A Question for you Beach hunters who find OLD coins.

[ScubaFinder]

I work with a commercial shipwreck salvage company, some of you may know me from the now famous "Who wants to Dive for Treasure" thread here on TNET. One of the single most reliable ways we (as commercial salvors) have for determining the actual location of shipwreck, is through beach hunting. Obviously, we can't hunt the entire coast of our own counties, much less the rest of the country. It seems to me that we have an army of beach-hunters available here on TNET, and that we might be able to accomplish something great together.

My question is, what would it take for those of you who are finding old shipwreck coins, to reveal your location to a salvage group that has the ability to go out and locate the shipwreck your coins are coming from? It's not like we'd take the coins off your beach, or even take the ones that might wash up in your lifetime. The fact is, it's more likely that we would stir up a few more and speed their journey to the shore. Also, there would be an honest percentage of the treasure found in it for you, which would be WAY more than you would ever find on the beach in your lifetime.

I'm seriously NOT trying to gain info for clandestine plans, or trying to get secret spots for nothing. I just think that if the right people worked together, we could be a lot better off, and you could provide information that might lead to a great archaeological shipwreck discovery. I wouldn't forget you when it came time to give out credit for the discovery either, I'd much rather see that a great shipwreck was discovered by amatuers through information provided by a beach metal detectorist in my local newspaper.

I'm only talking to serious people who have found several (5+) old shipwreck coins in the same vicinity, who can show me the coins and assure me of the location. I'm also only looking for the instances where this has happened with no known older shipwrecks in the area. Lots of people have found coins near known shipwreck sites, I'm looking to discover new ones and my guess is that some of you might know some things that I don't.

I recently sent a PM to a gentleman here that fits this description, but never heard back from him. I don't blame him....I'm not sure I would have responded either, but I was thinking that there might be someone out there who fits the bill, and is willing to work with me for a percentage if we find it. If we don't, no harm no foul, and you'd never see me or anyone I talked to on your secret spot. If we do....I'd let you pop the cork on the first bottle of champagne.

Is there such a person??

Jason

 

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[49r Relics]

Bump for a great post.

I really see no problems with this whatsoever and your inquiry does not come across in any negative way. Like you said, the bottomline is that professional salvors are going to find way more coins that anyone is ever going to find in the surf. I find items that look like they are off of a shipwreck out here in california all the time. I know for a fact that there is a wreck at one of my spots but not worthy of salvage because we are just finding items like silver flatware and large nails, etc. No coins yet.

I really hope that you can get some leads with this post and anyone who has found 5+ coins in the same vicinity would be a fool not to work with you.

Best of luck and HH, Mark

 

[ivan salis]

theres several wrecks we might could chat about --once ink meets paper % wise as to "credit" for the find and who gets what % of the goodies . Ivan

 

[wreckdiver1715]

Jason, this is a tried and true method for searching for shipwrecks close into shore. However, I've found that other items besides coins located on the beach can be major indicators of a nearby shipwreck. One location in particular that I'm hunting has produced quantities of lead sheeting, and some deadeyes and belt or shoe buckles, but very few coins have been found to date. Of the couple of coins recovered in the vicinity to date, none are any earlier than the early 1800's.
This is what TreasureNet is all about and I wish the best to you and the ARRG crew this season. Keep up the good work!

Tom

 

[ivan salis]

yep due to their shallow draft -- many of the old treasure vessels often broke up and sank when they were driven into the shallows (30 ft or less of water depth -- due to wave troughs) by storms and bottom banged bursting their hulls or plied up on reefs in shallow water -- the lead sheeting to stop wood boring worms from getting to the hulls is typical of early spanish treasure era vessels -- the reason hes looking for coins --is a hes looking for a treasure wreck rather that a normal spanish merchant trade vessel ( which could have a fair bit on them still since gold smuggling was quite rampent due to the "kings tax" 20% which folks hated humm the state takes 20% today so they gets the "kings cut" these days ---"ah its good to be the king" ( old mel brooks movie line)--

 

[JoeSWFla]

Jason,That is a tried and true method.I remember reading how Bob Marx
would fly over the beach after storms to see where MDers where working
the beach.That would give him a good idea where to hunt off shore.Might
pay to check the beach after storms and chat with MDers and see if they
might give you a lead.I'm sure if they find coins after a storm they would
continue to return to that spot.Hope you get lucky.HH Joe

 

[ScubaFinder]

Ivan, we will talk after the meeting in Tallahassee next week, if things go well we may be working together soon, I hope so.

Thanks Tom, we wouldn't be here without TNET, as you well know. To hear you guys say that my post is what Tnet is all about is makes me proud. If you ever see me on the History Channel, you can bet TNET will get a name drop.

I do hunt the beach, several times a week, and I'm looking for a lot more than just coins. But as any good beachhunter knows, I don't cover all that much territory, and most of it is confined to near home. With Florida threatening to change shipwreck hunting laws, I may be looking to relocate. With Spain suing everyone who touches one of their Galleons, I'm looking for different nationality ships too (hence the coin part, well, that and the treasure thing). Not to say I wouldn't love to explore non-treasure wrecks too, but this takes a LOT of money...so I'd better find the right kind first.

The one shipwreck that I did find, I found on a beach walk that turned up a pottery shard from an olive jar...laying on the dune. Came back with a MD and found a musket ball, then some Kang Hsi dynasty pottery shards. Later, a bronze spike, followed by two 1 reale spanish cobs and some ballast stones. It's not in a currently worked area here either, the wreck is relatively unexplored, and looks to be early 1600's.

There are shipwrecks along every shore in the world....fortunately for us, there are also MD'ers on every shore. Working together could prove quite interesting, effective, and dare I say profitable for both sides?

Jason

 

[49r Relics]

Lead sheathing That is another item I have been finding out here is thin but dollar sized pieces of malleable lead. In my situation there are several "Known" wrecks from the 1890's - 1920's right off shore from me. We have experienced a massive displacement of sand from the shore over the winter, some beaches were stripped to the bedrock, coins were literally right on top. Along with lots of heavy debris. So on the negative lows we still reap the fruits of that storm. Bob Marx is my hero

Jason, Do you sell t-shirts for your company? If so, send me a PM

HH, Mark

 

[ScubaFinder]

T-shirt sales are probably in the future BeachBum (we share the same profession )...I just now got our website up and my own T-shirt, so E-commerce is still a little ways off. Right now, our main concern is SIGNING with an investor, we have several on the hook, but none have really stepped up and agreed to a long term "we'll fund you" deal. Once we have that....look out. Most of our guys are intelligent and dedicated, but a few of them are absolutely outstanding. In our first year, I think the extraodinary guys came to light and have bonded (and made some "appropriate friends") and are going to do some great things with the help of the others.

I've been thinking about this thread for a while, I'm glad I finally decided to post it. It may hang around for a while....and come to an interesting conclusion.

Jason

 

[Larsmed]

Hello

I am certainly not one who finds old coins on the beach, but i can tell you there are some AMAZING links out there on the Internet..that will point you in the right direction!!

This one is one of the best out there check it out!! This guy does arial shots of the sites.
I have put in hours looking over various treasure leads online and have great success..Just dont have the time or money to chase them

http://www.treasuresites.com/

happy Finding
Larry

 

[surfin]

I wish I could help you with your coin hunting endevor but I see that kind of partnership being pretty solid. I do however have a friend that I droped an email to to tell him to look up this post. He is gulf coast side and has had staggering luck. He wont posts his finds however so I hope that he contacts you.

I do need to ask though.........how much investor money are you looking for? What does it take to buy in and how does it pay back? I used to find people money for land development and was quite good at until the market took a dive. I was just wondering because I have always been able to sell dreams for money. Could someone like myself find you money as a sweat equity partner? Anyhow just asking.

Ian

 

[ScubaFinder]

Yep Larry, I know that site well, it is indeed a great resource. Ian, you'll have a PM soon, I'm talking to several people, but I'm also open to any approach that finds me the right person.

I probably should have left the "5+" coin thing out of my original post....I'm looking for that person who found something like a 1700's French coin in a strange spot, or like Ivan said, old spikes or ships fittings, ballast stones, etc. If you think you know where a shipwreck is, we have the technology to go locate and recover the artifacts...and hopefully do some excellent archaeology along the way. We've found some of our own, but if things go badly in Florida, we'll likely relocate our operations to a state that will allow us to explore. If we find ourselves on "unfamiliar shores", the beach hunting community could be a great asset.

I have received one interesting PM from this, TNET's community is a beautiful thing. Hopefully I'll have a few to choose from before long.

Jason