1/31/2011 Silver Plate Find & Value of Keeping Metal Detecting Records

Old Silver Plate Found with Metal Detector.I found this silver plate a number of years ago. The penny in the plate is for size comparison.Since the time the plate was found the price of silver has gone up nicely and now the plate is worth about ninety dollars in melt value. I personally value the plate higher than that as an interesting artifact and would never melt it down, but with current

1/29/2011 Report - Barber Dime & Other Old Coins From the Port Salerno Area

A Few Nice Metal Detector Finds.Photos submitted by Mike T. who found these items.Since shipwreck beach conditions haven't been very good lately, a few times I've mentioned the idea of hunting some different places and going after different types of things. Doing some different things every once in a while can improve your chances of success and you'll learn some new things in the process. In

1/28/2011 - Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster 25 Years Ago Today & Pieces Still Being Found

One Nice Cut on a Treasure Coast Beach.This cut was about three feet high and went for a few hundred yards. It was at least a few days old.Yesterday I took a look at three different beaches. I saw detectorists at all three, but all three of them were near the beach access. The cut shown in the photo above was a good distance from a beach access and I saw no one there.Most detectorists hit the

1/26/2011 Report - Flint Pocket Pistol Found on Treasure Coast & Charles II Half Reales

Treasure Coast Beach Metal Detector Find by Mike H. in 2009.Mike, who submitted the photo said, "...included is a picture of a very small flint model pocket pistol, the rivets are still visible. I found this near turtle crossing north of Vero Beach."That is an interesting find. Mike coated the pistol with Rust-oleum Clear Coat to preserve it and that accounts for the shiny appearance in the

1/25/11 Report - King Philip and Charles Half Reale Cob Monograms

Charles II Cob Found by Metal Detector on Treasure Coast Beach.Most of the cobs that I've found on the Treasure Coast have come from 1715 Fleet beaches. And most of those cobs have been Philip V cobs. But there are also a good number of Charles II cobs found on the 1715 Fleet beaches.Charles II reigned from 1665 through 1700, and so those cobs are older than the Philip V cobs that were minted

1/21/11 Report - Marine Salvage, Double Eagles & Cross of Mexican Mint

More Marine Salvage Shown at the Indian River Nautical Flea Market Last Weekend.You expect to hear about ancient gold coins being dug up in England, but less to be expected were a bunch of US Double Eagles that were unearthed in a London garden.Here is more of that story.http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/8056There are always surprises to be found.They are going to spend a million dollars to

1/19/2011 Report - Salvaged Nautical Objects & Half a Million Dollar Gold Coin

Salvaged Nautical Items.These were some of the items that were for sale at the Nautical Flea Market last week at the Indian River Fairgrounds. Some pretty neat stuff.You don't have to find a galleon or gold coin to find treasure. These items were selling for around $150 for the lowest priced items and up into the thousands. I think you can see why.Nautical theme items are very popular now for

1/18/2011 - Blackbeard's Sword & Lead Sheathing

Bleackbeard's Sword?Photo by Wendy Welsh of the North Carolina Board of Cultural Resources.Nobody knows and probably never will know if this is Blackbeard's sword. That is part of the fun and frustration of digging up old stuff. It is almost always a mystery. The best you can do is take all of the clues you can find into account and figure out which scenario best fits the evidence.Often it is a

1/17/11 Report - Conquistador Helmet & Garrett AT Pro

Cabasset for Sale on eBay.This Spanish Conquistador helmet is something you don't see too often. I got a couple of emails in response to my comments about the feathers, which I don't know if I mentioned, were scattered along the beach for at least a few miles. I suspect further than that, but that is what I saw. Jason F. said he has been running across dead pelicans that did not appear to have

11/14/11 Report - Feathers, Undigable Targets & Rusted Encrusted Objects

Spike(?)In Wood.Today I decided to show three rusty old objects. They just seemed interesting to me and provide a real contrast with the half reale I've been talking about.The first item is what looks to me like the remains of an iron spike with some of the wood still attached. The second appears to be a iron rod bent, maybe intentionally, in a U-shape. The rod is thick - about an inch in

1/14/11 Report - Philip V Half Real Cob

Bon Steel Park Yesterday.This photo was submitted by Ken A. who braved the cold yesterday. He said the sand was mushy.It appears that the north wind that I mentioned yesterday did some work. The following cut was two to three feet high in most places along John Brooks park. There were very few signals of any kind this morning.Sorry about my finger over the lens.The sand from the cut at John

1/11/11 Report - Mystery Item and Shipwreck Sites

Non-metallic Find From the Treasure Coast.This is one of those items that I am pretty sure is from an old shipwreck. It was found near the water's edge at Corrigan's, but I have not been able to gather any information on the identity of the object.It is about two inches across, appears to have had four sets of double lobes around the outside with rays pointing outward. I think if you look closely

1/9/2011 Report - Spike Found and Miscellaneous Odyssey Marine & Pirate Stuff

Treasure Coast Metal Detector Find.It looks to me like this is probably a shipwreck spike. Notice the barb on the end. I've seen shipwreck spikes with a similar shape, but slightly different.I've shown at least one other barbed spike in this blog from a wreck south of the Treasure Coast. This spike was found by Al C., who submitted the photo. Thanks Al.You've probably heard of Wikileaks. And no

1/8/2011 Report - Looking Through the Glass & Nails

Copper Nails Found Near Jupiter Inlet Beach Last Week.Terry T. found these nails down near Jupiter Beach recently. He says he never found anything like this before.First finds are always fun and memorable. Congratulations Terry!If you have some first finds, especially recently found, sent me a photo and a bit of the story. For that matter, I'd like to see any finds that you might want to share. I

1//6/2011 Report - Maravedi & More Wet Sand Hunting

Maravedi Found Around Corrigan's.Yesterday I asked about the crown on the Jupiter half reale that I showed. Bill P. said it reminded him of the crown on a Maravedi which he found up around Corrigan's. Here is a photo of that cob. I noticed that a tripod boat is working off of the FPL nuclear power plant outlet again. It had been at the Port of Fort Pierce for a good while.The dredging operation

1/3/2011 - Wet Sand Hunting

A Couple Additional Unidentified Items Recently Found in a Coin Hole Not Far From a Suspected 17th Century Wreck.The strip of lead is about two inches long and seems to have a pattern stamped into it. The pattern appears to consist of slightly curved lines running at about 45 degrees from the long edges of the strip in a cross-hatched pattern. Other than that, I don't have any ideas about it. It