1/31/22 Report - More On Key Finds. James Fort Artifacts. Bigger Surf Predicted.

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

Ornate Vintage Keys
Picture submitted by JamminJack.

You almost always learn something from researching a find.  It might or might not be what you wanted to learn, but you always learn something.

I showed a photo of a recently dug ornate key yesterday.  I figured it was modern, but wasn't absolutely postive.  Now I'm sure.  

I found that if you Google "skeleton key," you'll find that there are tons of them for sale.  That surprised me.  Some are listed as vintage, others as antique and some as reproductions.  I didn't realize there was such a market for skeleton keys.  I guess that people who are restoring hosues or furniture or whatever can use them.  

Some of those keys were described as brass.  I didn't think the one I dug was copper.  It didn't have the right patina for a dug copper item.  It is not uncommon for keys to be nickel plated brass, and I now think that is probably what my key is, although almost all of the plating has worn off.

One of the first things I should always do when researching an item is go back to my old posts.  Someone mentioned some of the old treasurebeachesblogspot posts, so I did that.  Amazing how much I don't remember from all the past years of posts.

Anyhow, when I did a search through my old posts I found some interesting ones.  Below is a link to one that showed an image of three keys found on the Margarita site.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 4/15/14 Report - Key and Ring Find, Keys From the Margarita, Portuguese Man-O-War & Beach Conditions

And here are those keys.

Keys Found by the Fisher Organization on the Margarita Site.
Source: melfisherartifacts.com.

Of course there are many more old posts on old key finds.  I saw one that I posted in 2011.

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Over the years I dug about ten gallons of keys.  There were a lot of the old brass hotel keys.  Here is a five gallon bucket of keys.

Five Gallons of Dug Keys.

Some of he old brass hotel keys and fobs were pretty nice.

Breakers Hotel Key and FOB After Cleaning.

I have some odd ones that I never figured out what they were used for.

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A recent study of animal bones found in the James Fort’s second well and the more than 200,000 artifacts uncovered there are just “more pieces of evidence to connect the dots relating to the evolution of the fort,” explained David Givens, director of archaeology of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation.


The second well, excavated in 2006, helped piece together through historical archaeology the early years of the Jamestown Colony. The animal bone study, called a faunal analysis, helps to delineate the colonists’ “transition from wild to domestic animals,” Michael Lavin, director of collections and conservation, added.

Here is the link.

Study of animal bones, artifacts from James Fort’s second well shows how 1607 settlers lived - The Virginia Gazette (dailypress.com)

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If you follow one of the other blogs, you'll notice that the author obviously reads this blog for ideas and uses whatever I recently talked about.  He uses the information I present without ever acknowledging his source.  I'm informed that has been shamelessly going on for years.   

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Looks like things could get interesting later in the week.

There are evidently some beaches out there now where the fronts are getting pretty low.

I'm hoping to catch a little negative low tide today.  Don't know if I'll have the time.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/30/22 Report - 13-Year-Old Detectorists Makes Big Find. Amazing Ancient Bowl Find. Ornamental Key From Coin Hole.

 

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

On her third day out with a metal detector, Milly Hardwick, 13, found a hoard of items from more than 3,000 years ago. “We were just laughing our heads off,” she said..

The 13-year-old, Milly Hardwick, said that she, her father and her grandfather had been out in a field with metal detectors for several hours on a Sunday in Royston, England, and had not found a single item. Then, just after a lunch of sandwiches and cookies, they tried a different part of the field, where an organized dig was taking place. After about 20 minutes of searching, Milly said she heard the high-pitched beeping noise — “a lovely-sounding signal” — that indicates a possible find...

Lorna Dupré, the chair of the Cambridgeshire County Council’s environment committee, said the council confirmed that 200 items, believed to be from the Bronze Age, were found. Milly and her father and grandfather found about 65 items in one hoard. Archaeologists later found a second hoard eight feet away...

Here is that link.

English Teenager Finds Bronze Age Ax Using a Metal Detector - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

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Source: See hyperallergic.com link below.

Archeologists excavating a site in Nijmegen — the oldest city in the Netherlands, situated on the Waal river about six miles from the German border — have discovered a blue glass bowl estimated to be some 2,000 years old, in pristine condition.

The bowl, just small enough to sit comfortably in the palm of a hand, has a trim rim and a vertical stripe pattern with ridges on the outside. With no chips or cracks on its surface, the object is stunningly intact. Lead archeologist Pepjin van de Geer remarked that it was “really special,” deserving pride of place in a museum...

Here is that link.

2,000-Year-Old Roman Glass Bowl Unearthed “Like New” (hyperallergic.com)

As somebody that picks up old bottles and stuff, that is one beautiful find, and in such good condition.  I'd love to find something like that.

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On my last few outings I've been working an area where there were a lot of deep coins.  They were almost all near or beyond the maximum detecting depth of the Equinox.  Whenever you are finding enough coins, no matter if they are modern, there is always the possibility of something else being found with them.

Below is one item that I dug from that area.

Recently Dug Ornamental Key.

It had a lot more crust on it when it was found.  It was plated, but almost none of that remains.  It shows a lot of wear from washing around in the sand.  My impression is modern, but not perfectly sure yet.  Maybe someone can send me a photo of the same item being sold.  I need to do some more cleaning.  Doesn't appear to have the patina I'd expect from plain copper.  The alloy appears to be more corrosion resistant.  But that is just an impression at this point.

As I've explained, that coin line is so deep that I haven't even removed all the coins yet, especially the smaller ones, so there is still a good chance that there is still something interesting remaining there.  I'm still hoping to get more sand loss at the site.

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Fort Pierce Tides.

We're finally going to get some negative tides.  Maybe I'll do some mudlarking if I don't get to the beach.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Nothing real exciting.  Sand movement will be mostly to the front beaches for the next few days.  No big surf or real high tides.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/29/22 Report - 12 Million Dollar Coin. New Sand Washing Away. Amazing 1715 Fleet Anniversary Find Post Ranking.

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

Coin Sold For 12 Million Dollars.
Source: See Press Las Vegas link below.

A Las Vegas man has sold a historic silver dollar coin to a company in California for $12 million.

The coin itself is believed to be the first silver dollar ever made by the U.S. Mint, and experts say it is in great condition. Vegas business executive Bruce Morelan paid $10,016,875 for the coin in 2013 and exhibited it across the country and in Europe, according to Great Collections Coin Auctions, the Irvine, California, company that bought the coin...

Russell said 1,758 of the coins were made in Philadelphia on a hand-turned press and delivered to government officials in October 1794.

“Only about 140 still survive, and this 1794 silver dollar is the only known specimen-striking, substantially better than the examples in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Numismatic Collection and the American Numismatic Association Museum,” Russell said.

According to Russell, the coin is now the most valuable silver coin in the world and the second most valuable rare coin of any kind.

Here is the link.

Las Vegas man sells one of the world’s rarest coins for $12M - Press Las Vegas

Thanks to SuperRick for that link.

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I showed photos of the beach at Seagrape Trail that were taken by Alberto a couple days ago.  The beach continues to erode.  Here are some more recent photos taken by DJ.  You can see where the renourishment sand is washing out.

Beach At Seagrape Trail.

Beach at Seagrape Trail.

DJ commented that they covered up much of the walkway that they just rebuilt a few months ago.

Seagrape Trail Walkway.

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Not long ago I posted a list of the top ten most-read Treasure Beaches Report posts.  The most read posts aren't always my favorite posts, and I had no idea why some were so popular.  

Did you notice that the post featuring the amazing 2015 300th anniversary find of 224 gold coins was not included as one of the top ten?  It is hard to believe that it has been over five years since that find was made, and it is even harder to believe that it wasn't among the top ten posts.  Still, it was close.  It was number 13.

Big 300th Anniversary 1715 Fleet Gold Coins.

I knew about that find days before I was able to post it, but I had to wait for the official press release before posting it.

Below is that link along with numbers 11, 12, and then 14 and 15.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 9/2/16 Report - Hermine Hits Florida Panhandle and Heads North. Treasures of Alligator Point and Dog Island.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 2/18/15 Report - 2000 Gold Coins Discovered. 3500 Year-Old Bronze Cache Discovered. Few Old Bottles. GPZ 7000 Details.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 8/19/15 Report - YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS! New Treasure Finds From The Treasure Coast - Just Released.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 11/10/17 Report - Millions of Dollars of Coins Found By Detectorist. Turtle Trail. Oak Island Artifacts and Observations.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 4/27/17 Report - More On Cooper's Treasure Show. Salvage Lease Process In The Bahamas. Blog Provided Touch of Home to Deployed Detectorist.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Expect a decreasing surf today.

The only hope for improvement would be areas that could be affected by the change in wind direction.  Not much surf coming.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/28/22 Report - Some Small Cuts On Some Treasure Coast Beaches Today. Recently Renourished Beach. Jailed Treasure Hunter.

 

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

SpaceX Launch From Earlier This Week.
Photo by Alberto S.

John Brooks Friday Morning.

It was foggy this morning.  Above is shown John Brooks beach this morning.  The water had been fairly far back on the beach, but the slope was mushy.

John Brooks Beach Friday Morning.

I saw no cuts at Brooks, but some of the beaches to the south had some cuts.  Here is one.

Same Area I Detected Tuesday.

There are still modern coins where I detected earlier this week.  They are mostly a foot or more deep and near the maximum detection depth for the Equinox.  They mostly produce just a chirp.  The cut was a little farther back today.  I keep hoping the area will lose a foot or more of sand.  As it is, it takes a lot of digging - too much for modern coins.

At one spot, the water would have to get back another six or seven feet to start cutting into the dunes.  I doubt that will happen this week.

Alberto S. found the Seagrape Trail access open and sent the following post-renourishment photos yesterday.

Post-Renourishment View of Seagrape Tail Access.

Top of Stairs At Seagrape Trail.

Top of

Newly Renourished Beach at Seagrape Trail

Newly Renousished Beach Near Seagrape Trail Access.

Thanks Alberto.

As you can see, some of the renourishment sand is already washed down, but there is a huge amount remaining.

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The long-running case of a former deep-sea treasure hunter marking his sixth year in jail for refusing to disclose the whereabouts of missing gold coins from an historic shipwreck has hit yet another roadblock after a judge on Monday ordered the man to find a new lawyer.


The hearing came just days after a massive ingot from the shipwreck sold at auction for over $2 million.

Research scientist Tommy Thompson has been held in contempt of court since Dec. 15, 2015, for that refusal. He is also incurring a daily fine of $1,000. A hearing held Monday in hopes of helping draw the case to a conclusion ended with a federal judge giving Thompson two months to find a new attorney ahead of yet another hearing...

Here is that link, thanks to SuperRick.

Treasure hunter stuck in jail for refusing to disclose location of gold coins faces judge; ingot from shipwreck sells for $2.16 million - CBS News

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

The surf will be a little higher this afternoon, but not much.

I'm not expecting much change for a few days.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/27/22 Report - Ancient Shipwreck Treasures. Silver Shekel Temple Coin. Treasure Coast Metal Detector Interference.

 

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

Source: See CBN Link Below.

The Marine Archaeology Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority discovered ancient treasures from two shipwrecks off the coast of Caesarea in Israel. According to Jacob Sharvit and Dror Planer of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Marine Archaeology Unit, “The ships were probably anchored nearby and were wrecked by a storm.”

The artifacts included a special gold ring engraved with the figure of the Good Shepherd. The theme of the Good Shepherd is throughout the Bible, in the Old Testament, Isaiah 40:11 says “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.” The image is also one of the earliest and oldest images used in Christianity for symbolizing Jesus as humanity’s compassionate shepherd. Jesus even called himself a shepherd, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:11...

The underwater remains also included rare personal effects of the shipwreck victims. Among them was a beautiful red gemstone with a carving of a lyre. The lyre in Jewish tradition is called Kinor David (‘David’s harp.) According to 1 Samuel 16:23, King David played his harp for Saul,“ Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.”...

Here is the link for more about that.

'Good Shepherd' Ring Discovered Off Coast of Caesarea Is One of the Earliest Images Used in Christianity | CBN News

Thanks to Willima K. for that link.

On 12/25/21 I posted a related link.

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JERUSALEM, Israel – An 11-year-old girl in Israel has discovered a silver shekel coin that archaeologists say may have been minted by a priest on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago...

Experts say the coin was used for trade in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago before the Romans destroyed the temple. It was found in dirt taken from archaeological excavations on the ancient “Pilgrimage Road” in the City of David. Jesus and other Jewish pilgrims would have walked that road to get to the temple.

"This street, which connected the Siloam Pool in the south of the City of David to the Temple Mount in the north, was Jerusalem's main street during the Second Temple period, where thousands of pilgrims marched on their way to the Temple. There is no doubt that there would have been extensive trading here. This is evidenced by the many weights and bronze coins we have found here. But to find a rebel coin made of pure silver is definitely very special and exciting,” said archaeologist Ari Levy, Director of the Excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority...

Here is that link.

11-Year-Old Finds Ancient Jerusalem Coin That May Have Been Minted at the Temple  | CBN News

Brings to mind a couple Bible verses.

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If you detect the Treasure Coast, you probably have discovered that there are some areas where you encounter a lot of electrical interference.  JamminJack sent me a note about that, and I made a list of some of those areas.  I'm sure the list isn't complete, and you might want to add some, but here is a start.

There are 2 such areas south of the Turtle Trail access.  The second is down almost to the second flagpole.  

1 south of the Rio Mar access.

1 at Pepper Park

1 just south of Fort Pierce South Jetty.

I don't know what causes these areas of interference.  Various theories have been discussed. The interference at Pepper Park seems to me to be more intermittant than the others, and I think it might be coming from radio communications from the fire station on the other side of the road.

One person said he thinks the interference areas are caused by transatlantic cables, but I don't think that explains most of them, since if you move away far enough to the north, south or east, you will get out of the interference.  It would seem to me that if it was from a cable, moving east wouldn't get you away from it.

Some people think it comes from radio communications (maybe ham or cb). 

The interference at South Jetty seems to come from the hotel or bar building area.

.

At Turtle Trail and Rio Mar, the interference seems to come from beach-side houses.

If you have other examples, I'll add them to my list.

I know that I've been asked by other detectorists on the beach about the interference at some of those areas.  I'm sure that some detectors are more affected than others, and changing operating frequencies might mitigate the effects. 

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Elites discovered that elites trust elites around the world more these days, while the deploarables trust them less.   If you thought talk of the world elite wanting to reset and control the world was bahooey, you can see what they were talking about at the World Economic Forum.

World Economic Forum: "The good news is the elite across the world trust each other more and more... the bad news is that the majority of people trusted their elite less..." : Wallstreetsilver (reddit.com)

There is more and more division between people of different economic levels.  Some think they are qualified to decide for everybody.  Recent events have only created greater division, and if it is not intentional, the elites are not nearly as smart as they think they are.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

It looks like we'll have some, what I'd call, moderate surf.  Better than one to two feet, but not generally enough to move a lot of sand, especially without any big high tides.  You'll see a little front beach movement back and forth.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/26/22 Report - Caravaca Cross and Gold Rainbow Cups Found. Dealing with Disappearing Metal Detector Signals.

 

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

17th Century Cross Found.
Source: See Washington Post link below.

The tiny, dirt-encrusted cross showed up in the sifting screen at the Maryland dig site, and when archaeologist Stephanie Stevens spotted it she said she gasped, “Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!”

It was a strange object, with two cross bars instead of one, and unusual flared ends on the vertical and horizontal pieces. Stevens, the crew chief at the newly-discovered colonial fort at St. Mary’s, Md., didn’t know exactly what she had, but she knew it was important.

What she had found was a rare 370-year-old Spanish cross that had likely been made in the pilgrimage city of Caravaca, Spain, around 1650 and had made its way 4,000 miles to a meadow in southern Maryland...

Here is the link.

Rare 370-year-old Spanish cross found at St. Mary’s archaeological dig - The Washington Post

They are trying to figure out why a Spanish cross was found in an English settlement.  They think it might have been traded by the Spanish to an indigenous person and then to the English.  I don't think that explanation is necessarily the best.  Anyhow, it is interesting reading.

And it seems they weren't very familiar with Caravaca crosses.  Live and learn.

If you've done much metal detecting, you've probably found a few yourself - not necessarily that old though.

Deagan, in her book, Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean, 1500 - 1800, shows a few.  Below is one illustration from that book.

17th Century Caravaca Cross from Santa Catalina de Gaule on Amelia Island.
Source: Deagan, 2002.

And here is a little additional information on the Caravaca cross from the same source.

If you search through TreasureBeachesReport.blogspot.com, you'll find a variety of examples.

I should add that not all Caravaca crosses are old.  You can find inexpensive modern ones too.

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A2,000-year-old hoard of Celtic gold coins called "rainbow cups," referring to the legendary pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, was unearthed in Brandenburg, Germany in 2017...

Treasure Hunter Unearths Fortune in 2,000-Year-Old Gold Coins (newsweek.com)

Thanks to Superrick for that link.

Here is an excerpt from another article on the same thing.

The 41 gold coins were minted more than 2,000 years ago and are the first known Celtic gold treasure in Brandenburg, Manja Schüle, the Minister of Culture in Brandenburg announced in December 2021.

The coins are curved, a feature that inspired the German name "regenbogenschüsselchen," which translates to "rainbow cups." Just like the legend that there's a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, "in popular belief, rainbow cups were found where a rainbow touched the Earth," Marjanko Pilekić, a numismatist and research assistant at the Coin Cabinet of the Schloss Friedenstein Gotha Foundation in Germany, who studied the hoard, told Live Science in an email...

2,000-year-old Celtic hoard of gold 'rainbow cups' discovered in Germany | Live Science

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I mentioned disappearing signals yesterday, and Bill P. sent the following message relative to that.

In my experience, especially in water hunting, the scoop can flip a coin on edge and it will virtually vanish. In the water I usually fan the hole with my foot after the target vanishes and many times the coin will lay flat again. Harder to do in dry or wet sand. If your machine gets a strong signal at first, the target is still down there somewhere. Don't give up. Bill Popp

That is a good reminder.  Just because the signal disappears doesn't mean the target disappeared.  Foot fanning works well when wading in shallow water.  You can often pop the target right out of the hole that way.  In some cases, it will simply be reoriented enough so you can find it again.

What I was talking about however, was wet sand situations when the coin was not moved, but the hole creates a disruption in the ground mineralization, which can then make faint signals disappear. That can happen in shallow water too, but is less of a problem in shallow water.

You've probably noticed that if you are running around maximum sensitivity and a wave runs up on the beach, the line between the newly wet sand where the water stopped and the dryer sand above that creates a change in mineralization, which can cause the metal detector to give a false signal.  A newly dug hole can similarly create a sharp disruption in mineralization at the edge of the hole, which can make the target more difficult to detect even if it is deeper and has not been moved at all.  That can be even more of a problem when you have black sand, wet sand or anything that increases the amount of ground mineralization.  There are a couple of approaches to dealing with that.

One is what Bill recommends - not giving up.  Unless you got it out and didn't realize it, the target is still there, and if you keep digging, you'll eventually get it out of the hole.  When enlarging a hole containing a object that quit producing a signal, try not to create a sharp dividing line between the undisturbed sand and the hole.  Make the hole wider.

Hole 1 would be the most likely create a disappearing signal under wet sand conditions.  The hole is straight down, which creates a sharp division between the undisturbed sand and the sand at the bottom of the hole.

Hole 2 not only creates such a sharp division between the sand outside and inside the hole, but allows you to get your coil in to locate the deep target more successfully.

Maybe you dug a hole that goes straight down but after a few scoops can no longer hear the signal.  If the target has not been moved, as shown in the illustration for Hole 3, you can move some of the surface mineralization around the hole (for example black sand or saltwater wet sand)  by scraping some of the surface sand away.  That will often be enough to allow you to get a signal again.

It is often handy to have a wide enough hole to be able to move your coil around in the hole.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Looks like the predicted surf for Friday is now a little higher than predicted yesterday, but not much.  

The north wind will be mostly Thursday, then shifting Friday.

The tides are still not big.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/25/22 Report -Nice Seated Liberty Coins Found. Coin Lines and Using Information From Dug Coins.

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

1877 Liberty Seated Half Dollar
Find and photo by Al C.

Here is the message Al C. sent me with the photo above.

\

I found a seated dime, 1875, 10 or 15 years ago when they cleared a lot on Indian River Drive near Midway and never thought I would find another seated coin on the Treasure Coast. I was completely shocked when I rubbed the sand off this half dollar. But I am still stunned that after I filled in the hole and for the heck of it went over it again and heard a scratchy broken signal that turned out to be another one! Unreal! 1877 and 1867 half dollars from right here on the Treasure Coast. 

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I told you about how Saturday I was digging a coin line and coins, and all of them were deep.  In fact a lot of them gave faint and inconsistent signals, and I dug mostly quarters, which, of course, are larger, and would be more easily detected at depth.  Almost all of the recoveries required a good number of scoops because of how deep they were.  The coin line was deep, and most of the coins were found in two dips where there was less sand over the coin line.  I did dig some smaller coins, and they all gave very faint signals and were also deep.

One of the things I don't like so much about the Equinox is how much a hole can cause the loss of a signal.  A coin that is easily detected in undisturbed ground can easily be lost once the first scoop is taken, which disturbs the wet sand.  There are ways to deal with that, but it seems the Equinox is more sensitive to that than some of the other detectors I've used.  Not sure.  Just my impression.

Anyhow, coin lines have length, width, thickness and depth.  Some are shallow, and can be right on the surface, but some can be deep, as this one was.

Below is an illustration.  The top illustration shows a shallow coin line that permits most targets to be recovered.  The line is shallow and not too thick. 

 Below that is illustrated a deeper coin line.  There are in that illustration, however, dips, which permit access to some of the targets in the coin line.  That is what I was working Saturday.  

Some coin lines are deep, either because they were buried by natural sand movement or because someone has removed the shallower targets without getting the deeper ones.

The second illustration shows a deeper coin line, but there are a couple dips in the sand making some parts of the coin line more detectable than others.   The coin line I worked on Saturday and Sunday was more exposed where there were a couple dips.  It made it appear as if there were two coin holes, but I am pretty sure it was just that the coins of the coin line were detectable at the dips and not detectable where there was deeper sand.

The targets that I could access were still deep though.  I am sure there were many that I could not detect, and which would become detectable if I got more erosion in the area.  That did not happen Sunday.  Very little, if any, additional erosion occurred between Saturday and Sunday, so when I returned, I was only able to detect a few deep targets in the areas that I passed up the day before because of lack of time.  Those were more faint signals and included more dimes than I dug the day before.  I can't be totally sure that there were more undetectable targets, but I am pretty sure there were.  If I took the time to scrape down some a few inches of sand I probably would have found that there were more targets there.

It is not typical to get a lot more quarters than other coins, as I did Saturday.  I was just digging the stronger signals and larger coins of the deep coin line.  Keep track of what you normally get and pay attention to the types of coins you are and are not finding.  It is typical to get a lot of pennies relative to other coins, but that was not the case Saturday.  That provided a clue as to what was going on.

There can be valuable information in what you are and are not finding as well as the lay of the land.  Read your finds as well as the beach.  For example, a lot more quarters than pennies is unusual and significant.  A lot of nickels relative to other types of coins can often indicate that someone else has been there and, they used discrimination or a detector that was not as sensitive to nickels.  That is another example.

The coins I recovered Saturday and Sunday were not old coins, although they had been out there long enough to become green and encrusted.  The small amoutn of erosion at that location didn't put me into the older stuff.  

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The old TreasureBeachesReport.blogspot.com provides several posts on coins lines that you might find helpful.

Here are a few of those links.

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2015/09/92915-report-how-tbr-beach-studies-paid.html

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 11/12 Report - 800 Foot Long Gold Chain & Detecting Coin Lines

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 12/7/14 Report - Comparing and Contrasting Beach Object Distributions On Two Different Metal Detecting Outings.

You can also go to the blog and use the search terms box.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Nothing very exciting.  Maybe just a little movement Thursday and Friday.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/24/22 Report - Beaches Show Little To No Improvement Sunday. Around the Treasure Coast. Another Beach To Close Soon.

 

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

John Brooks Sunday Afternoon Before Low Tide.

I went out Sunday afternoon to see if we had any more improvement in beach conditions, and from what I saw, I'd have to say no.

First off, the small cuts at John Brooks were gone today.  The surf had been higher on the beach, but the angles had evidently changed and the cuts at John Brooks washed out instead of increasing.

Below is a video that shows both the beach and the surf at John Brooks.  The waves were hitting more straight-on than yesterday.

So I went back to the coin line I was working Saturday to see if there was any more erosion that would bring more of the targets in the coin line within detector range.  There was no more erosion. 

Sunday, I could still detect some faint signals from deep targets, but the erosion was not sufficient to bring many more of the targets into detector range.  I knew I left some deep targets when I left Saturday.  As I explained, I didn't have much time and left some of the fainter signals, and they were just as deep today.   It took several scoops and considerable time to retrieve the targets I dug even though they were not old.  

Scott B. said the picture of the musket side-plate that I found and posted a few days ago, perfectly matched his find.

He sent the following photo of Ambersands yesterday.

Ambersands Sunday.
Photo by Scott B.

DJ sent the following photos from his Sunday hunt.

Treasure Shores Photos Sunday.
photos by DJ

Golden Sands Sunday

photos by DJ

Wabasso Beach Sunday Just Before High Tide
Photos by DJ.

There was a sign at Wabasso indicating that the park will be close from 2/5 to 4/30.

Great!  Another beach closing coming soon.

To summarize, the beaches that I saw were no better Sunday than Saturday.  In fact, some spots deteriorated from Saturday to Sunday.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

The last couple fronts were just one or two day events.  Looks like one more little bump will be coming.  By the second day, the wind shifts and things start to deteriorate again.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide.

1/23/22 Report - Slightly Improved Beach Detecting Conditions. Deep Coin Line. More Increased Surf Coming.

 

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

Last Two Days Surf Predictions From MagicSeaWeed.

I watch the surf predictions a lot.  It is interesting how they change.   Sometimes you'll start out with a prediction for a big surf, and a few days later it will disappear.  I've commented many times on how often a big surf prediction moderates with time.  I put together yesterday's chart (top) with todays.

You can see that the Sunday prediction remained virtually unchanged.  The latest chart, however, shows an pretty nice increase starting Thursday.  The previous chart shows a smaller increase not starting until Friday.  As I've pointed out before, those types of predicted increases often decrease with time, but that doesn't seem to happen as often as in years past.  I think the model they use has been improved.

The bottom line is that we are supposed to have a peak of about 3.5 feet today with another bigger surf possibly coming later in the week.

The north wind I noted yesterday caused some erosion.  I'll comment on that more below.

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Saturday afternoon I went out to the beach, and once again forgot to take my phone and camera.  John Brooks looked very much like it did on January 8 when the previous front came through.  

At John Brooks there was a little cut that ran a long way both north and south.  It was one of those that had small peaks and dips as shown below.

It was almost exactly like it was on January 8.  On January 9, the cuts got a little bigger, as I suspect they again last night.

The slope there didn't look hugely promising, and I wanted to check farther south, where it also cut on January 8.  I figured it would cut similar to the way it did on Jan. 8 too, and it did.  It looked very much like the photo shown below.  That cut ran for a few hundred yards and varied from like 6 inches to two feet, mostly running around one foot.

As I expected, there were some crusty coins below the slope in front of that cut.  They were all, except for one recent drop, deep.  The coin line was near or at the maximum depth that the Equinox could reach.  It provided an excellent study.

As I've explained before, a coin line has length, width and thickness, and it can be either deep or shallow.  I remember once talking about a deep coin line I found at Frederick Douglass that most people were passing over.  It was definitely there, but due to its depth was giving only very faint signals.

When you get a coin line that is buried under a good depth of sand like that, it is difficult to figure out if the shallower coins were previously removed or if the coin line is deep because it got covered at an earlier date and had been hiding for a good amount of time.  In these two cases, I think it was the later.

I dug more quarters than all other coins together.  There were only a few pennies, two nickels and no dimes.  That is an unusual distribution.  Usually, you will find more pennies.  So why was I finding mostly quarters.

Well, they were all crusty.  They had all been on the beach a while, except for one shiny penny.  And they were all petty deep, and many gave faint and inconsistent signals.  They were near or at the maximum depth that could be detected by the Equinox under the current conditions.  I don't know how many targets were beyond the reach of the Equinox and might revisit the site and go over the same area with a deeper seeking detector.

Unfortunately, I didn't have much time.  I knew there were more coins than I had time to dig so I moved quickly and skipped some of the deeper coins that gave only faint or inconsistent signals.  Almost every coin was deep and took a while to recover.  Due to the depth, they were all taking multiple scoops to recover.

Normally I would not skip faint signals, but in this case, I just didn't have much time and figured if things developed the same way they did the last time when a similar front came through, conditions would improve a little the next day and I'd be able to recover those that I skipped today.  That might not work out, but under the circumstances, I took a chance.

I've described coin lines before at the introductory level, and when I started doing this post was thinking of doing a more advanced or detailed analysis of coin lines, but I've already talked a lot today and will get back to a more detailed analysis sometime soon.

I plan to get out to the beach again today, and will see how things have developed.   That will add to the discussion.  From what I saw yesterday, beach conditions have improved slightly.  I'll see if that is continuing or not.  

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Yesterday I mentioned the visible light spectrum.  There are real cloaking systems that actually bend light and make things invisible.

Here is an interesting link.

Real Invisibility Cloak Tech - 10 Amazing Invisibility Technologies - YouTube

Think of that in relation to some of the unexplained and paranormal phenomena such as ufos that you see in videos - those that aren't complete frauds.

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Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/22/22 Report - Electromagnetic Spectrum and Metal Detector Circuits. St. Vincent Island Archaeology. Price of Artifacts.

 

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

Source: The-Electromagnetic-Spectrum_l_v2_v5u_s1.pdf (queenwhitley.com)

 

We only see a small range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The visible section is labeled on the illustration above. Other ranges of the spectrum can be sensed though, especially using instruments designed for the purpose.

Metal detector frequencies can range anywhere from 1.5 kHz per second to 100 kHz per second. However, to be fair, most metal detectors operate between frequencies of 5 kHz per second and 25 kHz per second. This means that a standard metal detector is able to send between 5,000 and 25,000 electromagnetic waves to the ground every second.

If you are interested in learning more about the electric circuits of a PI metal detectors, here is a good link.  

Metal Detector using a 2 Pulse Induction Coil (anu.edu.au)

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Here is an archaeological report on an investigation of St. Vinent Island, a barrier island in North Florida.

Archaeological Survey and Testing on St. Vincent Island, Northwest Florida (usf.edu)

Below is an excerpt from that report.

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British archaeologists are concerned that the Government of Jersey’s decision to pay £4.5m to purchase the Le Catillon II coin hoard against official advice has set a “damaging” precedent for valuations that will affect museums’ ability to keep important historic finds in public ownership both locally and across the water.

According to researcher Andy Brockman, who edits The Pipeline, an investigative publication exploring the intersection between archaeology, money and politics, there are strong fears that the move has paved the way for so-called “casino metal detecting”.

Here is the link for more about that.

Jersey’s £4.5m coin hoard payment ‘sets damaging precedent in Britain’ | Bailiwick Express

For those of you who don't want politics intermixed with metal detecting, it is inseparable, just as it is with archaeology.  As long as government gets involved, as it inevitably and increasingly does with everything anymore, politics is involved.  

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

There is a north swell this morning, and an increasing surf.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net