Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Recent Treasure Coast Metal Detecting Finds by Mark G. |
By being out there and being observant, Mark G. made these finds. Below is the Mark's email regarding those finds.
Disclaimer: I used AI help to put this together it was a lot of info, so long story short:
I’ve shared photos and comments here before about the Jensen Beach renourishment project, and as a metal detectorist it’s honestly the worst thing they can do to us. But I’m glad I paid close attention while they were working, and that turned out to be more important than I realized.
Today I was hunting at Hobe Sound Public beach. It had been renourished back in the winter of 2024/2025. It was a normal day a few coins junk jewelry and trash, then my detector went crazy. From where I was standing, I dug a British Britannia copper from the 1700s, an American NEW PENNY token, a farthing from the 1800s, Chinese cash coins, and mid‑century charms — all sitting in a tight two‑foot circle like somebody had buried a time capsule spanning 250 years.
At first, it was confusing. Then it got interesting. Then it got downright strange.
I knew these objects didn’t come from the same era, and they definitely didn’t come from the same person. No fisherman in 1960 was carrying a colonial British copper, and nobody in the 1800s had a charm bracelet with mid‑century trinkets. These items were never together in the real world. They came from completely different offshore layers — colonial ballast, coastal trade debris, early foreign coin loss, mid‑century charm pouch loss — all mixed into one impossible little pile.
Once I realized how strange this mix was, I asked my copilot where the sand came from on this exact stretch of beach I’d been hunting — all of it came from the renourishment zone fed by Borrow Pit III southeast of Fort Pierce Inlet. That’s when the pieces finally started to line up.
My curiosity about the sifting process going on last winter on Hutchinson Island wasn’t just curiosity. I specifically wanted to know what they did with the spoils coming off that 1/4‑inch screen, because if anything old was going to show up — Spanish reales, colonial copper, early trade tokens — that’s where it would be. What I saw was simple but important: everything the sifter caught was conveyor‑belted into a short dumpster, and when it filled up, they dragged it down the beach ahead of the bulldozers, dug a big hole, dumped the entire load in and buried it. They ran two dumpsters and did this all day long.
Hobe Sound beach has been eroding for almost 2 years. I you ever detect Jensen Beach you will see shell piles or zones about 6' x 6' round high up on the beach and when I do my detector always tells me there is something down there but way too deep for now.
Thanks for sharing Mark.
One of the benefits of being out there on the beach is that you can observe what is going on, and that might help you in the future even if it doesn't lead to immediate finds. But you have to be out there to begin with.
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Frank B. sent the following email and beach photos.
I was down here for a week's vacation from the Chicago area and got out yesterday, mid-day, to Treasure Shores, Wabasso, and Sebastian Inlet, near parking lot 3. TS and Wabasso looked completely sanded in while Sebastian had a tiny cut. I got excited for a moment when I saw that little cut, but I searched the length of it and all around it slowly with my Equinox 900; I didn’t get one signal.
Overall, I didn't find a darn thing except a few pennies, pull tabs, foil, and lots of can slaw. I saw only 1 other metal detectorist at Treasure Shores. Got a lot of good exercise even though conditions were far from ideal. Here's a couple of snaps I took
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| Sebastian Thursday |
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| Frank's Finds. |
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| Treasure Coast Beach Thursday. |
Thanks for sharing Frank. It helps us all.
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| Doble Excellentes Ferdinand and Isabella Coin Found by Peter H. |
This is the same coin I posted in my previous post, I mentioned the star on this coin.
After looking into it a bit more, what I at a quick glance was an eight, is actually an S, indicating the Seville mint. After doing some more research, I think the star might be a secondary Seville mint mark. Some sources give the star as a Seville mint mark. I also saw one document that listed a star as being an assayer mark. So at this point I'm not sure if it is a mint mark or assayer mark. For now I'm leaning towards mint mark, but am not at all confident about that.
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Bertha is gone, and the Treasure Coast surf remains in the one to two foot range.
You can get a little rough water and a bit of erosion from passing rain storms.
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net
