2/28/23 Report - Gin and Whiskey History. More Sand Coming To Fort Pierce Beach. Negatives of Some Modern Technology.

 

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

Source: GIN BOTTLES (cecilmunsey.com)

A day or two ago I showed a recently found case gin bottle.  While for me, it was an exciting find, there is little more I can say about the bottle.  It was not embossed, so I doubt I'll find much more about it other than some approximated dating.  It appears to be 19th century or later.  I won't get into that any more now, but here is a little background information.  The bottle is still in cleaning.  

Above is a picture of a case that would be used to store or ship gin bottles.  Below is an excerpt from a great chapter on gin bottles.

Below is the link.

GIN BOTTLES (cecilmunsey.com)

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Another bottle I found recently is a Casper's whiskey bottle.  It is embossed FROM - THE CASPER CO. INC. - WINSTON - SALEM - NEW YORK - CHICAGO - ST. LOUIS.

While there is a lot of information about the Casper company, the particular embossed glass whiskey bottle that I found does not appear to be common.  Those most similar to the one I found are usually blue.  You can find a lot of those online, but I have found almost no examples of the clear type I found.  Below are pictures of the blue one that you can find many places, beside the clear glass one.

Source: See link below.

Here is an excerpt from a great chapter about Casper's whiskey.

And here is the link for more history on the Casper Company.

CASPERS WHISKEY Final DRAFT.article (historicbottles.com)

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OK, so we're going to get more sand in the Fort Pierce area.  That will be 78% funded by the U.S. government and the rest by St. Lucie County.  What is really getting pumped through the system is money - from the tax-paying citizens to the government with the government employees (IRS, USACE, St. Lucie and others) getting their cut, and then to those companies selected to do the job who support those who vote for the projects.  MiracleGrow for government.

Thanks to DJ for sending the following USACE press release.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District in partnership with the St. Lucie County Erosion District, will begin beach renourishment operations at Fort Pierce, Florida, on or about Thursday, March 9.

USACE will place roughly 500,000 cubic yards of sand from authorized borrow areas off the coast of Fort Pierce Beach on approximately 1.3 miles of shoreline immediately south of Fort Pierce Inlet. Offloading of the sand will take place from inside the inlet’s south jetty. Operations are planned to be complete by mid-May.

The federal project strengthens shoreline resilience and reduces storm damages to residential and commercial infrastructure, critical transportation arteries, developed land and coastal armor and helps offset persistent coastal erosion impacts attributed to the inlet. It is 77.76 percent funded by the federal government and 22.24 percent funded by St. Lucie County.

Work will be under way 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including weekends and holidays until completion. All equipment will be lighted in compliance with U.S. Coast Guard requirements. USACE urges all boaters and navigators to exercise caution when transiting work areas and to consult local Notices to Mariners for any relevant updates.

Temporary restrictions to immediate work areas on the beach will be in effect while sand placement is under way. USACE thanks the public for respecting these requirements to ensure public safety.

For more information about Corps projects, please visit www.saj.usace.army.mil.

Here is the source.

USACE Jacksonville to re-nourish 1.3-miles of beach south of Fort Pierce Jetty > Jacksonville District > Jacksonville District News Releases (army.mil)

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The inventor of the cell phone acknowledges the negatives.  Below is what he said.

“My most negative opinion is we don’t have any privacy anymore because everything about us is now recorded someplace and accessible to somebody who has enough intense desire to get it,” the 94-year-old told The Associated Press at MWC, or Mobile World Congress, the world’s biggest wireless trade show where he was getting a lifetime award this week in Barcelona.

Here is the link.

Father of cellphone sees dark side but also hope in new tech | AP News

Don't think that has nothing to do with detecting or treasure hunting.  There are the many positives, but also the negatives.  We've heard about that locally this year.  

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

I'm hoping someone can find what the McCormick Bee Brand was all about.  Thanks in advance.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/27/23 Report - Why and How You Might Use a Non-Motion Metal Detector Mode As a Primary Search Strategy.

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

Not too long ago I talked about using a non-motion or pinpoint mode rather than a motion or discrimination mode as a primary search mode.  I wanted to expand on that some.

First, some background is necessary.  There is not a perfect relationship between the perceived or psychological loudness of an auditory signal and the decibels actually produced by a metal detector.  Generally, there will be good a relationship, but not a perfect one.  A person who has hearing loss in a particular range of frequencies, for example, would be one example of how that relationship would be imperfect.  

The above chart is an adaptation of a chart that I used before for another purpose.  I think it will be helpful even if not totally precise or accurate.  

On the vertical dimension is both loudness and pitch of the detector signal.  Using the Equinox in pinpoint mode as the example, there is a correlation between signal strength and the signal pitch.  In pinpoint mode as you move the coil closer to the target, the signal will become louder AND get higher in pitch.  I don't have the instrumentation to measure the decibels or frequency of the signals, but that is how I hear it.  The signal increases in strength (loudness) and pitch until the coil right over the target, which is when the signal is loudest.

That is different than when you use a motion mode.  In discrimination mode you will perceive signals as being more of a binary event - on or off.  The signal might be more complex, but I think that is how you will experience it.  It will be perceived as a discrete signal as shown in the illustration below.

If you swing your coil too fast in non-motion mode, you'll be cutting down the duration of the signal and possibly also the strength or loudness, and you'll be losing depth and sensitivity to small or deeper and defeat the purpose of using a non-motion mode as a primary search mode.

The perceived signal to three separated targets of different size and/or depth when using a motion mode will be perceived as three discrete signals rather than overlapping signals as shown in the illustration at the top of the post.  

It you use a good slow sweep speed in non-motion mode, the signal duration will be longer and the pitch and loudness will vary, as shown in the first illustration.  In motion or discrimination mode you'll be receiving a signal after the detector has done some processing.  The metal detector, will in effect, sum up the input and give you processed output that will give you vary the pitch to give you information about the type of target (depending upon your detector settings) as well as a conductivity number or target ID.  The pitch or frequency of the signal will not reflect how close the coil is to the target, but rather the nature of the target.  You might think of the signal received in non-motion mode as being like analog output rather than a digital output.  You have to do some of the processing that the metal detector would otherwise do, but you get other information.  You won't get the target ID information, but with some practice you will often be able to tell something about the target depth and shape from the non-motion mode signal.  I prefer the non-motion mode.

While many detectors will work very much like the Equinox, you will find some differences with other metal detectors.  For example the Garrett Ace in pinpoint mode only gets louder as you get closer to the target.  It does not produce the correlated increase in signal frequency that you get with the Equinox.

At this point, I'll point out that in a non-motion mode, you can have overlapping target signals, something like shown in the first illustration.  I'll have to explain more about that some other time, but you can be getting a signal from black sand, for example, but still hear a signal from a coin in the black sand.  The black sand will produce a broader signal, something like the low purple line in the first illustration, but then you will also get a sharper signal that will stand out, something like the signal illustrated by the dark blue line in the same illustration.

This discussion will be most useful for those who generally use a discrimination mode.

I know this discussion is sloppy and imprecise, but I'm trying to make it simple, and it is not really all that simple.

That is all for now.  I'll have to continue with this discussion some other time.

If I was confusing or inaccurate, let me know how and I'll try to clarify or correct.  I know I was not totally correct in many ways.  Again, trying to simplify. 

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

The surf is not real big.  I'm hoping we'll get some more winter weather this year.  Otherwise we could be in for a very long summer.

The tides are not too big n ow.

I have a lot of cleaning to do on recent finds.  Also research.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/26/23 Report - A Little Saturday Hunt Turns Up Some Surprises and Personal Firsts.

 

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

Case Gin Bottle Recovered Saturday.

I planned on posting more metal detector tests today. but got some new finds that took up a lot of my time, and I haven't even cleaned or researched them much yet. 

 I was excited to find my first case gin bottle.  It was a real surprise.  At first, I couldn't see much other than a clump of barnacles and seaweed.  Then a I noticed a patch of black.  It didn't look like it was a bottle. I still didn't know what the object was but kept trying to get it uncovered.  I sure was surprised and happy when I finally saw that I just found my first case gin bottle.

You might want to check out the Queen Anne's Revenge report on glass artifacts.  Preliminary Glassware and Bottle Analysis from Shipwreck 31CR314, Queen Anne's Revenge Site (qaronline.org)

I was about to give up much earlier.  I wasn't seeing anything good for the longest time.  Not only was a not finding anything good, but there was nothing even close.  No older items.  I picked up a lot of very modern beer bottles, jars and other junk and was getting discouraged.  Then I made the find that turned the hunt from a big bust to a real good hunt.  Here it is.

Embossed Casper's Whiskey Bottle.

It is a nice embossed Casper's Whiskey bottle dating to the early 1900s - and in very good condition.

Casper's Whiskey Bottle Embossing and Top.

 Sorry about the poor background in this photo.  I'll get better photos after cleaning the bottle.

I also got some metal items, but not yet. 

The other side of this whiskey bottle is almost completely covered with barnacles.  And it is already sun purpled, which tells me two things - first iit has some age to it, and second, it was laying exposed to the sun for some time during its history. 

Bottles that turn purple with exposure to sunlight or other radiation are generally older than 1914 because the supply of manganese used for glass manufacture was reduced during WWI.  That is something to take into account when trying to date a metal detecting site.

I've done a little research on this bottle but haven't started to clean it up yet.  It is a Casper's whiskey bottle.  The other side of the bottle is almost completely covered with barnacles, but looking through the bottle, don't think I'll find anything interesting on the other side.

I also found a Mexican Mustang Liniment bottle.  I already had a couple of those.  That one didn't get me excited.  The two bottles shown above were the highlights of the day me.  Those two, along with the McCormick's Bee Brand bottle found the day before, are more valuable than most bottles that I find.

After finding the whiskey bottle, I turned around and headed back, taking a slightly different path.  The return trip turned out to be much more productive than the hunt up until that point.  The whiskey bottle was just the beginning.

Here is a group a finds from that Saturday hunt.

Variety of New Finds.

That reminds me, I also picked up a 1915 West Palm Beach Coca Cola bottle and a rubber hammer, which I'll undoubtedly find useful.  I would normally consider the Coca Cola bottle a good find, but it got overshadowed by a couple of personal firsts on this hunt.

Years ago I found a Hayner whiskey bottle that is very much like the newly found Casper's whiskey bottle.  They were popular around the same time.  

I see I posted the Hayner bottle a long time ago.  The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 9/19/12 Report - Glass Treasure Clues & Talk Like a Pirate Day  

The funny thing is that I clipped the following photo of case gin bottles last week and for some reason kept it on my desktop never imaging that I'd find my first just a few days later.  Coincidence?

Photos of Case Gin Bottles That I Clipped For Some Reason Last Week.

Here is a lead item I found.  To me those, whatever they are, are still a bit of a mystery to me.  Over the years I've found a few.  This one might be the fifth or sixth that I've found.  I think fifth.

Lead Stylus or Whatever.

It is just a touch over 2.75 inches long.  It weighs 50.3 grams.  I wonder if it would weight 50.0 grams without the foreign material adhering to it.  But they seem to vary in size even though they are about the same shape.  As I've said before, the Portable Antiquities Scheme shows many of these.  Sometimes that are called pencils or styli.  In previous posts I've discussed s theories on what they are.  The ones I've found are about the shape, being more blunt on one end and a little more pointed on the other end.  

Here is a previous post that talks more about these types of items. 

Treasure Beaches Report: Pt. 2. (2020 and Beyond). : 9/21/22 Report - Finds. Researching Lead Objects: Pencils or Styli(?) Bigger Surf Coming Thursday and Friday. (tbr2020.blogspot.com)

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I have a lot of cleaning and research to do, and also will be continuing my metal detector tests as time permits between hunts and other duties.

The tides are moderate, but we got some offshore breezes.  We broke a heat record yesterday.

Source: MagicSeaweed.com.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/25/23 Report - Shipwreck Uncovered by Tropical Storm Ian. Pre-contact Metallurgy in South America. New Finds. ATX.

 

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

From FoxWeather link below.

As Tropical Storm Ian whipped across parts of Northeast last fall, the former Category 4 hurricane helped uncover the wreckage of a possible early 19th-century ship along the New York shoreline.

The 13-foot by 13-foot remains of an old shipwreck were found on Oct. 21, 2022, by a ranger with the Fire Island National Seashore Law Enforcement. According to the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society, the wreckage was once partially exposed in the dunes and had previously been observed by National Park Service (NPS) staff.

Before it was pulled ashore, the wreckage was located about 3 miles east of Fire Island's Old Inlet. Research on the wreckage began immediately, according to NPS.

"Our observations suggest the wreckage is from a relatively small ship constructed around 1820," NPS said in a written statement...

Here is the link for more about that.

Shipwreck of famous SS Savannah possibly found off New York after Hurricane Ian (foxweather.com)

Thanks to DJ for that link.

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The Andes represent the largest source of mineral wealth in the Americas and the birthplace of New World metallurgy. Metallurgical exploitation of these resources occurred for millennia prior to colonial contact, as testified by numerous artifacts of gold, silver, and bronze. Prior to the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in 1532 AD, indigenous South Americans smelted silver ores, hammered gold sheets, and annealed copper alloy sheets, independently of technologies that, by then, were highly developed in the Old World. Despite this extensive history, we know astonishingly little about the development of metallurgical techniques through time. Today we learn about ancient metallurgy primarily through three sources of information...

Here is the link for more of that article.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/u1x25nkum040/fulltext.pdf (ualberta.ca)

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I recently reported on tests I did with the Equinox 600 and intended to do similar tests in the same location with the Garrett ATX.  As I explained, there is electrical interference in the area from electrical lines and underground cables which can cause noise problems with metal detectors.  Some will handle the interference better than others.  Both the Garrett Ace and the Equinox seemed to handle the noise fairly well, yet depth was most likely reduced to some extent.

I don't like using the ATX in the same area.  The ATX depth is considerably reduced at that location, although I'm sure depth is similarly reduced with the other two detectors at the same location.  It is more difficult to get noise-free operation with the ATX at the test site, even after doing a frequency scan.  Operating in that area seems more normal with the ACE and Equinox, which I would tend to use at sites like that, rather than the ATX.   I look at the ATX differently and tend to use it differently.  Depth is usually more important when I choose the ATX.  The ATX provides no conductivity numbers or target ID indicators.  It is more of a dig everything metal detector.

I plan on doing some future tests on the beach where electrical interference is less of a factor.  That will give more meaningful depth measurements.  I mostly looked at target ID capabilities in my tests so far.  Part of the reason for that is that I realized that the depth measurements would not be the comparable to what you would get on the beach.

---

I found a few older items Friday.  Below is the first.  As you can see, it has not yet been cleaned.

The embossing reads McCORMICK & CO., BEE BRAND, TRADE MARK REGISTERED, M'F'G CHEMISTS, BALTIMORE, MD.

McCORMICK BEE BRAND bottle find.
Circa 1910.

I also found the following glass bottle stopper.  Evidently for a fancy decanter.

Glass Bottle Stopper Find.

Unfortunately, the bottle stopper is cracked.  That would have been a dandy.

Also a few other items.  I'll get more into one of those some other time.

---

The Treasure Coast surf is going to remain around two to four feet, and the tides are going to be moderating.

Good hunting,

Treaureguide@comcast.net

2/24/23 Report - Artifacts Left Behind. Crown Jewels Returned. Cross of Hoard Restored and Revealed.

 

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

A heavy bronze chisel that would have been very valuable, left behind by the Colla people as they fled. ELIZABETH ARKUSH

Around 1450 CE, the Incas attacked so fast that many of the Colla people of the hill fort of Ayawiri in Peru didn't have time to take their valuables with them as they abandoned their homes...

A bronze ring found at one of the houses in Ayawiri. ELIZABETH ARKUSH

Bronze jewellery, hefty metal tools and intact pottery were all left in the site's round stone houses, buried in less than a foot of soil.

"There's quite a lot of copper and bronze, in the form of personal adornment, pins and little clasps that would have hung on people's clothing. We also found a couple of rings and pieces of bracelet," study author Elizabeth Arkush of the University of Pittsburgh told IBTimes UK.

Here is the link for the rest of the article.

Treasure trove of bronze and copper reveals incredible speed of flash Inca invasion (ibtimes.co.uk)

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A vast trove of Cambodia's Angkorian crown jewellery, some dating back to the 7th Century, resurfaced in London last summer, it has been revealed.

Here is that link.

Cambodia: Stolen Angkorian crown jewellery resurfaces in London - BBC News

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Photo: National Museums Scotland.

The intricate decoration of an ancient Anglo-Saxon silver cross buried for more than a millennium has been revealed for the first time, adding greater detail to one of Britain's most remarkable archaeological finds.

The cross was found as part of the Galloway Hoard, a trove of treasures discovered by a metal detectorist in a field in western Scotland in 2014.

The cross, decorated using black niello and gold-leaf, features engravings depicting each of the writers of the Gospels.

The Galloway Hoard is regarded as one of the richest and most significant finds of Viking objects ever found in the United Kingdom. Alongside the cross, there were rare silver bracelets and brooches, a gold ring and a bird-shaped gold pin...

Here is that link.

Anglo-Saxon cross buried for 1,000 years seen in stunning detail for the first time - CNN Style

===

With many words but no depth of understanding, wokesters, trained by propagandists, edufakirs, and the media, endlessly generate hollow sentences the same as fleshly chatbots.

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 No big change in beach conditions to be expected.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/23/23 Report - 15th Century Gold Coin Found. Civil War Explosive Dug Up. Exercising Powers of Discernment.

 

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

Henry VI quarter noble minted in London between 1422 and 1427. 
Courtesy of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
Source: See Snithsonian link below.

Over the summer, an amateur historian in Newfoundland unearthed a 600-year-old gold coin. According to government officials, who announced the find in a statement earlier this month, it was minted in London between 1422 and 1427—and it may be the oldest English coin ever found in Canada...

The quarter noble was minted about 70 years before explorer John Cabot arrived in Newfoundland in 1497. However, that doesn’t mean the coin itself arrived before Cabot, Brake adds. The coin’s owner could have brought it over later.

How the coin made its way to Newfoundland’s coast is likely to remain a mystery; in the meantime, analysis in ongoing, and a more formal archaeological dig may happen later on...

Here is the link for more of the story.

How Did This 600-Year-Old English Coin End Up in Newfoundland? | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine

Thanks to William K.

That is something I've talked about.  Just because an item is old, doesn't mean it was lost a long time ago.  I could pick up an old coin, go out and lose it on the beach tomorrow.  I think there are at least a few items found on our Treasure Coast beaches that have been misinterpreted as being from the 1715 Fleet simply because they were found on what we recognize as 1715 Fleet beaches.  It is something like Oak Island.  All kinds and ages of items are thought of as being somehow related to a single huge historic hoard like there was no other history that ever occurred on the island.  And now a copper alloy cut coin, if that is what it really is, and there is very little evidence that it is really a coin except for the opinion of some coin expert that I've never seen on the program, was  hypothesized by one team member as possibly being a part of "the" treasure of Oak Island, somehow being lost apart from the main treasure, which was evidently so valuable that a huge effort, including booby-trapped tunnels were constructed all over the island to protect it, and still a copper-alloy coin was imagined as possibly being part of that amazing treasure.  Of course, a TV program that runs on for years requires a bigger-than-life story, but doesn't it seem a bit odd that a copper-alloy coin would be a part of one of the most amazing, buried treasures of history.  That is a bit like finding a zinc penny on the beach and wondering if it might be a part of some buried hoard of gold.

Speaking of strange TV, if people were walking down the middle of a street in a worn-torn city and the air raid sirens came on, wouldn't you expect to see at least some small reaction instead of an uninterrupted zombie walk without an eye-blink or any kind of orienting response.  I'd expect to see some sort of psychophysiological response to a stimulus designed to act as a warning unless it was actually totally expected and staged for the sake of the cameras.

There is no such thing as reality TV.  The presence of the camera changes everything.  One of my concerns is how modern technology can be used to manipulate perceptions of reality.  

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Archaeologists working at a historic battlefield at Gettysburg recently made an explosive find: a live 160-year-old artillery shell that had to be detonated by a specially trained U.S. Army disposal team...

The unexploded round they discovered was about 7 inches (18 centimeters) long and weighed about 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms). "There are procedures in place in case such objects are found," Brann explained. Ultimately, the Army's 55th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company (EOD) from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, was called in to remove the shell and destroy it safely.

"Unexploded ordnance still found on the battlefield is a fairly unique circumstance," Jason Martz, a spokesperson for Gettysburg National Military Park, told Live Science in an email. "It's only the fifth found since 1980."

"Most of the objects we find are much smaller, such as percussion caps, bullets, and uniform buttons," Brann said...

Here is that link.

Archaeologists find unexploded artillery shell under Gettysburg battlefield | Live Science

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I recently told how switching to pinpoint mode could increase detection depth dramatically.  I'll have more on that in the near future.  

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Beach conditions haven't changed a lot, but yesterday we had a more brisk south wind for a while.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/22/23 Report - Ancient Gold Necklace Found. Treasure Coast Bottle Find. Alligator Kills St. Lucie Resident.

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

The 1,300-year-old necklace was found in an early medieval burial site in Northamptonshire
Source: See BBC News link below.

Archaeologists have found a "once-in-a-lifetime" gold necklace dating back to 630-670 AD and described as the richest of its type ever uncovered in Britain.

The jewellery, found near Northampton, has at least 30 pendants and beads made of Roman coins, gold, garnets, glass and semi-precious stones...

Here is the link.

Medieval necklace found near Northampton 'internationally important' - BBC News

And here is a related article.

A large garnet has been found at the centre of a "unique" silver cross uncovered by archaeologists at an ancient burial site.

It is the latest discovery at Harpole, near Northampton, where a 1,300-year-old grave, thought to be of a woman of high status, has been uncovered...

Here is that link.

Harpole Treasure reveals medieval garnet on 'unique' cross - BBC News

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Alligators can be a real danger.  

FORT PIERCE — An 85-year-old woman was killed by an alligator while walking her dog in a senior living community on Florida’s Atlantic Coast, officials said.

The woman was walking her dog on Monday afternoon beside a canal in Spanish Lakes Fairway near Fort Pierce when the nearly 11-foot gator attacked the dog, St. Lucie Sheriff Ken Mascara said...

Here is the link.

Florida woman walking dog killed by alligator (tampabay.com)

I only had one close call with an alligator.  He was virtually invisible submerged in some muck.  Startled me pretty good.  I didn't see him until I was right upon him, and he suddenly thrashed.

We are pretty causal about some real dangers, but things can happen.  I told about one detectorist's life-threatening experience with a rattlesnake bite.

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Five-Inch Tall Embossed Bromo-Seltzer Bottle.  

Here is another Treasure Coast old bottle find.  It is a five-inch tall heavily embossed Bromo-Seltzer bottle.  

Bromo-Seltzer was invented in 1888 by Isaac E. Emerson and produced by the Emerson Drug Company of Baltimore Maryland.  It was sold in the United States in the form of effervescent granules that were mixed with water before ingestion. The product took its name from a component of the original formula,sodium bromide. Bromides are a class of tranquilizers that were withdrawn from the U.S. market in 1975 due to their toxicity. Their sedative effect probably accounted for Bromo-Seltzer's popularity as a hangover remedy...

Bromo-Seltzer's main offices and main factory were located in downtown Baltimore, Maryland, at the corner of West Lombard and South Eutaw Street...  Source: Wikipedia.

Bromo bottles are not uncommon.  I like the color and the embossing.

===

Fort Pierce Tide Chart.
Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

The Treasure Coast surf remains small, but the tides are big.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net
]

2/21/23 Report - A Little Walk. A Ring Find on A Sandy Beach. A Metal Detector Depth Test.

 

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

Hemingray No. 9 Insulator

I picked up this insulator Monday.  Always something to find even if you just take a little walk.

The green no. 9 Hemingray is in excellent condition.

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DJ sent this account of his 2/19 hunt at Turtle Trail.

Only found a stainless steel sweetheart ring but fun to hear a good tone. I dug one tone that must have been a stainless connector on the green bags close to the second flagpole and south of turtle trail access. I thought I was clear of them.

Stainless Steel Ring Found
by DJ On Recent Hunt.

So I cleared the top of a green bag and placed my pinpointer in it to judge depth. Seems like in that location, it was about a foot deep.

Photo by DJ.

Other areas the fabric of torn bags could be seen but that is misleading.

Turtle Trail 2/19
Photo by DJ.

Then I placed my NOX against a set of access stairs there as well. I figured after they reopen Turtle Trail I will go back and see how much sand has been added.

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For over a decade I've been telling you that I mostly detect in a non-motion or pinpoint mode.  The past few years I used more discrimination because I had back problems and had to take it easy. Unfortunately cutting down on digging also cuts down on detector finds to some extent.

As I've mentioned before, I used pinpoint mode extensively with quite a number of metal detectors, which include an Excalibur, Sovereign, ATX, and several more, but yesterday I told you about using the Equinox on the beach in the pinpoint mode.  Although I've told you many times about using pinpoint mode as my main search mode, I didn't get into it a lot, but today I'll give you some rough numbers that might surprise you.

Monday I went out in my yard where I conduct a lot of basic tests.  I've described the site before.  It is a thoroughly cleaned out area, but there is significant ambient electrical interference from nearby underground cables electrical lines etc.  I've told you about that before too.  If you turn the Equinox on there with the factory presets, you won't usually get much audible noise from the electrical interference but will hear it if you increase the sensitivity. 

I took out the Equinox and three test targets, which included a modern zinc one cent coin, a thin two-reale with a broad flan, and a walking liberty silver half dollar, which I used in other recent tests.

Using the factory preset settings and in the normal motion mode I got about ten inches on the first two coins and more like eleven on the silver half.  (Rough approximations are sufficient for this type of test because they won't be exactly the same on the beach or other settings anyhow.)  Those numbers are very close to what I reported from my other recent tests at the same site while using the same factory preset settings.

Then I switched to pinpoint mode and swept the coil over the same test targets.  This time I got fourteen, fourteen, and sixteen-inches average on repeated sweeps over the three targets.  That is closer to what I typically get from other more expensive detectors when using a pinpoint or non-motion mode.  Those numbers seemed to fairly represent my impressions of the depth I was getting at the beach Saturday too. 

I've heard people say that the Equinox doesn't give enough depth, but how much depth it gives, like other metal detectors, depends upon how you use it.

As I explained yesterday.  It can take some time to learn to use a non-motion or pinpoint mode on the beach, especially in the wet sand.  You have to deal with the salt and other mineralization and learn to recognize the sound of real targets and the sound of mineralization.  The metal detector has to process and cancel out the mineralization too, which is expecting a lot of a metal detector.  The metal detector can do it, but there is a trade-off.

---

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Big tides again.  Notice the negative tides, that along with the smaller surf will provide some opportunities.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/20/23 Report - Gold, Silver and Coins. Beach Metal Detecting in Pinpoint or Non-Motion Modes.

 

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

Source: See coin news link below.

As you can see, pennies and nickels cost more to put into circulation than their face value, while the other coins cost less.  The cost of the metals is the biggest factor.

Lincoln cents have a composition of 2.5% copper with the balance zinc. Five-cent coins are minted in 25% nickel with the balance copper. Dimes, quarters, and half dollars are each composed in 8.33% nickel with their balance copper.

Here is that link.

Penny Costs 2.72 Cents to Make in 2022 | CoinNews

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About silver and gold...

on a daily basis, the prices of these two metals only move in the same direction about 70 percent of the time. Even when the prices do move in the same direction, they often do not change close to parallel percentages...

Gold: Gold’s dominant usage is as a monetary and investment metal. Even much of the jewelry purchased in jewelry form, especially in Asian nations, is acquired as a store of wealth rather than for wearing...

Silver: According to the Silver Institute’s report on 2022 silver supply and demand, industrial production accounted for almost 45 percent of total demand, physical investment accounted for another 27 percent, jewelry for almost 20 percent, silverware for 6 percent and photography for just over 2 percent. Thus, monetary and investment demand do not drive silver’s price. In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in the use of silver for its anti-bacterial properties on top of already wide electrical conductivity usage. Silver is also widely used in environmentally friendly applications such as solar panels...\

Here is the link for more about that.

Gold and Silver Market Differences - Numismatic News

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I think most people these days use a motion-mode when they metal detect.  And many of the most popular metal detectors are made to be used that way.  They provide some form of target ID.  Over the years I've used a non-motion or pinpoint mode much more than a discrimination mode.

In recent years I mostly used the motion mode with my Equinox largely because I had back problems and wanted to save my back by minimizing the amount of digging I did.  My back is doing well lately, and I've gone back to using much more pinpoint mode.  

Some of the metal detectors I've used over the years, including my all-time favorite metal detectors did not provide any type of target ID, however from the sound of the signal I could tell a lot about the target from the auditory signal alone.  The signal provided enough information to identify most iron targets, and the probable size and depth of the target as well as some information about target's shape.  

On my last outing I used the Equinox in pinpoint mode.  If you haven't done it a lot, it might not seem like a good idea, especially in the wet salt sand.  You'll hear a lot of noise, but it isn't really all noise.  One thing you will hear is more of the ground mineralization, including black sand and salt mineralization.  As disturbing as that might seem if you are not accustomed to it, you can still tell the difference between the sound of mineralization and actual metal targets.  It does require some practice though.

At first you will find the Equinox, and some other detectors, to be very noisy on the wet beach. I don't know exactly how long it takes for the non-motion mode to "settle down", but it isn't real long.  I'd say maybe a minute or maybe two or three minutes.

At first it might seem almost impossible, and you might not like all the noise you hear, but when there are few targets and you really don't want to miss anything, you might give it a try.  There will be a learning curve, and it will probably take a good bit of time to become accustomed to working in non-motion mode if you haven't done it much before.  Like I said, you will hear the salt mineralization and black sand etc., but you will learn to tell the difference between that kind of noise and real metal objects.  Big deep targets (bigger than coins) are more difficult to distinguish from ground mineralization, but smaller targets can be picked out, even in heavy black sand.  It takes practice.

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French Historian: World War III Has Already Begun – Summit News

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As you can see,, the tides will be nice and big, and we'll have some good negative low tides.  The surf, however, will be less than three feet.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/18/23 Report - Beaches Showing Little Erosion Today. Mexico Changes Currencies. Beach Renourishment.

 

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

John Brooks Near Low Tide Saturday.

There was a north wind today, and some of the beaches were showing some erosion.  The erosion was not big and there was a one to two foot cut that ran the length of John Brooks and Frederick Douglass beaches.  There was a lot of sand in front of the cut and a number of targets about half way down the slope.  There were some modern coins and other things and a few targets I couldn't get to because of the depth and water.

There were about a half dozen detectorists working the beaches. 

Turtle Tail Saturday Near Low Tide.

There was also a little erosion and some small cuts at Turtle Trail.  The bags were not visible at all.

There were about a half dozen detectorists at Turtle Trail too.

At both beaches there was a lot of sand in front of the beach.  There were a good number of aluminum and iron targets at depth.  There was a target I left in the beach there too.

Turtle Trail Saturday.

The surf seemed rougher than what was predicted by MagicSeaWeed but I think it was just near shore where the water was piling up on the sand built up at the front of the beach.

Turtle Trail Saturday Near Low Tide.

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All coins and bank notes of Mexico are in the process of being changed. Perhaps the most noticeable change will be that the 20-peso bank note will be replaced with a coin...

The release of the note was timed to be the day the Bicentennial of the Consummation of Independence was celebrated. The note will cease production during 2023 and will “cease to circulate” in 2025 when it is to be replaced by 20-peso coins. Sources indicated the logic is that the notes will be worn out by the time they have circulated for two years. The same source said the central bank was planning to replace the note with a coin two years after the release of the note...

Coins that will be withdrawn include the Series B 10. 20, and 50 new pesos introduced in 1993; and the Series C 10 and 20 Turn of the Millennium commemoratives and the 100 peso. The Spanish word nuevo translating to new in English was removed from peso denominated coins in 1996. The 20 and 100 peso being officially withdrawn each have a silver central plug. The coins have the distinction of being the only currently circulating coins in the world that contains silver, although for that reason the coins are almost never used. The 100-peso plug contains a half troy ounce of silver. The metal value exceeded the face value of the coin around 2010...

Here is the link.

Mexico Currency Reform - Numismatic News

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DJ sent the following notice.

Please be advised that all dune restoration and beach re-nourishment projects MUST be completed before March 31, 2023 because of the start of the turtle nesting season. State law prohibits dune restoration or construction on beaches between April 30 and Nov. 1 to avoid disruption of turtle nesting. ’

I think the renourishment sand is actually harmful to turtle nesting.  The lay in the new renourishment sand farther in front of the beach, so when there is erosion, the nests get washed out.

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The surf will be about the same tomorrow - maybe a little bigger, but the wind won't be from the south.  There was a decent negative low tide tody.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/17/23 Report - Summary of Equinox Conductivity Tests On a Wide Variety of Types of Objects.

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

I've done a lot of testing with the Equinox 600, looking at the conductivity numbers.  Today, I'll gather the results of various tests I've conducted to see how it all fits together.

I'll start with some of the most common targets - ,modern coins.  Here are the target IDs and conductivity numbers obtained for the Ace 250 and Equinox 600 metal detectors.

Source: 8/20/19 treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Next are the Equinox numbers obtained for a broad variethy of targets including a small and medium size old reale, odd small piece of copper, silver cross, silver rings, and an odd piece of copper alloy.

Source: 2/17/19 treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Next are a few gold jewelry items.

Gold Items Tested in
Source: 9/11/19 Treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

The items with higher karat values produced higher conductivity numbers.

Now for some silverware.

Source: 5/12/20 Treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Notice the fairly difference between the sterling fork and spoon.  

Here are some complex targets - watches.  

Source: 2/29/20 Treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com

Now for some more variety - mixed tokens.

So the tokens ranged from 14 - 26

More recently I looked at some coins that you might run across, but not real often.  First, I compared silver and clad half dollar coins.

Source: 3/1/22 tbr2020.blogspot.com.

Next I compared  silver and clad dollar coins.

Source: 2/9/23 tbr2020.blogspot.com.

And finally, a gold coin was compared to a silver Kennedy half, Peace dollar and American Gold Eagle coin.

Source: 2/12/23 tbr2020blogspot.com.

Here is a crude inexact chart I made to give a general overall view.

Chart Showing Equinox Conductivity Numbers. of Various Items and Classes of Items.

At the top (black line gold letters) is the range of gold jewelry that was tested.

The black line going from 0 - 40 gives the horizontal scale in conductivity numbers.

The long yellow line the range of silverware numbers, including both steel and sterling.

The red line shows the range of watches tested.

The blue line shows the range of tokens tested.

The short yellow line shows the American Eagle gold coin.

The white line shows the range of 50 cent coins, both clad and 90% silver.

The short grey line shows the Peace silver dollar coin.

The next lack line shows the range of silver reales - one and four reales.

And the last black line shows the range of common coins from nickel to silver and clad coins up to 25 cents.

Looking at the chart, you'll notice several things.  For example, notice how many items of various types overlap in the 15 to 30 range.  The sample of gold jewelry items has a fairly low midpoint compared to many of the other tested classes of items.  The gold coin is up there and the silver dollar is near the upper end of things.  Some junk items will be up there too.

Also remember that depth and electrical interferences can cause inaccurate conductivity numbers.  And position of the item can change the numbers too.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net