8/3/25 Report - Tiny Gold Finds and Tiny Markings. Military Device on Lake Worth Beach. Metal Detecting Quick Look Back.

 

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

14K Marked Earring Clutch.
Shown with U.S nickel for size comparison.

Not too long ago I did a post on very small gold markings.  Some items are small but have even smaller markings that can be difficult to find or see even if you are looking at them.  Tiny items, such as thin chains can also be a challenge to acid test.  As a result I put some smaller items aside not knowing for sure if they were gold or not.  They were too small to bother much with anyhow, but recently I've been taking a good look at items like that, including several that I found long ago and before I had my digital microscope.  

In the past I showed some very thin gold chains that had very small markings that I found with my microscope.  Recently I found a few more small items that were marked with small markings, such as the above earring back that has a 14K mark.  It was photographed on a U.S. nickel to provide an idea of  the items size.   As you can see, even under the microscope the mark isn't easy to see.

If you accompany your wife on a shipping trip and look around while she is shopping, there is a very good chance that you can find one or two earring backs on the floor in the women's department.  A good place to look is in the corner under the display cases where the vacuum cleaner doesn't get them.

Below is another mark I found on a miscellaneous earring back today.

Earring Back Marked 14K 1/20 GF

This one is marked 14K 1/20 GF, which means it is just gold filled.  This mark wasn't easy to find too.

Below is a earring catch that is marked 14 K.  That is a really small mark.  Smaller than the two above.  

14K Marked Earring Clutch.

And the last one is another 14K earring.

Tiny 14K Ball Stud Earring.

This one wasn't easy to see, but it wasn't the worst.  It was almost impossible to photograph though.  I finally took the photo and added the blue arrow to show where the mark is.

So after all that eye straining work, these items added up to a half gram of 14K gold.  Not a lot but still worth something.

As I've said before, I always like finding smalls because it means I'm probably not missing a lot.  Also, I consider it to be a bit of a challenge.  Finding these tiny markings was also a hunt and a challenge.  

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A beachgoer on Thursday discovered what appeared to be a military ordnance marker on Lake Worth Beach, prompting an evacuation and road closures.

The individual picked up the item and brought it to a nearby lifeguard, who immediately notified the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. Upon arrival, deputies evacuated the beach and closed surrounding roadways, including the upper parking lot, as a precaution. Patrons at Benny’s on the Beach were advised to shelter in place until the incident was resolved.

PBSO’s Bomb Squad responded to the scene and safely removed the marker. All areas were deemed safe and reopened by 8 p.m...

Here is the link for the rest of the story.

Military ordnance discovered at Lake Worth Beach

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Since Kip Wagner began using a metal detector to find shipwreck coins on the Treasure Coast beaches, something like sixty years has elapsed.  That is just a rough estimate. If you have some years on you, it might not seem like a really long time.

Garrett started selling metal detectors to the public in 1964.  Of course, there were metal detectors before that.  Fisher Research Labs had a patent in the 1930s and there were military mine detectors used during World War II.  The U.S. military started using them in 1942.  If you've been metal detecting 20, 30, or 40 years, as some of us have, that is a good piece of the entire history of metal detecting.  

I remember my grandmother getting what I think was probably a Radio Shack metal detector in the early seventies. We took it out to where she once lived as a child.  We traveled winding country roads past a small village and past many farms and through an old covered bridge to the top of the hill where the old house was.  The stone chimney was sill standing but not much else..  We only found some iron objects with the detector.  I forget what exactly, but no coins.  Later I tested the detector and wasn't sure it would even detect coins.  But that was my first metal detecting experience.  We didn't do much more metal detecting after that, but I think I did a little. 

I've mentioned this before, but my first serious metal detector after that was a White's, which I purchased from a Sears catalog.  Remember those? That was after I had moved to Florida and that is where I began metal detecting the beaches of South Florida, 

Not long after that, I replaced the White's detector with a Fisher's aquanaut and then there were many more metal detectors after that.

Over that time period and up until now, the metal detecting hobby changed a lot.  There were local metal detecting shops where I purchased a good number of my metal detectors.  Treasured Gold and Reilly's Pot of Gold were two of those.  I remember the owners.  I spent a fair amount of time at those shops.  Keven Reilly is now deceased.  I don't know about Jerry and Susie who ran Treasured Gold, which was in Dania.

I also bought metal detectors from individual's who sold the detectors they made.  Some were made by Steve Noga and some by Herb McDonald.  And there was also KellyCo in Orlando that did sold by mail or in their shop in, what was it, Maitland, I think.  Was it Fred or Frank Auerbach that owned Kellyco?

The big change over the years was the internet, which changed how people got information and bought metal detectors.  To me that is as big a change as the change in technology.

Before the internet, the detectorists in South Florida as well other areas were more secretive about what they did and how they did it.  There is much more sharing now.  Top detectorists in those days went to great lengths to avoid being seen and they avoided rather than sought publicity.

Another big change I've seen isn't so clear.  I think that archaeologists have generally become more accepting of the metal detecting community.  There may still be some that think of detectorists as being looters, but I think that is changing for several reasons.  One is the increase of metal detecting among the general population as well as the large number of important finds made by detectorists.  In any case, I think archaeologists and academics now are more accepting of detectorists.

You might want to look at a post I did on "The Trouble with Archaeology."

Here is the link.  The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 2/25/18 Report - The Problem With Archaeology: The Perspective of a Supportive Citizen.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

Nothing much on the National Hurricane Map and the Treasure Coast surf remains little changed.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net