hinted that the fort may have been built around several existing native dwellings, Parno said.

The Yaocomaco people lived on both sides of the St. Mary’s River. The arrangement was that they would be allowed to stay on the east side with the colonists until the Indians’ crops there were harvested. Then they would move to the west side.

“Some few Indians are here to stay by us till next yeare,” Father White wrote. “Then the land is wholy to be ours alone.”...

Here is the link for more about that.

Archaeologists find earliest colonial site in Maryland after nearly 90-year search - Baltimore Sun

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DJ sent me the above picture showing two finds brought to the McClarty Museum for help with ID.  They are described as a silver artifact and a bronze coin found north of the museum.  No other information was provided.

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No significant change in beach conditions is expected for at least several days.

At least it is beautiful weather for being out.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

    

3/23/21 Report - Native American Copper Culture. Why Milkglass Cleaning Containers. Miscellaneous.

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

Copper Native American Artifacts.

About 8500 years ago, hunter-gatherers living beside Eagle Lake in Wisconsin hammered out a conical, 10-centimeter-long projectile point made of pure copper. The finely crafted point, used to hunt big game, highlights a New World technological triumph—and a puzzle. A new study of that artifact and other traces of prehistoric mining concludes that what is known as the Old Copper Culture emerged, then mysteriously faded, far earlier than once thought.

The dates show that early Native Americans were among the first people in the world to mine metal and fashion it into tools. They also suggest a regional climate shift might help explain why, after thousands of years, the pioneering metallurgists abruptly stopped making most copper tools and largely returned to stone and bone implements....

When researchers began to date the artifacts and mines, they saw a perplexing pattern: The dates suggested the people of the Old Copper Culture began to produce metal tools about 6000 years ago and then, for reasons that weren’t clear, mostly abandoned copper implements about 3000 years ago. After that, early Native Americans used copper mostly for smaller, less utilitarian items associated with adornment, such as beads and bracelets. “The history is just so peculiar,” in part because many other ancient cultures didn’t abandon metal tools once they learned how to make them, Pompeani says...

Here is the link for more about that.

Ancient Native Americans were among the world’s first coppersmiths | Science | AAAS (sciencemag.org)

For me, one of the most interesting things in the photo above is the clump of copper with copper sulfate on it.

My late friend, Larry, found an excellent copper arrowhead that was thought to be ceremonial.

See The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 5/14/11 Report - Late Hopewell Copper Point & Beads

I had an arrowhead pendant I found somewhere that I decided to look at more closely.  I never paid any attention to it before figuring it was nothing but a novelty.  Anyhow, this closer look shows nothing to suggest it is any good.  Under magnification it looks like it was made as a cheap ornament.  The stem, although I can't see it becauses of the winding, looks like it was made as a pendant.  Also notice the strangely indented area just ahead of the neck as well as the regularly spaced indentations along the edge.  

Arrowhead Pendant Find.

Too bad I didn't have my Celestron microscope many years ago.  It is a handy device.  It makes finding marks much easier.  I overlooked several that were easily found with the microscope, as shown below.

Silver Mark on Ring.

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I picked up a lot of milk glass over the years.  I just like milk glass, even though nobody else does.  I kept it around, like I often do, and eventually I found a good use for it.  The milk glass cosmetics containers make excellent containers for cleaning items.  They come in various sizes.  Many, such as those made for things like rouge, have curved bottoms so small items don't get stuck in the bottom corners.  They are more easily removed.  And the biggest thing I like, is the white container shows every little speck of anything that comes off the item.  You can see smallest particles against the solid white background in the smooth bottom of the container.

Milk Glass Cleaning Containers.

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Our latest hope for improvement of beach conditions turned out to be a bust.  Looking at the dunes that were cut last Fall at Pepper Park made me wish I had been there then.  You can't be everywhere, and I made other choices at the time.

JamminJack offered the following comments about Pepper.

I used to like going there before it would get crowded. Used to find a lot of junk jewelry. I have found some shipwreck items near Urca De Lima, but became so popular over the years never went again. I usually tell people go visit the S.E.A.L. Museum. Can say very dirty sand for a public beach.

The jewelry there is typically junk.  Pepper is over-detected, but there are still a lot of beer bottle caps there.  That has been how it has been for years.  

The surf will be decreasing for a few days, so don't expect any improvemnt in beach conditions real soon.

On the plus side of things, there are a lot of spring-breakers and beach-goers now, so you should be able to find some modern stuff.

The tides are still small.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/22/21 Report - Recent Increase in Surf Did Not Improve Beach Conditions Significantly.

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

John Brooks Beach Monday Morning.

I often say, "There is always some place to hunt and something to find," but sometimes it is easier.  Sometimes you have to look longer and farther to find those few better spots that are out there.

I checked a few beaches around Fort Pierce this morning, and didn't find any place good to hunt in the time available.

John Brooks had not cuts and was generally mushy.  Those long period waves coming right at the beach weren't helping.

John Brooks Beachc Monday Morning.

Fort Pierce South Jetty, being crescent shaped often has some cuts, and it did this morning.

It wasn't cut at either end of the scescent, but there was a bit of a cut towards the middle.

That provides a good illusstration of how when your favorite beach isn't cut, you can usually find a spot where there will be some erosion.

The angles are important, and when you have a good bend, the waves will hit part of it in a way that creates some erosion.

When you don't find a cut where you are, there might be one around the bend.  That was recently true at Turtle Trail.  The area by the access wasn't cut, but if you went aount the bend to the south yesterday, there was some erosion down there.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Monday Morning.

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Of course not all cuts are productive - especially when you are looking for old items.  And Fort Pierce South Jetty seldom has any high value targets even when conditions are best.  The jewelry there will generally not be very good.

Three Foot Cut At Fort Pierce South Jetty Monday Morning.

It has been a long time since many shipwreck items have been found there.   There is the Archie's wreck, which has been thorougly picked over.  And as you probably know, they dump new renourishment sand there every year or less.  I have found some interesting things in the renouishment sand.  It depends upon where the latest sand came from.  I don't know where the last sand came from, but I haven't seen any signs of anything interesting in it.

Pepper Park Monday Morning Near Low Tide.

I haven't been to Pepper Park for a long time.  It is much like Fort Pierce South Jetty.  The modern stuff isn't usually very good, but since the Wedge Wreck is offshore, there is the chance of some shipwreck related items, but that beach hasn't been productive for quite some time.  I don't know how it was last fall.  I could still see signs of that high water, but currently the conditions there were poor.  The beach was building.

The beach there is a lot like some of the South Florida beaches.  In the photo above you can see a dip in front of the beach, which is like what you'd see on many south Florida beaches.

I didn't do much detecting this morning.  The beach conditions, judging from the few beaches I visited, were poor.  It looks like things won't get any better soon.   The tides were pretty flat, we got little wind, and the waves have been hitting the beaches straight on. 

Surf Perdictions.
Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Looks like overall conditions won't get any better soon.  You'll have to hunt out those few better spots.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net