Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Fort Pierce South Jetty Emergency Renourishment Project Sand |
Photos by Joe D.
Here's a couple pics i got a few days ago of the recent sand dump! Pretty much disappearing as fast as they drop it in there!
I think it pretty telling that this inlet (design?) or it's general orientation looses so much more sand on it's south side than almost every other inlet on Florida's East coast! Maybe they should solve that problem first!
Also went by Walton Rocks for a quick detect, and found it had filled in quite a bit from last week! I didn't stay long, but went to a few other spots for a few bucks of clad and a stainless steel?? ring that rang up a solid 9 on the Manticore!
Joe D.🍀👍👍
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I recently showed a steel cent that I cleaned. I was wondering how it would show on the Manticore ID map. You'd expect it to show up as iron, and, of course, it did, but while I was doing the test I decided to test a few more targets. Here are the targets I tested this morning.
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| Top Row Left to Right: Memorial cent, steel cent, mounted wheat cent. Second Row: 1/20 12KT Cross and Small Cluster of Keys. |
I've always recommended digging everything. There are however, as I've said in the past, times when discrimination is justified. Some people discriminate more than others. There are many factors to be considered, but some of it is a matter of individual differences. Some people hate digging junk and others hate missing any good target. There are trade-offs. There are two kinds of risk. One is digging junk and the other is not digging good targets. Again, there are tradeoffs and a variety of factors to consider.
The Manticore ID map is a definite advance in target ID. Target ID is still a difficult matter. A number of factors can affect the readouts and displays, and a variety of targets can look very much the same on the screens. Target ID is still not the same as putting your hands and eyes on a dug target, which, by the way, can still at times leave you with uncertainty about what the target is.
All the complications aside, I decided to test the above targets today. Below is what I found.
First the memorial cent that I included primarily as a comparison for the steel cent.
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| Manticore Readout for Memorial Cent. |
Nothing surprising very surprising about that. Disc shape object on the center line fairly high on the conductivity scale.
Now the 1943 steel cent.
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| Manticore Readout for Steel Cent. |
Besides the low conductivity number, notice the image on the top line produced by the steel cent. It is very different from the copper cent, as you would expect.
Would you pass it up as a piece of junk? Would you want to pass it up if you knew what it is? There are iron targets that I'd like to dig. An iron spike, for example, might be nice to have, but it can also tell you something important, like possibly the presence of other shipwreck items.
I've talked about what I call "signal finds" in the past. Those are finds that can provide important information. Here is a link for more about signal finds. The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 5/24/11 Report - Atlantic Storm, OMEX, Modern Jewelry & Signal Finds
I also had a wheat cent that was in a thin mount to be used as a pendant. I wondered if or how the additional mounting might affect the display.
Here is how it showed.
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| Manticore Readout for Mounted Wheat Cent. |
The mounted cent produced a higher conductivity number than the memorial cent. I assume that was due to the additional metal surrounding the coin.
I was also interested if the little extension for the hole would show up on the display. I would say no to that. I wouldn't read that as anything other than a round object even though the image is a little oblong.
I also tested the cross and cluster of keys. Here is display produced by the gold-filled cross.
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| Manticore Display for Gold Filled Cross. |
The image is on the center line but is more spread out than a typical coin would show.
Below is the display produced by the cluster of keys.
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| Manticore Display for Key Cluster. |
I always recommend doing a lot of testing and experimentation with your metal detector. You will learn a lot that way but be aware of the limitations. There will be a fair amount of variance in the readouts. You can't expect a precise number every time for any particular object. There are a lot of things that can affect the readout. I could go on forever from here but need to bring this discussion to a close or now.
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| Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com. |
Not much there, but there will be at least one day of bigger surf.
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net