Written by the Treasure Guide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Two Views of Recent Find by Mark G. |
I received these photos and the following email text from Mark G.
The Long Story:
I sent you some of my stories and theories to share with the blog about hunting the dirt parking lots in the past, well I have another one for you. The cold weather was perfect this week for clearing the beaches. What does that have to do with parking lots? No people on the beach no cars in the lots. I set a goal to finish filling my coin jar by the end of the year. I hit all the dirt lots north and south of Jensen Beach with my parking lot program and it was just like sweeping up coins. Found a junk ring and a Christmas tree pendant that had been there a year at least, ironic. Still have a ways to go to fill the change jar but that’s not what I’m writing about.
The Short Story:
Today I was sweeping up coins in this waterside parking area when I found what looked like trash but it rang up higher than a quarter. I scraped some of the parking lot mud off of it and I thought I could make out a cross. It looked broken up so I just assumed it was trash metal. When I got home I took some water and a toothbrush to it and there it was the Spanish cross... It weighs a near perfect half Reale (0.511 oz) or 14.46 grams where an 8 Reale weighs around 1 oz or 27 grams. So this coin was either busted up in the parking lot in perfect smaller Reale denominations or somebody divided into two ¼ oz pieces broken from each side of the coin leaving the one ½ oz piece of coin a very long time ago? My guess, if it’s real, it’s not shipwreck treasure or at least did not get there by ship wreck. I was really in a gravely area so the processed gravel was brought in anytime in the last 16 years... so it could have come from wherever they were quarrying the gravel. I will have to work on authentication by maybe testing the silver...
I wanted to get a better look, and Mark provided some additional photos. Here is a photo that shows a broken edge.
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| Another View of Same Cob. |
One of Mark's primary theories is that the coin was in the fill material that was brought to the site. Beach found cobs often, but not always, have a dark grey or black patina and show wear from the surf.
The surface of Mark's find shows a lot of scratches or indentations like those you might expect to see from gravel in a parking area.
I have some additional thoughts on the coin but am going to leave it to you for now. Let me know your thoughts and observations. I'll give you my thoughts after receiving your input.
Mark has been hunting the parking lots, which is something that most people do not do. It requires patience and dealing with a lot of junk. Mark has refined his technique for that type of hunting.
In the past I've made some good gold finds in parking lots and on streets, but more from eyeballing than metal detecting. I haven't really spent any time detecting parking lots.
I can't help think of what is being done at Frederick Douglass with all the earth moving that has been going on there.
It is easy for people to lose things in parking lots. Getting into and out of the car, maybe changing into dry clothes, or just taking things out to take another look at finds before leaving.
In my own front yard, there was an area that produced a good number of coins. Ther previous owners often parked in the grass at that spot.
Unpaved lots at carnivals, fairs or churches or other events can be fun to metal detect. I liked to do that when I lived down south. I'd always try to get out early after the carnival left.
Some of the older (back to 16th century) made on the Treasure Coast finds came from dredged sand.
You might also remember some years ago when they dumped sand dredged from the Sebastian River on the beach around Ambersands. A lot of older silver US coins came out of that sand.
So, once again, take a look at Mark's find and tell me what you think.
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| Source: Surfguru.com. |
We still are having some north winds and northeast surf. The surf is only around three or four feet.
But look out about a week. Looks like we could possibly get some bigger surf in the future.
Today we will have early morning and evening low tides.
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net
