Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Find Photos From a Two to Four Week Period of Metal Detecting. |
If you've been following this blog you know that I've been showing some old find photos that I recently foiund. You also know that each of these find photos were taken after a period of two to four weeks of metal detecting.
I'm not going to go into detail on this photo or any of these finds today, but I will comment on a couple things about this photo.
First of all, I can tell that this photo was taken before most of the ones I've shown recently. This one is on cardboard rather than the black foam backing I used later.
The big reason I decided to look at this photo today is that it shows some watches at the bottom of the photo. I usually didn't include the watches I found with my find photos even though I usually found a few. You can see the watches that were found during this period of metal detecting at the bottom of the photo.
I do think I recognize at least one of the watches in this photo. It is the one with the white face at the bottom at the bottom. If it is the one I'm thinking it is, it is a German watch that was found in shallow water. After all these years I remember exactly where it was found but I forget the brand name of the watch. It was not a common one.
I seldom wore a watch and still don't, but I did wear this one for a while. It worked well. I can probably figure out around when these finds were made because I remember wearing that watch when I was teaching computer science at a university, so I should be able to figure out about when I found the watch. As I said before, it would have been better if I wrote down more detail about my finds. I always recommend keeping good records on your finds.
If you look to the right side of the photo, it looks like I didn't get all the finds in this shot. I might be able to find another photo of this group of finds that is better. I'll look though the stack of photos to see if I can find a better photo and then look at some of the individual finds in this group.
For now I'll just add one additional observation.
Looking through these find photos shows that I found more gold chains and pendants than I remembered. I think I was focusing more on my ring count in those days.
I knew I found tons of watches, even though I didn't usually include them in my find photos. A good number no longer worked, but some still worked. Of course, the Rolexes were among the most memorable for me, even my first, which was completely drowned and not working.
Some kinds of watches were common finds. The ladies Gucci watches with the changeable color parts are among the most common watch finds. Evidently the latch on those was not very secure. Below is an example.
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| Found Ladies Gucci Watch Without Plastic Insert Present. |
I'll try to find a better copy of this group of finds and maybe come back to it in the future. There are some interesting finds in that photo.
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You might be familiar with my metal detecting success formula. I've discussed it several times in the past, including in my 5/4/20 post. See Treasure Beaches Report: Pt. 2. (2020 and Beyond). : 5/4/20 Report - New Revised Formula For Metal Detecting Success. Gruesome Bit of Treasure Coast History.
A few days ago I had a very popular post on how to be lucky. I thought I'd give a glimpse into how luck can be factored into to my metal detecting success formula.
So here is the basic stripped down formula. Success = L + T + Sk + E + N + A. You can get some discussion on that by using this link. Treasure Beaches Report: Pt. 2. (2020 and Beyond). : 1/10/23 Report - The Metal Detecting Formula For Succes
In this formula, L represents location, T is time spent detecting. Sk stands for skill level, D, the detector used, and E is amount of effort. N is networking and A is access.
The skill factor is complex and consists of several different types of skill, but I won't break all that down now.
There is no luck factor represented in the formula even though luck must be accounted for. I didn't include luck because theoretically it will be randomly distributed and have a different weight depending upon your skill level. I could probably work that into the equation, but to illustrate how complex the luck factor would be, let's just take the Location factor first.
Location operates on multiple levels. There is the macro and micro level.
On the macro level we might talk about where in the world or country you are. If you are targeting Spanish colonial coins, the part of the world or country where you live will make a huge difference. If you are located in polar regions, success will be more difficult than if you were located in Florida, Central America or the Caribbean. If you were born in one of the better areas, you will have an advantage, but that is not all luck, since you can move to a better area if you are sufficiently motivated.
You can see that the element of luck can, and often does, interact with other factors. Your location is partly choice and partly luck. You had no choice in what part of the world you were born.
On a more specific level, selecting where you will detect at any given time will also be influenced by your past experience, research and even skill at reading a beach. But there are times when you just happen to be in the right place at the right time, so again luck plays a role.
Consider that maybe you live on a barrier island and planned to hunt somewhere else for the day, but a hurricane has damaged the bridges and you can't go where you wanted, but then you end up making a great find right where you were. Again, luck plays a part.
Metal detecting is a complex skill, and there are many factors involved with success. You can master some but others are out of your control so there is always an element of luck. It is that way with life in general.
By developing your skill level, you can increase the role played by skill relative to luck, but the luck factor remains to a greater or lesser extent. Over time, luck will tend to average out, and skill will result in consistently greater success.
The element of luck can add to the element of surprise and contribute a lot to the fun of hobby. Most of us like games of chance. Skill is still very important and will prepare you to take best advantage of the opportunities that do arise.
The success formula can be developed and refined further but I think even in its current crude form is worth considering.
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The Treasure Coast surf will remain small all week and the tides are moderate.
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net