Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Another Reader's First Treasure Coin Finds. Find and photo by TM |
Including today, I've posted the first Spanish treasure coins of three of this blog's readers. First finds are always special, but first treasure coins finds are especially big events. They don't come easy. I always remember the trips I made to the Treasure Coast before I got my first. I don't remember how many there were, but there were quite a few. I lived down south and didn't know what the Treasure Coast conditions were like when I made my trips. There was no Treasure Beaches Report. In fact, there were essentially no internet at all. And even if I knew what the beach conditions were like when I set out on my trips, I didn't know the beaches that well. I just knew what I managed to find written somewhere. My biggest aid was a map to five treasure beaches. I bought it after seeing an add in a treasure magazine. It was only two or three photocopied pages and gave directions to a few of the treasure beaches, such as John Brooks, Turtle Trail, and Bonsteel.
I don't remember how many years ago that was, but it was probably forty or so, and I still remember my first, or what I thought was my first. I posted it a couple of times, and now I'm not even certain it was a cob. It could have been just a small thin piece of silver. But it was at least a piece of Spanish silver, and I remember digging it up, my wife looking at it, and standing near the access to John Brooks beach hollered "Wait, don't throw that away." I remember it well.
I took it home and tested it. It was indeed sea seasoned black silver. That gave me a new confidence that the beach I was on was a good place to hunt and they could actually be found.
It didn't come quick or easy, and as I think back over the years since then, the general knowledge of metal detecting the Treasure Coast has advanced so much. There are so many intricacies that we know now. As I look back over the years I've been doing this blog, I've learned so much. But it is still not easy to find a Spanish treasure coin on a beach.
It depends upon a lot of things. Beach conditions are important. You can't just walk out on the beach and find a cob every day. The beach conditions are a factor. Some locations are much better than others. There are actually a lot of things that have to come together. Of all the miles of beaches, you have to put your coil right over a very small object that at that time in the last three hundred years just happens to be in the top few inches of the beach when you walk over it. A lot has to come together, and when it happens it is something to celebrate and appreciate.
While the technology has improved, and you can learn about hunting the Treasure Beaches there are a lot of other people with the new improved metal detector technology scanning the beaches too. And they read and study too.
Things have changed, but not everything. The spirit of the quest is the same. The desire to find treasure is the same. The beaches have changed, but how they work has not. But perhaps most importantly, the joy of finding treasure has not changed and after all these years, there is still a lot of it out there to be found.
Shown at the top of this post are two cobs which were the first reales found by one of this blog's readers. They were found by TM after Nicole.
Here is what TM had to say.
I’ve spent four and a half years coming to the Vero/Ft Pierce Beaches looking for those Spanish coins. Met some great people who gave me great tips, shared a lot of knowledge with me . Encouraged me to keep looking. Thank you all for being so friendly and informative.
I too found my first Spanish coins, within 1 mile of my house. I’m guessing this is a one Reales and a 2 Reales from the weight. It took me 5 hours to work one mile of very eroded beach, dug close to 95 coins. One being a 1957 quarter, 2 rings and the two Reales. Still haven’t had a chance to go through and look closely at the other coins.
Thanks for this forum and showing your finds.
TM
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| Other Coins Found by TM. |
Thanks for sharing TM. And congratulations.
Very often first finds are the hardest. After finding the first, your finds should come a little easier. You've accumulated some experience and knowledge and have a new level of confidence. There will undoubtedly still be times when it seems like it is taking too long between finds, so you'll still need perseverance. There will, however, be new exciting firsts if you persevere. Maybe it will be your first four or eight-reale, or maybe an escudo or some nice artifact. There is always more to look for and more to be found.
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Yesterday I showed some recent beach photos. One of those showed a newly uncovered fence line. DJ had a similar experience. Her is what he said about that.
Very interesting, I also found a similar line that was covered south of Disney. I dug down to find one broken off aluminum pipe/fence post. The Equinox loves round objects! Then as I detected, the regular spacing of the fence posts were apparent and digging was not required.
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I'm waiting for some of the recently found cobs to be cleaned and the additional details shown. When you clean them up a little and show the other side, the readers of this blog can help you identify them.
I was looking at some old finds the other day and noticed how much detail I could see on some of them. I don't think it was so much that they were cleaner than I thought; I think it was that my knowledge increased so that I recognize a little more of the small details when I look at the coins now.
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Of all the people I know that got all the Covid vaccines and boosters, those people contracted Covid more often than the people I know that were not vaccinated or only had one or at most two shots. That's strange. Small sample size though.
Those that got the shots were glad they did even though they got Covid. They say if they did not get the shots they would have had it worse. That is a perfect example of cognitive dissonance. Making a hard decision results in more positively evaluating the choice. It is a way of justifying the decision after it is made. If you select one model of car over another when you thought they were about the same, the one you selected would be evaluated more favorably after selecting it. That helps people think they made the right choice. And that is how cognitive dissonance works.
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| Source: MagicSeaWeed.com. |
As I type this moring, I'm hearing some wind outside. I think maybe a front is coming through. Anyhow the surf predictions don't look bad. Hopefully we'll get some more high surf and maybe this time some good angles along with it.
Good hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net