12/21/25 Report - Rare Lead Seal Found. 2026 Semiquincentennial Coin Designs Revealed. Treasure TV Show.

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

Discovering a symbol of Jewish faith within an excavation of Jerusalem typically wouldn’t prompt much surprise, but archaeologists recently made an exceedingly rare find during an excavation of the Temple Mount in the form of a lead pendant decorated with a menorah. The 1,300-year-old pendant, only the second like it ever found in the world, is dated to the Late Byzantine period, from the sixth to the early seventh century C.E., found left in Jerusalem in a time Jews were prohibited from the site.

The piece was located during archaeological excavation in the Davidson Archaeological Park of Jerusalem under 26 feet of fill that piled up as part of construction activities during the creation of an Islamic monument at the beginning of the eighth century....

The disc-shaped pendant features a loop at the top, likely so it could be worn as a necklace. The identical menorah—each one has three arms on either side of the central shaft, a horizontal crossbar at the top of each arm, and flames—fits inside a circular frame. The researchers said that one side was well-preserved, while the other had a high level of patina. Analytical laboratory testing confirmed the pendent is 99 percent lead....

During the Byzantine period, Jews were prohibited form entering Jerusalem, leading to questions about how the pendant could have made its way to the temple area. The experts surmise the pendant could have come from a secret pilgrim entering the city under unofficial circumstances, or from a Jew visiting on an administrative mission or as a merchant....

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

Archaeologists found a rare pendant beneath a temple. It shouldn’t have been there.

Things are occasionally found in unexpected places, which leaves you with a bit of a mystery to be solved.

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On Thursday, Dec. 11, the United States Mint unveiled imagery showcasing the one-year-only designs of its semiquincentennial circulating coins for 2026. As part of the year-long celebrations of the nation’s 250th anniversary, the Mint is producing an updated cent and nickel and completely new versions of the dime, half dollar, and five quarters recognizing the Mayflower Compact, the Revolutionary War, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address — three of them replacing earlier proposed themes.

 

The one cent coin will not be for circulation. It will be available for collectors.

Here is the link for the rest of the article and images of the other semiquincetennial coins.

First Look at 1776 ~ 2026 Semiquincentennial Coin Images

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Oi Vey!  I know that isn't the standard English spelling, but its close and expresses my feeling when I catch a segment of the long-running "reality" treasure show on the same channel as Ancient Aliens (another TV show that evokes similar sentiments).  Could it be that drunken ancient shipwrecked aliens that look like the one-eyed lead cross created the tunnels?

What I love most about the treasure program is the humor.  Every find is followed by something like WOW!  It's a --- .  Sure it is.  

Besides the humorous conclusions, the program astoundingly avoids any acknowledgement of actual local history.  For example, they for some reason, they never mention the indigenous peoples that inhabited the area or the Acadians or the rich gold mining history of Nova Scotia despite the actual archaeological dig that is being conducted on the island.  The avoidance seems too blatant to be accidental.  Perhaps it would provide a distraction from the central narrative of the program.

And you have to have a short memory.  Whatever happened to the ship's spike and planking from the treasure ship conjectured to be buried in the swamp?  Could it be... (to repeat once again that famous and oft repeated phrase) that it wasn't a ship's spike at all, but maybe something like a railroad spike?  There was a lot of talk about that spike at one point in the program, but has faded aways, like many other now forgotten BIG finds.

Or, remember the "gold" object in the water-filled void?   What happened with that? 

Or Josephine's jewels that looked more like a plated piece of junk jewelry.

But the program does teach you to mark your finds with flags so when you happen to run aimlessly across the same spot with your metal detector you can recognize that you've been there before.  

I figured they'd want to be somewhat systematic about their searches, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  I'd think that after all these years the entire searchable area could have been systematically and thoroughly detected.  There seems to be no search pattern for the metal detecting other than wondering around aimlessly.  I can't tell though, because I'm sure there is a lot of editing.  It don't think the search strategy can be as bad as it looks.  I would have thought that GPS would have been used, but it doesn't look that way when a flag marking a previous find is the sign that tells you that you've been there before.  But that could be an artifact of program production so select finds can be dug and pinpointed for the camera.

At least there is the humor to make viewing the program more tolerable when trying to outwait a commercial interruption on a program of more interest.

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Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com.

A six foot surf can be of some help if everything else is right, although I doubt it will help beach conditions much.  The tides aren't huge.

Christmas is getting close.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

12/19/25 Report - Narrowing Down the Date of A Cob When the Date Is Not Shown. Shield Devices. How Stray Finds are Made.

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

Recently Found One-Reale Showing Partial Shield.

Yesterday I showed both sides of this one-reale that was found while metal detecting a Treasure Coast beach.  I thought it might date to 1702 -1710.  I did not find the date on the coin but approximated the date from what I could see of the shield. 

Before 1702, I'd expect to see the Hapsburg shield.  After that I'd expect to see the Bourbon shield.  Below are each of those.

Illustrations from Menzel's Cobs Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins Book.

The shield seems to be well centered on the coin, but you can see much other than the middle portion of the shield.

If you check the picture of the coin, in the middle you'll see something like the Feur de Lys design shown on the Bourgon shield. It is not crisp and blurry on the coin, but it is matches the Fleur de Lys much better than the the device in the middle of the Happsburg shield.

On the coin you can also see the three vertical bars above and to the right side of the center shield and above and to the left you can see the partially occluded castle and the lion above that. And to the left, you can see the three horizontal bars.

The matching parts of the shield and some other contextual factors lead me to believe the reale dates in the range from 1702 to 1710.

If you can correct me on any of that, please do.

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Here is a nice link to the evolving coat of arms of Spain.

History of the coat of arms of Spain

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There was an interesting article in Past Times and Present Tensions, which is a blog that discusses archaeological and various other issues. The blog once had a post on the ways "stray" coin finds are made. Stray coin finds are finds that might be called "isolated finds." They are not made as a part of a systematic archaeological excavation or salvage operation. They are often made accidently.

If you've been reading this blog, you probably have a good idea about how many such finds are made. I often report on such finds.

The post in the blog reported on an article from a book entitled Iron Age Coinage in South-East England: The Archaeological Context, by Colin Haselgrove, Oxford, 1987, p. 104. The article provided data on 286 "stray" British Celtic coins finds.

Here is the list with the percentages for each of several types of finds.

• Large scale earth-moving, including extractive industries and railway cuttings 4%
• Building and construction works 14%
• Cultivation and ploughing 16%
• Digging and allotments, such as drainage trenches and pits 13%
• Home gardening 10%
• Coastal or riverine erosion 20%
• Erosion or other disturbance to the grounds surface 13%
• Archaeological prospecting (field-walking) and metal detecting 10%

The numbers are several years old now, being from far back as 1987, and they are limited to Celtic coins found during a single year. Those are serious limitations that make it difficult to generalize to today, but it is interesting nonetheless, and probably still somewhat useful.

You'll notice that archaeological prospecting with metal detectors is included. Those are considered to be stray finds, unlike those found during a systematic archaeological dig. That accounted for 10% of the finds, but might be much higher in recent years as metal detector use of archaeology has increased. 

Erosion accounted for 33% of the stray finds.

Construction, large scale earth moving and digging drainage etc. make up 31% of the stray finds.

Farming and gardening accounted for 26%.

Those categories point to opportunities.  On the beach we pay a lot of attention to erosion, but I always check out any erosion I notice.  Rivers, creeks or any kind of erosion can be worth checking. 

People routinely check freshly plowed fields for arrow heads or other kinds of finds.

\

Construction projects are also good.

According to these numbers, home gardeners are every bit as likely to be involved in making such finds as prospecting archaeologists.  It isn't easy to villainize a petunia-planting granny as a looter.

As I said, there are serious limitations to this data. Nonetheless, it is eye-opening. I don't know of any other similar data. Maybe there is more somewhere.

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Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com.

One little bump coming up.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

12/18/25 Report - A Look at a Recent Treasure Coast Beach Metal Detecting Find: One-Reale. Manticore Conductivity Numbers of Reales.

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

One-Reale Found on the Treasure Coast Tuesday.

This reale weighs 3.3 grams which puts it very close to the normal weight for a one-reale.  

Look to me like the design might be for a larger denomination cob.  That center device seems awfully large for a one reale.  I need to look into that.

It is kinda hard to get a great photo of cobs.  You have to play with the lighting.  Sorry, these photos aren't the best.  I had a better set, but due to computer problems lost the photos before getting them posted.

It was this clean when dug, unlike another that was found not long ago at a neighboring beach.  That one required a lot of cleaning to even see the design, and I still haven't finished cleaning it.  I got interrupted and haven't finished it yet.

It produced a good high tone, and if I correctly recall, a 60 conductivity number on the Manticore, which would be close to what you might expect on a Florida beach.  Various things can affect the number, but here are some ballpark numbers.

Here are the typical Manticore numbers for the various reale denominations.

1/2 reale     50 - 62

1 reale        60 - 72

2 reale       72 -  82

4 - 8 real    84 -95

  A number of things will affect the reading, such as the size, shape and orientation of the cob as well as the surrounding environment. 

It seems fishhooks on the beach ring up in the sixties too but produce a definite low ferrous tone.

I normally don't pay much attention to the numbers for making dig/no dig decisions, but many people do.  I've only spent a few hours with the Manticore so far, but it has produced good results.  So far, I like it a lot.  But again, take that with a grain of salt, I'm a virtual newbie with that detector and haven't spent a great deal of time hunting with it.

Back to the cob.  It looks like maybe a Mexico coin probably from the 1702 - 1710.  

A lot of  small denomination cobs have come from the same beach over the years.

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Yesterday my post was about finding a reale in what I called "an almost mystical" way.  I described the way I was drawn to the spot of the find.

I noticed that recently an older post dealing with subjects like intuition and remote viewing was getting renewed interest.  Since it is somewhat related to yesterday's post and is receiving a lot of interest, you might want to take a look.  

Here is the link.

Treasure Beaches Report: Pt. 2. (2020 and Beyond). : 3/29/25 Report - Remote Viewing: Research and Application from CIA and Other Research Institutions. Intuition and Metal Detecting.

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Fort Pierce South Jettty Surf Chart from Surfguru.com.

Not much exciting in that chart.

Some of the beach cams were off-line for a week or two on the Surfguru site.  I'm glad that they are bac on.

One day I watched a sweep (my word for a group of detectorists) of detectorists do the Drop and Kick.  It looked like the seniors try-out for the New York City Rockettes.

If you don't know what the Drop and Kick is, that is the name I gave to the recovery technique of dropping a scoop full of sand and kicking it around on the beach until the target appears.

I'd like to post the finds of others and beach condition photos from other beaches.  Just send them to 

TreasureGuide@comcast.net.

Good hunting!

12/17/25 Report - The Almost Mystical Process of My Most Recent Reale Find. Decreasing Surf and Deteriorating Beach Conditions Today.

 

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

What I Saw Yesterday.

I thought I'd look at yesterday's find in more detail today, but then I thought of something that might be more meaningful.  Actually, there was something much more interesting and enlightening that happened yesterday, and although it will be difficult for me to describe, I'll give it a shot.  I'm talking about the process that led to the find.  I'll try to analyze and describe how I experienced what happened and give you a sense of how mystical it felt to me.

First of all, I started the morning yesterday feeling compelled to get out to the beaches to see what was going on.  I felt like I should have gone the previous day, but I was unable to.  It was one of those days that I call "beachy."  Cloudy, unusually windy, and rainy.  It just had that feel that always calls me, but I pushed back the feeling because I thought I needed keep my appointments.

The next morning, Tuesday, the urge was irresistible even though I knew I'd have only a short time to metal detect because of another appointment.  I hurriedly got my gear together and made the trip just like I had many times over the previous years.  I wasn't expecting much but the urge was there.

After hitting a detour and getting delayed some more, I finally got to the beach that I had hunted maybe a hundred times before over the years.  I didn't yet know if I was going to detect that beach or not and just walked out that familiar path through the dunes to take a look and snap a few photos.  The pathway had changed over the years.  There was a time when it was surrounded by Australian pines, which were now gone.  There were painted wood markers the salvage boats used to triangulate their position.  They weren't there anymore either.  They build a wood walkover at some point.  And at some point someone cut a kind of compass pointing north into the wood railing. Then the walkway that was continually buried in sand got removed.  Many things came and went over the years and the surroundings changed.

As the accumulated experience of the years piles up, it seems your walk through the world is deeper.  You not only walk the path in the present, but you walk through an additional dimension of accumulated past history. You can sense the accumulated layers of time.  The depth of previous experiences surrounds you and adds a deeper dimension to your being.  You are not only in the moment, but also in the residual layers of the past experiences. 

So!  I when I reached the vantage point from which I survey the beach many times before, I looked north one more time.  What a familiar scene.  My memory of similar images combined to form an something of a heat map showing locations of finds from years gone by.  

The landscape was very much like it was many times in the past when I made good finds.  Here a dated half reale.  There a few more reales.  In that little dip three gold nuggets.  Right in front of that was where Mo Molinar had the Virgalona backed up to the beach with the blowers throwing all kindsof material into the bend.  A distance ahead there was once what we called the Christmas tree, which was taken away by the hurricanes of 2004.  All of these images were condensed into a single scene as I looked at the landscape as it was yesterday. 

Despite see all that in my mind, my attention was inexplicably drawn to one spot that stood out from the entire scene.  That spot was in just in front of the sharpest and highest cut, which was about thirty yards to the north of me.  It was a very familiar spot nearly in the middle of the heat map.

Now there was a new urge.  I ran back to the car, get my detector, which I didn't know I was going to use until I scoped out the scene.

I turned my detector on.  Checked to see if everything was ready and started the walk towards the spot that drew me.  No good signals for the first twenty or so yards.  Nothing to get excited about. Maybe it was going to be another day of nothing exciting.  Just empty sand and the footprints I left behind. That was a familiar experience too.

But when I got to the center of the spot that drew me, I heard a good signal.  I still wasn't expecting much.  Maybe a penny or dime.  I had put away all the images of the past and was firmly in the present now.  I dug the hole without excitement.  Far away from the water, and with my hurried preparations and not being prepared to get my pockets and phone wet, I resorted to the Dump and Kick routine.   Nothing but sand.  Then I felt something solid.  Still covered with sand, I got it in my fingers.  Modern coin, I suppose.  Then I got a glimpse of it.  I got a glimpse of that grey-black look of silver.  Then a small glimpse of part of the design.  Maybe a mercury dime, I thought.  A little more sand fell off, and there was what looked like the end of a Florenza cross.  I brushed the remaining sand off. Oh. That is a nice one.  It is clean.  Has a little size to it.  Sweet.  I put it away and started sweeping again, hoping to find another or maybe something else.  

I only found the one, but was amazed that I've only been out to the beach three times with the Manticore (I don't think I'm forgetting any, but maybe there was another outing) and two of those times, the first dug object was a treasure coin.  That is impossible and hard to believe. I'm still totally amazed myself.  I've gone through quite a few metal detectors and have had some good first hunts before but this is unbelievable.

So Wednesday I went out again, but the surf was hitting straight on and there was a lot of seaweed.  The Tuesday attraction wasn't there today.  It was more of a mechanical feel from the get-go.  I just went through the motions.  I needed to check to see if there were any more, but I also needed a little more experience with the Manticore, so I detected a while before quitting empty handed.  I was just glad my back held up well and had a nice day.

South of Fort Pierce Jetty Around 11 AM Wednesday.

John Brooks Wednesday Morning.

Surf Chart for the Fort Pierce South Jetty Area from Surfguru.com.

As you can see the surf has decreased.  The surf is now hitting the beach straight on.  I don't expect any more erosion real soon.  It was one of those quickies.  

I'd like to see photos of other areas.

Good hunting,

I'll get some pictures of the new find probably for tomorrow.  Another still needs more cleaning.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/16/25 Report - Treasure Coins Have Been Found This Morning. Some Beaches Producing. One 1715 Fleet Find.

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

First Coin Dug This Morning

I went out this morning to do a little metal detecting even though I had an appointment and only had about an hour to spend on the beaches. I stopped at the first beach and it looked promising, so I went back to the car and got my metal detector.  The first coin I dug was the one shown above.  It didn't take long, which was good, since I didn't have very much time to spend.

Here is what I saw this morning.

South of Fort Pierce Jetty

There was good erosion to the south and the area up by the jetty looks like the Grand Canyon. Quite a drop-off.

John Brooks Beach Tuesday Morning.

John Brooks beach this morning had the cut you see above.  It was one to two feet, at the highest and intermittent.   Nice slope and nice flat front.

John Brooks Beach Tuesday Morning.

As is normally the case, Frederick Douglass looked similar to John Brooks.

Frederick Douglass Beach Tuesday Morning.

The area to the north of Frederick Douglass and South of John Brooks looked like it had the biggest cuts.

Frederick Douglass Beach Tuesday Morning.

There were some light seaweed accumulation in spots too, but not much.

The high tides are not really big, but nice - around +2.6 feet.

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Surf Chart for the Fort Pierce South Jetty Area from Surfguru..com.

The surf will be getting smaller, but it looks like there might be another bump in the future.

The wind is now easterly while the surf is ENE.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

12/15/25 Report - Remote Touch. Scientists Say Humans Can Feel Presence of Object Through Sand. Couple Beach Views. Rip Current Advisory.

I'll start off with this early morning report from DJ.

It's a couple hours past high tide. There is a line of seaweed brought in at high tide.

In the video there is a north to south movement of water at the beach front but the wind direction is NE.

Most of last night it was from the north.

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Here is a view of the surf from later in the day.

Clip From Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Cam Around 1 PM Monday.

Here is the link to the current camera.

Fort Pierce Beach Cam - Visit St. Lucie

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HIGH RIP CURRENT RISK NOW IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TUESDAY NIGHT... ...HIGH SURF ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST THIS EVENING --- Humans may have a hidden sense of touch that reaches beyond their fingertips. In new experiments, volunteers detected objects buried in sand without making contact – successfully identifying hidden cubes with about 70 percent accuracy. The discovery suggests that people can perceive faint pressure ripples in loose materials, much like certain shorebirds that sense prey beneath wet sand... Human decisions were more accurate than expected. Participants achieved 70.7 percent precision – the share of correct detections among all responses – and detected targets at distances of about 2.7 inches (6.9 centimeters) under these conditions... Here is the link for the rest of that article. Humans have a remarkable "seventh sense" ability of remote touch - Earth.com You've heard of remote viewing, now it seems humans might have the capability of remote touch. That is an extremely interesting topic to me, but I won't explore it anymore today.  Some other time. ---

Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com.

The tides are only supposed to be around 2.5 feet today.

I had appointments today and am not going to get out to the beach.  I hope others will send in beach reports.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/14/25 Report - How Coins Move on a Beach. Part IX: Tidal Cycles. Values and AI. Bigger Surf Coming.

 

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

Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com.

Looks like tomorrow we'll be seeing a bigger surf.

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I've been putting this off for a while, but I'll give it a shot today.  One factor that I haven't talked about much yet in my How Coins Move on a Beach series, is the tides.  I'll try to not run on about it too long.

Some of the greatest water force exerted on a beach is at the point of a crashing big wave.  I've shown pictures before of how the vertical force of the wave digs into the sand as shown below.

At the point of the crash material is suspended, which is the first step in material being moved, whether it is sand, rocks or coins.  As long as objects are covered or settled into the sand, they won't be moved.

I showed the wave tank picture shown below before too.  It shows the same thing but very realistically. You can see the same thing going on that is illustrated in the photo above, but you can also see in this picture the disturbed sand moving backwards to build a little hill or bar.  Some of the sand can be seen suspended in the water too.

So, what does that have to do with the tides?  Well, as the tides come in or go out, the area where the waves break changes. That area moves up the beach and then retreats and repeats with each tidal cycle.

But obviously something isn't shown here or the sand would be continually stripped from the beach.  There are also times when there is a net accumulation of sand on the beach.  That happens when the sea is not as rough and the swash is greater than the backwash.  The swash pushes sand onto the beach.

During calmer seas you will see the beach build and during rougher seas you will often see it erode.  The point to remember is that during calmer seas coins are not moving as much as the sand.  It requires more force to move coins than sand, and the coins tend to get buried when the beach is building.  When the sand is getting stripped, the coins can get moved too, but they still generally move less than the sand so you sometimes see coins uncovered on the beach.

When the tides are low, the waves are breaking in front of the beach or low on the beach, and when the tides are high, they are breaking higher on the beach.  When the tides are high and the sea is rough  the waves can be breaking high on the beach and dig into the dunes.  At that point, you might see objects fall out of the dunes.

Objects that are moved relatively easily such as zinc pennies aren't far behind the sand.  Some coins like the little aluminum coins of some of the Caribbean countries can be found right in with the sand that is being churned by the crashing waves. 

I seldom detect right in the crashing waves because it is challenging and your equipment might break, but I have done it a few times in the Caribbean. I found the small aluminum coins washing around with the sand right in the breaking waves.  That surprised me the first time.

There are times when you find a shell pile composed a big heavy shells and you'll find a few coins, even quarters, in with the shells. There are times when rocks and things get thrown up, but that requires, first that the rocks and coins be exposed, and second, a good amount of force.  Not too long ago I posted that engineering article from the early twentieth century that talked about the very heavy objects were moved by very large waves.

I really like to see a big high tide combined with big waves, which is what we had back in 2020 and 2022 when some very old coins got eroded out of the high back dunes.

So the thing about the tides is how the crash zone moves up and down the beach with each tide cycle.  One complicating factor is the changing wind and surf conditions within and between tide cycles.  

Another complicating factor is, once the coins get dragged down into the surf and buried, often between rocks or reefs or whatever, they will be staying there barring some extreme or unusual circumstances.  Maybe salvagers will use blowers to move the sand and lift the objects, at which point they become more vulnerable to natural forces, but normally when the salvagers are working, the seas will be calm.and coins will generally be covered again before long.

That area right in front of the beach, especially when there is a rock or solid bottom, when the sand and shells get cleaned out can make for some excellent detecting.  I've told about times like that before.  It doesn't happen often, but tons of coins and jewelry can be found when the dip in front of the beach gets cleaned out.   Below is a link to a post on one of those.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 6/28/19 Report - Finds From Two Good Hunting Days. Asteroid Mining. Roman Shipwreck. Old Land Sea Explorations Project.

Picture loose material in the crash zone getting suspended and moved and then picture the crash zone moving with the tide cycles, first up the beach and back down repeatedly.  The suspended material will mostly be moved down the slope, but some material will be pushed forward by the swash. 

Well, I think that is it for now.  I'll call that Part IX of the How Coins Move on a Beach.

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I've acknowledged that AI is a great research tool for any detectorist or treasure hunter.  I've also pointed out some shortcomings and concerns. For one thing, AI is not always correct.  And there are other things that I'm concerned about.

I don't know what values any system has.  Every chatbot has values of some sort embedded in it - intentionally or not.  Honesty MIGHT be one.  Cooperativeness might be one.  Those are just a couple of examples.  But an AI system acts on the basis of some type of values, but you don't know exactly what they are.  It can be influenced in some way too.  There are coders.  There is a training process, whether it is built in or externally influenced.  We need to be concerned about the values that are built in or influencing such capable and pervasive systems.  Values are at the heart of the matter.  What is the system built to accomplish and how can it be influenced?  To whatever extent it becomes autonomous, you have to wonder, if it trustworthy?  Is it correct?  Is it honest?  Exactly what can it do?  What can it gain control over?  What can go wrong?

When used for metal detecting, there isn't a huge amount of danger.  If built into a metal detector, there is not much to be concerned about.  I'm just saying that it can be helpful, but on a larger scale, we need to be informed.

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Watch for the

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12/13/25 Report = An Old Post Revisited: The Transformative Power of Seeking. Information and Experience. Treasure Is Where You Find It.

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

One post I wrote for treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com over fifteen years ago still receives a lot of attention.  It gets tons of views every day, so I am reposting part of it today in tbr2020.blogspot.com.  I'll add some additional comments to bring it up to date with my current thinking.  

First, here is the original.

Information and time are two of your most valuable and probably most under-appreciated assets.

Information is worth what you make of it and is something that keeps on giving.

Your time, like it or not, is finite on this earth. What you you do with it determines its value. Every moment is either used well or wasted. You never have a second chance to use the same moment again.

Many years ago, after having visited the Treasure Coast a few times without finding any treasure coins, I saw an ad in a treasure magazine for a map of the 1715 Fleet treasure beaches. Since I didn't find any treasure coins on my first trips to the Treasure Coast, I wondered if I was really on the right beaches.

I sent my money for the map and read it carefully when I received it. The map consisted of two photocopied pages and pointed out five of the "best" treasure beach sites.

There wasn't a great amount of new information for me on the map, but it was still just what I needed. Someone who had been successful and knew what he was talking about (Roy Volker), said these were good sites. Now I knew I wasn't way off when I made a trip to detect those places.

I had accumulated a large amount of information from a variety of books and sources on my own, but I preferred having the map. It gave the important information in a concise easy to carry form, and I didn't have to page through books filled with useless information to find the locations that I sought.

Was the information on the map information that I couldn't have found for myself if I had done a bunch of research? No, of course not. But it saved me a bunch of time and quickly gave me confidence when I visited those beaches.

I don't remember how many trips it took before I actually found my first cob, but I know I made several trips before finally finding my first. And the funny thing is, when I found it, I wasn't sure what it was until I got it home and carefully examined it. In fact, my wife was ready to throw away that worn thin black disc before I told her to keep it. I remember the exact spot and how it happened still today.

But one point that I want to emphasize is the value of information. I paid something for that information, and it was valuable even though there wasn't a lot of it and even though I might have been able to go to the library to research it by myself. I saved hours and hours of time and got confidence that I probably would not have achieved on my own. And that information was cheap - certainly not enough to compensate the originator for his time and experience.

I could have easily spent tons of hours on research without the same results. You might say that library information is free, but the hours I would have spent would have been a much greater cost than what I paid for the map. And who knows how the chain of events leading up to today might have changed.

All of the information you get from this blog is free. And the time I spend on it is very valuable - if only to me.

In my opinion, every mature adult should figure what an hour of their time is worth to them and what they would sell it for.

Time is precious, and good information in the right format can help you make the most of your time.

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That is still a good post.

The original post was written in the days before AI, and it was before many of the metal detecting and treasure hunting sites existed.  Today there is more available information to be navigated.

Since the original post I've become even more aware of the value of time and the transformative power of accumulated experience.  Information is best validated through personal experience and the combination of good information and accumulated personal experience is transformative.

It has been said that information is power, but that is true only if you use the information. Information validated by personal experience is effective and powerful. It gives the kind of confidence you need.  You have seen it work so you know it works; you how it works and you understand it in a new way.

The one big benefit of aging is the deepening of the soul.  Life becomes deeper; experiences become more meaningful; and the soul grows richer.  

One thing I emphasized in the original post is the need to value your time.  If you've ever charged for your time in a business or profession, you understand something about how that works. But when you are done with your profession or business, your personal time still has a value - an even bigger value as the amount of available time seems to be diminishing. The remaining time is at a premium.  There is no need to wait until the remaining time runs low to appreciate the value of time. 

In the early years, when time seems virtually unlimited, you can spend a lot of unproductive time, although it might not be as unproductive as it seems.  You might still be able to make use of the experience later if you are self-observant and learn from it.  Thoughtfully connsider your failures as well as your successes.  You will increase the richness of your lived experience.

Confidence is important when you metal detect.  How often have you searched and searched unproductively as your doubts grew.  You might doubt your metal detector.  You might doubt your skill, or if there is anything left to be found. You might wonder if you are at the right place.

Detectorists seem to always be looking for a better metal detector.  That is one of the first things detectorists tend to blame for failures.  There will always be a market for a "better" detector.  But remember the metal detector is only a tool.  Treasure was found before metal detectors ever existed.  Don't depend too much on your metal detector.  As I've said before, a metal detector won't find treasure for you.   You have to find treasure.  You have to put the coil over treasure before the metal detector will tell you anything.

Treasure finds, in the end, are always within.  It is about the transformation that takes place during the search.

Ask and you will receive.  Seek and you will find.  Knock and it will be opened unto you.

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Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com.

Looks like a good one-day bump in the surf coming up.

I'm really missing the Fort Pierce Jetty Beach Cam.  It has been off-line for a few days.   It provided a good view of a very vulnerable area of the beach.

I still have to conclude my How Coins Move series.  

Still have some things that I need to finish cleaning too.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

 

12/11/25 Report - Pots of Roman Coins Found. Semiquincentennial Coins Coming Soon. Mining The Final Frontier.

 

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

Archaeologists in France have discovered three ancient storage jars brimming with tens of thousands of Roman coins. The vessels were buried in pits 1,700 years ago in the house floor of an ancient settlement, possibly as a type of safe or piggy bank.

These three jugs, known as amphorae, were uncovered during excavations run by the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) in the village of Senon in northeastern France, and may contain a total of more than 40,000 Roman coins.

The first hoard held an estimated 83 pounds (38 kilograms) of coins, which "corresponds to approximately 23,000 to 24,000 coins,"...

Here is the link for more about that.

1,800-year-old 'piggy banks' full of Roman-era coins unearthed in French village | Live Science

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New designs on the obverse and reverse of the 2026 dime, quarter and half dollar coins will be minted throughout the year to celebrate 250 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Each coin will also include two dates, 1776 and 2026.

"The designs on these historic coins depict the story of America's journey toward a 'more perfect union,' and celebrate America's defining ideals of liberty," said Acting Mint Director Kristie McNally. "We hope to offer each American the opportunity to hold our nation's storied 250 years of history in the palms of their hands as we Connect America through Coins."


Some of those coins will be printed at the Denver U.S. Mint location. The first Denver Mint opened for business in 1863 and was originally an assay office for miners to bring gold to be melted, tested for purity, and cast into bars. Now it produces circulating coins, commemorative coins and uncirculated coin sets.

Here is that link.

Denver Mint to produce semiquincentennial coins to celebrate 250th birthday of United States

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High above the sky, in the stretch of space where satellites race around Earth, a crowded ring of old metal is whipping along at more than 15,000 miles per hour. People call this space junk. Scientists call it orbital debris, and it’s piling up fast.

The objects include dead satellites, broken parts from past missions, and tiny fragments arising from explosions or collisions. This mess isn’t sitting still, either.

Every object, even one the size of a grain of rice, moves at a speed that turns it into a threat...

Here is that link.

New ideas proposed to clear the space junk crowding Earth's orbit - Earth.com

The article describes three methods of cleaning up space.  Two of the methods remove or incinerates the junk, and the third involves recycling or reusing the materials in space.

I've said before that I expect treasure hunting or mining of unused materials to someday be done in (as Captain Kirk called it) the final frontier.  There are a lot of valuable materials up there

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Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com.

A seven foot surf is up there. 

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net