2//29/24 Report - Detectorist Finds Two Different Gold Coins In Same Field On One Hunt. Florida History Resource.

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

Two Gold Coins Separated by 1400 Years Found on Same Day in Same Field.

A metal detectorist found two gold coins from different historical eras on the same day in what he described as an "amazing" discovery.

Jasper Hyde unearthed the coins on July 30 in a 47-acre farmer's field in Derbyshire, a county in England's East Midlands region. The two artifacts were located relatively close together—about 1,300 feet away from each other. But they are separated by more than 1,400 years of history.

The first coin is a Celtic gold stater thought to date to around 65 B.C., Hyde said in a Facebook post.

The second is a medieval quarter noble dated to A.D. 1351-1361, during the reign of King Edward III...

The discoveries came during a group dig event organized by a metal detecting group called Down to Earth Charity Digs. Participants pay a fee, which is then donated to charities selected by the owners of the land where the digs take place...

Here is the link for more about that.

Ancient Gold Coins Minted 1,400 Years Apart Unearthed in Same Field (newsweek.com)

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You can find good articles about Florida history on the MyFloridaHistory.org site.  Below is the table of contents for one year.  As you can see, there are a lot of interesting articles.

There is a lot of good reading there and I highly recommend that you check it out.

Here is the link.

fhsai_adventures_mag_2022.pdf (myfloridahistory.org)

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It looks like a two to there foot surf is expected for most of the week.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/28/24 Report - Reader Finds. Muntz Metal. Where Things Were Found. Empiricism and Connectness.

 

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

Nice Piece of Muntz Metal Found by John H.

John H. wrote about this nice piece of Muntz metal he found. Here is what he said.

I often find little strips of brass looking metal pieces from Fort Pierce to Stuart along the beach. I have always wondered if they were remnants of bomb fragments from the days when the military used to practice along the coast, maybe some of them are. I recently found one that had markings on it, and thought you and your readers might find it interesting.

Now if I knew what those little aluminum blobs came from... My life would be complete.

Bigger View of Patent Mark on Muntz Metal Find.

John also sent the two links below.

 

https://shipwrecks.com/muntz-metal-hull-sheathing/

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muntz_metal

And below are two posts in which I talked about Muntz metal finds in the past.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 9/16/18 Report - After Florence. A Couple Finds. Muntz Metal and Copper Sheathing.

That post included this reference link.

https://www.copper.org/education/history/60centuries/industrial_age/copperand.html

And in 2014 Greg S., of Galveston, Texas, sent me a photo of a very similar piece he found, along with the pencil drawing of the mark showing a 33 where John's piece shows a 26.

Muntz Metal Found by Greg S. of Galveston, Texas

You'll notice that the mark is about the same, except for the 33 where John's piece shows a 26.  

Here is the link to that old post.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 4/19/14 Report - Gold Crucifix Beach Find, Muntz Metal Find, and Clarification On 1715 Fleet Salvage Contracts

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As a puzzle a couple days ago I posted a series of finds made by Mark G.  I asked if you could figure out where they were found.  If you forget that, here is the link.

Treasure Beaches Report: Pt. 2. (2020 and Beyond). : 2/24/24 Report - Recent Treasure Coast Hunts and Finds. Coin Lines. Gold Calculator. (tbr2020.blogspot.com)

I didn't figure it out.  Below is the Mark G's answer to the mystery.

Thanks Mark.  Way to go!

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It seems that people are becoming increasingly separated from their world.  If you want to know something they do a quick search of the computer or ask an expert or, someone who knows no more than them.  They either don't know how or don't care to put the effort in to find out for themselves. 

When I began doing research and statistics, we didn't have computers.  My fellow students mostly used calculators to do statistical analysis.  They weren't the kinds of calculators we have today.  You entered some numbers and pulled a crank.  I didn't do that much, if at all.  I can't remember doing it.  I used a paper and pencil.  I remember once having multiple legal pads full, front and back of six digit numbers when I was doing analysis of variance or something   I knew how to do every step of the calculations and could do them and check them myself.

Then eventually we got access to computers, but if you wanted to do something, you had to write your own program, depending upon what you wanted the computer to do, punch the deck of cards with the instructions and run it through the computer.  You knew the steps involved and how it worked.

Then came statistical packages.  There was a book about eight inches thick that had programs written for doing various types of calculations, but you still had to punch the cards with the instructions before running it through the computer.  At that point, you assumed that the program you typed into the computer was correct.  You just accepted that.

Today it seems that if someone wants to know something they just type a request into the computer and get their answer and never check it with other sources or really examine how the answer was obtained or attempt to validate it.

I always liked doing experiments and doing observations and coming to my own conclusions.  I never liked school much until I got into graduate school where you spend a lot of time doing experiments, making observations and proving your own answers for yourself.  That is also what I like about metal detecting.  I liked making observations, keeping records of my progress, trying things out and proving them for myself.  More schooling should be about how to develop and prove knowledge - not just listening and accepting.

People are separated from so much of life these days.  They drive cars that they never saw under the hood to check the oil or fix a thing.  The car has largely become a black box.  

People don't see or know where their food comes from.  It comes from a store or a box.  Everything is becoming a black box.  Money is disappearing and more financial transactions are invisible and seldom checked at any level of detail.  You get reports.  And then some take the reports to your tax preparer, and may no little more about it all than that.

They depend upon professionals tp mow their lawns, do their repairs and even lead the vast majority of their religious activities, such as praying for them.  They criticize the Bible without studying it.  They don't personally interact with or experience God, so they think He is absent.

They don't build their own houses or hardly anything else.  They don't get their fingers in the dirt, mow their own lawn or grow their food.  They are, in my way of thinking, disconnected and living second-hand lives.

And families are often separated by many miles, rarely seeing each other.

It seems to me that people are getting disconnected from personal involvement in so many ways that it is no wonder they are so easily led and misled.  

I know there are advantages of doing things in modern ways, and there is progress, of a sort, but there is also the downside.

Although in a way it is a very trivial example, the way I conduct metal detecting, and one of the things I like so much about it, is that it reconnects.  You get of doors, feel the weather, see the sky, water, earth, and even maybe get your hands dirty and you feet wet, are physically active and involved, yet at the same time are presented with a challenge, experience the intellectual activity of problem solving, try and fail, and learn in a very physical way.

I take an empirical scientific attitude to my treasure hunting. I use very much the same approach that I used when doing academic research.  I preferred to go out there think it through, observe, experiment and test it out for myself.  That is a lot of the fun of it.  I can't say that was always the easiest or quickest way, but for me it was very enjoyable and well worth the time and effort.

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Nothing big with the surf forecast.  We will have some small negative low tides.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/27/24 Report - Cleaned Cremation Tag. Dating Unlabeled Bottles. Pros and Cons of Cashless Society.

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

Cremation Tag Found.

I found this tag the same day I found the class ring that I showed.  I thought it was something else, but when I got it cleaned, I found out what it really is.  I'll return it to where I found it.

I haven't detected many of those in recent years, but they are common metal detector finds in some areas.

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A couple days ago I showed a couple embossed Canada Dry bottles that had no remaining evidence of a label.  I'm trying to figure out the age of the bottles.  

I found one, which I knew I had around somewhere, that does have a painted label.  The painted label bottles are more recent than those that had paper labels.  I don't know if Canada Dry used bottles that were embossed but had neither paper or ACL labels.  As I said, some of the Canada Dry bottles don't show evidence of ever having a label other than the embossing.

Below is one that has a damaged ACL label.

ACL Canada Dry Water Bottle.

I can't find this bottle again right now, but I think it had a date code of 54 on the bottom.  You can see how the texture of the glass affected the wear of the AC with the paint remaining in the low spots of the textured glass..

Concerning Canada Dry bottles, one reference says, “Eighty seven varieties of the painted label s bottles have been cataloged, dating from the early 1940’s to the 1980’s.”  (EPChap10c.pdf (sha.org)  

Here is another ACL bottle I just noticed in my collection.

1965 Canada Dry Quinine Water (Mixer) Bottle

I'm not certain if the embossed bottles I showed a couple days ago ever had a label of any type, but if they did, I assume it was a paper label, instead of an ACL.  I'd think the textured surface would preserve at least some of the paint in the depressions.

The more recent bottles have more shallow embossing.  The surface texture on the 1965 bottle is very shallow, and only part of the bottle is textured whereas the first two unlabeled bottles I showed have a very heavy textured surface and embossing.  The applied paint on the newer bottle was sufficient to fill the depressions and create a smooth surface on the label.

By the way, yesterday when I found the Capudine bottles, I also found another pint size Canada Dry bottle, like the one I showed a cojple days ago, but I didn't carry it home.

So the main thing I've learned so far, is that the painted labels are generally newer than the bottles with the paper layers, and it appears that you can get a good idea of the age of the bottle from the glass, with the older bottles showing thicker textures and embossing.  I still don't know if all Canada Dry bottles originally had some kind of label other than the embossing.

If you can answer those questions or correct me on any of that, please let me know.

Thanks to Mark G. for his imput on this subject.

===

Pros and Cons of Going Cashless.

If you are contemplating what it might be like living in a cashless society in the future, you might want to look first to Nigeria as the poster child for reasons to continue to use physical cash instead...

The benefits of going cashless include increased transparency, reduction in the handling of physical cash, and improved efficiency in financial transactions. It also provides opportunities for businesses to thrive in an interconnected digital ecosystem.

A major argument often cited against going entirely cashless is the lack of privacy. Through the Nigerian experience, an additional problem is surfacing - fraudsters are adapting to exploit the channels designed to make cashless transactions easier than using coins and banknotes. As transactions continue to shift from cash (and checks), online criminals are finding new vulnerabilities to exploit. It’s much easier and significantly more profitable to rob a bank electronically than to go into a bank’s lobby with a gun.

As the website technext24.com put it, “The [Nigerian] statistics are alarming, with thousands of fraud cases recorded, amounting to billions of naira in losses. This raises a pressing question: Is the convenience of a cashless society worth the risks it poses?”

Nigeria’s physical money supply (coins and bank notes) has doubled since the September 2020 lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More recently, Nigeria’s quasi-money financial tools easily converted into cash expanded from N40.8 trillion to N41 trillion during August. More cash and less electronic transfers are not necessarily a good mix. These become challenges to domestic inflation.

Here is the link.

Nigerian Cashless Efforts Have Shortfalls - Numismatic News

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Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/26/24 Report - "Holy Grail" of Shipwrecks. Careening. A Few New Bottle Finds: Cupdine.

 

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

Colombia's government on Friday announced an expedition to remove items of "incalculable value" from the wreck of the legendary San Jose galleon, which sank in 1708 while laden with gold, silver and emeralds estimated to be worth billions of dollars. The 316-year-old wreck, often called the "holy grail" of shipwrecks, has been controversial, because it is both an archaeological and economic treasure...

Spain insists that the bounty is theirs since it was aboard a Spanish ship, while Bolivia's Qhara Qhara nation says it should get the treasures as the Spanish forced the community's people to mine the precious metals...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/shipwreck-san-jose-galleon-robot-to-start-recovering-treasure-colombia-says/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17 

Thanks to DJ and William K. for that link..

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Careening.

The ship was grounded broadside on a steep beach or, in dockyards, moored at a permanent facility for careening known as a careening wharf. A beach favoured for careening was called a careenage.

The vessel was then pulled over with tackles from the mastheads to strong-points on the shore. If this was being done on a beach, then the ship's guns might be moved to the shore and used as anchoring points. However a careening wharf in a dockyard was preferred as it would have been equipped with the capstans and rope tackle necessary for hauling over the ship. The ship would have been lightened beforehand by removing all stores and a careening wharf would have had large sheds available to protect them from weather and theft. With one side of the ship raised out of the water, maintenance work would be carried out. Then the ship would be floated off and the process repeated on the other side.

A diagram of careening, from the 

Lärobok i sjömanskap (Textbook 

of Seamanship) by Wbilhelm Linder, 

1896.


While a competent crew could careen their ship without outside assistance, it was a laborious task. In early-1843, HMS Formidable was careened at Malta Dockyard to carry out repairs after the ship had grounded a few weeks earlier. An account of the work done notes that every movable item on the ship had to be taken off. Additional structural reinforcements had to be installed in the hull and all the masts and rigging removed except for the lowest parts. The lower gun ports were sealed, reinforced and made water-tight. Also a large number of thick, timber outriggers were installed; these were up to two feet (61 cm) across and 40 feet (12 m) long. The ship was pulled-over by ropes wound around three capstans; each was turned by 120 men...

Source: Wikipedia.

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Yesterday I went on a little walk and picked up some bottles, but nothing great.

Two Brown Embossed Capodine Bottles, Two Corkers with No Embossing, and One Marble Find.

I already had a cork-top Capudine bottle, which I presume is older.  I previously posted it in TGBottleBarn.

TreasureGuide's Bottle Barn: Brown Hicks' Capudine Bottle. (tgbottlebarn.blogspot.com)

These bottles have the circled A maker's mark on the bottom.  Here are those marks from SHA.org.

I would guess these bottles are not as old as 1913, so it would probably be the Armstrong Cork Co.

I would also guess the bottle below shows the unembossed side where the label would be affixed.

Source: Hicks Capudine Liquid | Smithsonian Institution (si.edu)

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Yesterday I posted some finds from Mark G. and asked if you could figure out where they were found.  I said it was an area where people don't detect very often.  I'll give you one more day to look at that to see if you can get the answer before I give it to you.

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The next three days are supposed to have a surf of only one or two feet.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/24/24 Report - Recent Treasure Coast Hunts and Finds. Coin Lines. Gold Calculator.

 

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

Finds by Mark G.

Mark G. provided a little puzzle for you.  See if you can figure out where he found these items.  It is an area where not many people look.  

Here is what he said.... 

I’ve tested 7 beaches up and down the Island from Jensen Beach. Several I’ve tested twice or more for a total of 12 hunts. These are only short hunts of only about an hour or more due to the density of hits in a small area. 8 of the 12 I’ve dug jewelry and always a lot of modern coins in the coin line (yes there is a evident coin line). I’ve even dug one of this sites favorite beaches, John Brooks (Mexico 925 silver earing). Here are my clue photos of my best finds, 3 rings and 1 earing (not all picture the junk)...

Finds by Mark G.

Finds by Mark G.

Finds by Mark G.

Congrats Mark! Thanks for sharing.

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I've introduced coin lines and coin holes in my blog a long time ago.  I discovered them probably forty years ago.

Here is a post that is almost fifteen years old in which I talked about coin lines and coin holes.

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

And here is a more recent post in which I got into more detail.

Treasure Beaches Report: Pt. 2. (2020 and Beyond). : 1/25/22 Report -Nice Seated Liberty Coins Found. Coin Lines and Using Information From Dug Coins. (tbr2020.blogspot.com)

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Yesterday I showed how to calculate the value of the scrap gold in finds.  Barbara S. sent a link to a scrap gold calculator.  All you have to do is put in the weight and karat value and it will give you the price.  Here is the link.

Scrap Gold Calculator (Live Gold Price) - GoldCalc.com 

Thanks Barbara.

Even if you use the calculator app, it won't hurt to know how it calculates.  You'll know what goes into it.  An remember, if you are selling, you'll probably get a little less.

I mentioned that gold and precious metals are measured in troy instead of avoirdupois ounces.

Here is the explanation from google.

The troy ounce is a unit of measurement used to describe the mass of precious metals. It is slightly larger than the avoirdupois or “regular” ounce; a single troy ounce equals 1.1 avoirdupois ounces. One troy ounce is approximately 1.097143 avoirdupois ounces. While avoirdupois ounces measure everyday household items and goods such as liquids, foods, and cooking ingredients, Troy ounces only measure silver and gold coins. The main difference between a Troy ounce and an avoirdupois ounce is the weight. A Troy ounce weighs more than a standard ounce.

It is good to know that.  

The app Barbara provided doesn't use ounces, but will take grains, grams, milligrams, and pennyweight.

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Surf Chart From SurfGuru.com.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

 

2/24/24 Report - Old Gold Ring of Possible Royal Connections Found. How to Calculate Gold Values. Bottles for ID Help.

 

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

An amateur metal detectorist in Denmark has unearthed a rare gold ring that may have belonged to a previously unknown royal family with ties to the Kingdom of France.

Lars Nielsen discovered the large, ornately decorated gold ring, set with a red semiprecious stone, while exploring Emmerlev, a parish in Southern Jutland, Denmark, according to a translated statement. The ring dates to the fifth or sixth century.

Here is the link.

'Completely surreal': Metal detectorist unearths 1,500-year-old gold ring in Denmark | Live Science\

So what is the relevance forTreasure Coast detectorists?

Take a good luck at that ring.  Look at the setting for the stone.  That isn't how they set stones these days.  

When you look at something like this and you have a date and know that the item is very old, look at the details and put it away in memory so the next time you are wondering if your ring find is old or new, you have some examples to go by.  If you study a lot of examples of items of different ages, you might be able to better estimate the age of some of your finds. 

There are always lessons to take away from the articles I post even if I don't always spell them out.

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Do you know how to figure out how much the gold in a find is worth?  I know that a good number of you do, but there are some that don't.

Take the class ring I found a couple days ago as an example. 

First of all, as you probably know, 24 karat gold is pure gold. For lower karat gold, alloys have been added.

10K is 10/24 or 41.7% gold.
14K is 14/24 or 58.3% gold.
18K is 18/24 or 75.0% gold.
22K is 22/24 or 91.6% gold.

The class ring I found a couple days ago weighs 0.186 troy ounces.  Not avoirdupois but troy ounces.  

Your scale might give you the weight in avoirdupois ounces, troy ounces, grams, penny weight, and maybe some more.  My scale gives oz. and ozt. for avoirdupois and troy ounces.  

If the item is not 24 K, only a portion of the weight is gold   The rest will be the weight of the alloys.

The class ring was marked 10 K, which means it is only 41.7 % gold.   So multiplying the weight of the ring, by the percent that is gold gives you (0.186 ozt. times 0.417)  gives the gold weight as  0.07756 ozt.

The spot price for gold this morning, according to APMX, was $2028/ounce.   

So 0.07756 ozt. times $2028 gives the value of the gold in the ring, which is $157.28.     

You can do that a lot of different ways, but basically get the weight of the item in troy oz., adjust for the purity, or karat of the gold, and multiply by the current spot price of a troy ounce of gold.

Alternatively, you can google the price of 10 karat gold and cut out one of the above steps.  I did that this morning and the price for an oz. of 10K gold was given as $845.09.  That will change through the day as the price of gold is bid up and down.

But if you googled the price of 10K gold instead you don't have to get the spot price for an ounce of gold and then adjust for the karat value.

If you start with the googled value of an ounce of 10K gold ($845.09) and multiply times the weight of the gold in the item (.186), you still get $157.

Since they want to make a profit on the transaction, a pawn shop or jewelry store might give you only eighty percent of the value of the gold, which in the case of the class ring would be about $125.

For something like a class ring, though, you would do the research and return the ring to the owner instead.

I know that a lot of you already knew how to do that, but not everybody.

See also The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 2/19/11 Report - Gold and Silver Purity & Artifacts

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Below are a couple Canada Dry bottles I found.  The larger, pint sized, bottle has Canada Dry Bottling Co. of Florida embossed around the heal.  The smaller bottle doesn't have that, but has a maker's mark on the bottom.

I'm trying to figure out the age of these bottles.  So far, I haven't found matches.  I've seen ACL bottles but haven't found bottles like these.

If you can find information on these bottles, I'd appreciate your help.  They are undoubtedly 20th century.  

I'd say they are ginger ale bottles, and the pint bottle probably a little older than the smaller bottle.

The crown cap closures were patented in 1887.

Large Canada Dry Bottle Showing CANADA DRY twice on shoulder
and CANADA DRY BOTTLING CO of FLORIDA INC and CONTENTS 1 PINT 12 FLUID OZ around the heal.

Below is the big bottle shown above along with a similar smaller bottle labeled CANADA DRY on the shoulder.

Pint CANADA DRY bottle (left)
along with smaller CANADA DRY bottle

The entire surface of both bottles is textured, which doesn't show well.

Smaller Bottle without embossing on heal.

Thanks for your help.

---\

Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com.

The increase in surf that kept getting delayed disappeared.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/23/24 Report - One Reader's Porcelain Finds. Problem With Metal Detector ID Numbers. Cartier Ring.

 

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

Various Pieces of Porcelain Found by John C.

A day or two ago, I did a post that showed some 1715 Fleet Kang Hsi porcelain,  John C. sent the following email and showed some pieces he found.  Below is what he said.

Here's s some of my nicer pieces, Sometimes you luck out, and find a double blue like the bigger one on the bottom left, Where you have a beautiful design on both sides, And then sometimes you find different colors, like shades of green and yellow, and reds, Then you get the bummers, The just plain ones, Which I have quite a few of those, That are usually really thin, but may still have a faint light blue design, that might be still visible, like the white one in the center.

One Piece with Marine Encrustation.

Nice finds  Thanks John.

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ID numbers are ring killers.

Yesterday I showed a 10K class ring that was just found on a local beach.  How do you think it would show on a Minelab Equinox?

Well, it depends up how the ring was laying.  If it was like shown here, it would probably give something like a six or seven ID number, but it could be jumpy depending upon things like how you are swinging and how the ring passes under the coil.

If you were only digging good tones and definite coin signals, you would have missed it.  It really wasn't a great signal.

If the ring was on edge, as shown below, what would it sound like?

'

s

Same Ring on Edge.

Once again it depends upon how the coil passes over the ring.  You could get a pretty decent signal if you were swinging in one direction.  If you swing your coil in the same direction as the length of the edge, you would get something in the area of 13 or 15, and a good tone.  However, if you the coil across the high edge instead of across it, the readout would be more like a 6 or 7 and not so solid.

If you were only digging solid coin signals, you would most likely miss that ring.

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Yesterday I also posted this ring found by Dan K.  

Gold Ring Found by Dan K. on the 19th.

I mentioned that it was a very common type of ring, and I couldn't think of what it was called.

Jason T. came up with it.  Here is what he said.

Hello Treasure guide. Thanks for good reading on your blog.

 Ring looks like Cartier style ring. Authentic Cartier is expensive and often faked.   Jasson T.

Thanks Jason, I couldn't think of that.

As I recall they were pretty common finds back in the 1980s or 1990s.

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Tuesday on the Oak Island TV show, one of the archaeologists discovered what appeared to be a coin while screening dirt from an excavation.  I've commented before on the superiority of of screening and highly recommend screening when you want to get everything.  They've been metal detecting the island for years, but that coin was found by screening. 

I thought it was strange how little attention was given to that coin discovery, which would normally result in cartwheels and bad guesses as to it's identify.  I don't know why this one received so little attention.  Maybe they'll pay more attention to it in future episodes.

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Here is a good video.  Bill Maher gets educated, at least a little, on the Bible.

Bill Maher Challenges Jordan Peterson On the Bible (youtube.com)

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Surf Chart for SurfGuru.com.

The bigger surf got delayed again.  Now showing for Sunday.

You might want to take advantage of the lower surf on Friday.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/22/23 Report - Treasure Coast Beaches For Hunting Modern Not Bad. Two Recent Gold Ring Finds.

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

John Brooks Beach Wednesday Morning.

I went out for a little hunt Wednesday.  Figured that the recent north winds might have produced some decent spots, and did find some fun hunting with good number of targets.

 

John Brooks Beach Wednesday Morning.

As you can see, there weren't any cuts at John Brooks.

Walton Rocks Beach Wednesday Morning.

No new big cuts at Walton Rocks either.

Walton Rocks Beach Wednesday Morning.

Despite the lack of cuts Wednesday I did find some decent hunting.  It wasn't easy hunting though.  It was low on the beach.  I would have done better if the tides were lower.  I couldn't get down as far as I wanted but still managed to find some coins and a gold ring.  The finds had been out there a while, but were all modern.

Along with the sinkers and junk, there were discolored coins and a 10K class ring was found.

Wednesday Treasure Coast Finds

The ring is marked 10K.

I know there was more there.  I got a couple signals that I couldn't recover and I couldn't get out very far due to the rough water.  I hadn't been to that spot for a good while, but the last time I was there, it was eroded back to where the older sand was within a few inches of the surface.

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Gold Ring Found by Dan K. on the 19th.

Dan sent the following email along with the above photo and following photos.

I wanted to share some photos of a gold ring I found yesterday Feb 19 on a treasure coast beach. I found a beach with a 5 foot cut and washed out in several locations. I dug many heavy fishing weights, coins, etc along with this gold ring. The ring has no markings at all which makes me wonder if it may be older or perhaps shipwreck related. It’s a very small ring and looks similar to other 1715 fleet rings I have seen pictures of. The color is very deep yellow which makes me think it may be high carat gold.

Could this be a shipwreck ring or perhaps just an older modern ring?

Happy hunting!

Five-foot Cut on 19th
Photo by Dan K..

Thanks Dan.

This ring looks like a style that was very common a few decades ago. I showed some of those in an older blog. Here is the link from ten years ago.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 6/9/14 Report - Two Of The Most Common Types of Ring Finds, Difficult Age Determinations & Memorable Detecting Moments

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So the predicted bigger surf has slipped back to Saturday now.  

There are still some places to have some fun out there now, so you don't have to wait.  You will, however, however want to search for the better spots, because they are not everywhere.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/21/24 Report - Kang Hsi and Other Treasures of the Treasure Coast. Metal Detecting Beginnings. Some Beach Cuts Today.

 

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

Source: Vero Beach Magazine (see link below).

Below are a couple paragraphs from a great article written by Chris Fasolino and published in the Feb 19, 2024 issue of the Vero Beach Magazine.

“After the conquest of the Inca, the Spanish found there was lots of gold in South America,” explains Kerkela. “There were walls of gold in Cuzco,” the Inca capital. “At first, the Spanish just melted down the walls.” Another account concerns a golden chain twice the length of Cuzco’s greatest public square. Furthermore, the Inca used gold and silver to fashion sculptures of llamas, alpacas, and other animals that were important to them, as well as human figures. These sculptures were often found in temples and mountain shrines...

When the Treasure Fleet set sail from the great port of Havana, Cuba, it was carrying goods that came from South America and even from as far off as Asia. Did you know that Chinese porcelain was part of the cargo? Today, delicate blue-and-white ware can be seen at the McLarty Treasure Museum in Vero Beach and Mel Fisher’s Treasure Museum in Sebastian. Park Services Specialist and archaeologist Corey Kerkela of the McLarty Treasure Museum explains that these exotic items were carried across the Pacific by a separate fleet before they ended up on the Spanish Main (the body of Spanish colonial territories in the mainland Americas)...

Here is the link for the entire article.

https://verobeachmagazine.com/features/colorful-cargo-at-the-mclarty-treasure-museum/

The article mentions various types of treasure salvage from the 1715 wrecks, including precious metals, emeralds, and cochineal dye as well as Chinese porcelain.

It is still possible to find shards on the Treasure Coast beaches.  It would be quite unusual to find an intact cup or plate, but it has happened.  

I also explained how to identify Kang-Hsi.  Blue and white pottery is common but most of it is not Kang Hsi.

Here is a good post on Kang-Hsi porcelain how the Manilla galleons that transported them.

And here is a post showing a shard found on a Treasure Coast beach and giving some clues for identification.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 12/29/13 Report 1715 Fleet Kang Hsi Porcelain, European Pot Shard & Native American Shard

There are more posts on Kang Hsi, so you can use the search box on TreasureBeachesReport.blogspot.com to find them.  Although it is spelled in various ways, the spelling I usually use is Kang Hsi.  Sometimes it is spelled Kangxi or K'ang Hsi.

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As you might recall, in my 2/20/24 post I asked how you first learned of treasure hunting and what got you started.  In response I receive the following email from Mark G.  Below is what Mark wrote.

In your 2/20/24 post you asked about what got you interested in treasure hunting? For me it was growing up with it.

 

As far back as I can remember my dad was always into some sort of “collecting”, we didn’t call it treasure hunting - that just seems futile. But in order to collect something you had to hunt for it. We lived in New England and all through the woods were old sites or foundations that once had populations of people and people always have trash. That’s where I first remember bottle hunting old dumps. Then we also had a camp in Maine and my biggest thrill was when my dad would go over to the local trapper's bottle shed and he would swap stories and bottles with him. I became quite the aficionado of bottles I could tell you how old a bottle was just by how it was made. I would even hunt myself in places no one would think of. I once found a perfect condition blown glass brown flask in the attic soffit in this 100+ year old house 50 years ago because I knew that’s where anybody who drank from it would hide it. Then there was his coin collection. We would go through rolls of coins he would get from the bank when cashing his paycheck looking for silver quarters, wheat pennies or mercury dimes all that good stuff. He even had a metal detector later on (mid to late 70s I think) although I don’t think he ever unearthed any treasure he still collected the trinkets he found.

 

I think it’s the American dream mixed with human nature that makes us all want to find that treasure, I’ve been searching for it all my life in one form or another. Dads gone I live in Florida now it’s hard to find any silver in a roll of quarters anymore and up until recently I didn’t even think about bottle hunting here. Thanks Treasure Beaches for reminding me, people and their trash are everywhere.

 

I buy my silver collection now and the 1715 shipwreck finds are being picked clean by the hordes of detectorists on the beaches daily.

 

Given my nature of not following the crowd and the fact I am lucky enough to live on the treasure coast we are still out there searching for that treasure. I am researching new ground to hunt modern finds at the beaches, more to come on that.

 

I’m not going to lie, the first paragraph about my Dad dug up emotions (pun intended) that I hadn’t felt in a while, thanks for asking.

 

Thank You

Mark G.

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Thanks Mark.  Great email.  

I hope more of you will share the story of how you got started and what it means to you.

As I told you recently, my first exposure to pirates and sailing ships was probably through the Peter Pan story. Mark's email reminded me of the first time I used a metal detector - as rudimentary as it was.

My grandma brought home a Radio Shack metal detector.  It is not surprising that she'd be the person in my family to be interested in adventures like that   We took the detector out in the country to an old house site where she lived one time in her childhood.   There was not much more than scattered few boards and a stone chimney standing.  We a few big iron artifacts, as I recall.  Maybe a door hinge or something like that.   I don't think that metal detector would even detect a coin, but maybe we just didn't know how to use it for best effect. I don't think there was much to it other than turning it on.   

We didn't feel like we found anything worthwhile and wasn't at the time encouraged to continue with it.  Funny thing is, I'd probably have a ball working those sites today with the same metal detector now.  For one thing I appreciate iron artifacts now more than I did then, especially farm implements.  I wouldn't mind searching a using one of those primitive metal detectors today on an old farm or home site.  I'd probably thoroughly enjoy using an old detector like that to dig up some old iron stuff - especially farm implements.

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Surf Chart From SurfGuru.com.

No big change in the predictions.

The north winds did some cutting though.  Some cuts were up to five feet.  

I'll show a new gold ring find tomorrow or soon.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net