After the "snowball" of last night, I rechecked the weather forecast, called one of my digging partners and we went on down to the one Atlantic beach we have found some really nice shipwreck coins on before. It didn't snow much, I guess 16", something like that.
It had snowed at the beach, and that was a real bummer, but we started late and by the time we got there, the snow was gone. When we first got going, we were very disappointed to find no shells or trash or gravel beds or such! I was dumbfounded. FOUR nor' easters and we have an apparent flooded beach, with several salt water "ponds" still on it, but where is the storm debris? After about 3 hours of detecting, I had found 1 brass spinner to an old fishing lure and a small piece of lead. The beach was sooooo clean! Dagnabbit!
We finally figured out, not being oceanographers, that the ocean had pushed so hard, it pushed the sand and the dunes back 20' or so toward the road. Now that's something you don't see every day. The bricks from one foundation had been uprooted and tossed 20' back on top of the new dune line. Boy I betcha the dozers and going to come and fix that soon!
When the sea receded, (NOAA stated there were a few waves at 19.2 FEET, just a FEW, out there in the ocean), but that gets me ill just thinking about it. Well, when the sea receded, it dragged the sand back ONTO the beach and I assume buried most of the targets.
While I was doing my oceanography thingie, my digging partner got 6 modern coins. Every last one of them was on top of the sand! I have seen that before, but ALL of them?
Two other guys were detecting. One had been hitting it for a few months, he hadn't found any shipwreck coins, but told me a young lady picked one up on top of the sand. The ocean has a sense of humor. The gold guinea I found there some years ago was on top of the sand. The other gentleman said a 2 reale Spanish silver had been found recently.
We moved to a place recently dozed, judging by new tracks, and it wasn't long until I got a squeaker of a signal on the Deus. I almost didn't bother to dig it, but with so few targets out there, I decided to go for it. A few minutes later and halfway to China, I call my partner over to see what his machine said. He matter of factly told me it was silver, and about the size of a half dollar. Say what?
I was just going by the tones, not VDI and when I got the loop down in the hole again it was reading now a steady "94". Yup, my partner nailed the silver part first. We took numerous MORE sand scoops out of the hole, which was now getting stupidly deep. I kept thinking it's just another squished aluminum can, those things sound good on a wet salt beach. I just dig, I don't stare at the blasted machine to have it tell me what to do. I just dig.
We were down maybe 16" or so, and I ran the loop over the sand just removed from the hole and the machine blew my ears off.
Taking a scoop of the latest material out of the hole, I see a greyish black metal object. Hmmmm.....methinks. Don't look like iron.
We wiped it a bit and one side saw a Spanish cross! And this beastie is big, the size of an 8 reale. First thing I thought is that it was a "copy" tourist coin. People are well known to throw them out on this beach, just to make detectorists' blood pressure spike. I found a "copy" Netherlands Daadler there a few years ago. I still have it.
Well, it's not a copy. I haven't cleaned it up, but it's an early (no idea of true age) 8 Reale Spanish coin, with the cross on one side and what I hope is a legible shield on the other. Here's a picture. I also dug a really nice bottle cap and a pulltab. The beach was quiet today, but we didn't go into the water. We could see the heavies in the rolling surf, but some waves were still like 6', so forget that.
Funny thing, my digging partner and I decided to try and grid this little area where things were dozed. I hear him mumbling something incoherent, didn't pay much attention. A few minutes later he comes over with a 1775 full date British halfpenny, from apparently a different wreck (there were at least three in this general area). He found it ON TOP OF THE SAND.
It had snowed at the beach, and that was a real bummer, but we started late and by the time we got there, the snow was gone. When we first got going, we were very disappointed to find no shells or trash or gravel beds or such! I was dumbfounded. FOUR nor' easters and we have an apparent flooded beach, with several salt water "ponds" still on it, but where is the storm debris? After about 3 hours of detecting, I had found 1 brass spinner to an old fishing lure and a small piece of lead. The beach was sooooo clean! Dagnabbit!
We finally figured out, not being oceanographers, that the ocean had pushed so hard, it pushed the sand and the dunes back 20' or so toward the road. Now that's something you don't see every day. The bricks from one foundation had been uprooted and tossed 20' back on top of the new dune line. Boy I betcha the dozers and going to come and fix that soon!
When the sea receded, (NOAA stated there were a few waves at 19.2 FEET, just a FEW, out there in the ocean), but that gets me ill just thinking about it. Well, when the sea receded, it dragged the sand back ONTO the beach and I assume buried most of the targets.
While I was doing my oceanography thingie, my digging partner got 6 modern coins. Every last one of them was on top of the sand! I have seen that before, but ALL of them?
Two other guys were detecting. One had been hitting it for a few months, he hadn't found any shipwreck coins, but told me a young lady picked one up on top of the sand. The ocean has a sense of humor. The gold guinea I found there some years ago was on top of the sand. The other gentleman said a 2 reale Spanish silver had been found recently.
We moved to a place recently dozed, judging by new tracks, and it wasn't long until I got a squeaker of a signal on the Deus. I almost didn't bother to dig it, but with so few targets out there, I decided to go for it. A few minutes later and halfway to China, I call my partner over to see what his machine said. He matter of factly told me it was silver, and about the size of a half dollar. Say what?
I was just going by the tones, not VDI and when I got the loop down in the hole again it was reading now a steady "94". Yup, my partner nailed the silver part first. We took numerous MORE sand scoops out of the hole, which was now getting stupidly deep. I kept thinking it's just another squished aluminum can, those things sound good on a wet salt beach. I just dig, I don't stare at the blasted machine to have it tell me what to do. I just dig.
We were down maybe 16" or so, and I ran the loop over the sand just removed from the hole and the machine blew my ears off.
Taking a scoop of the latest material out of the hole, I see a greyish black metal object. Hmmmm.....methinks. Don't look like iron.
We wiped it a bit and one side saw a Spanish cross! And this beastie is big, the size of an 8 reale. First thing I thought is that it was a "copy" tourist coin. People are well known to throw them out on this beach, just to make detectorists' blood pressure spike. I found a "copy" Netherlands Daadler there a few years ago. I still have it.
Well, it's not a copy. I haven't cleaned it up, but it's an early (no idea of true age) 8 Reale Spanish coin, with the cross on one side and what I hope is a legible shield on the other. Here's a picture. I also dug a really nice bottle cap and a pulltab. The beach was quiet today, but we didn't go into the water. We could see the heavies in the rolling surf, but some waves were still like 6', so forget that.
Funny thing, my digging partner and I decided to try and grid this little area where things were dozed. I hear him mumbling something incoherent, didn't pay much attention. A few minutes later he comes over with a 1775 full date British halfpenny, from apparently a different wreck (there were at least three in this general area). He found it ON TOP OF THE SAND.
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Congrats on that very interesting coin!
