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Tom_in_CA

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Everything posted by Tom_in_CA

  1. Great play-by-play description. I love beach-erosion-chasing. So I've seen days like you describe. My peak record in one day was : 466 coins, of which 46 were silver, and over 100 wheaties. Also a 1914 $2.50 gold coin that day. And this was a beach riddled with nuisance lead to have to wade through. So I easily had 1000 targets. Literally multiple beeps per sweep of the coil. Often times multiple coins per each basket. Doh ! Trouble is though, that these days are few and far between . Mother nature doesn't cooperate that often 🙂
  2. Curious, when you say "very difficult ...", were you expecting to find some law or rule that says "metal detecting allowed here" ? Ie.: An express ALLOWANCE ? Why isn't "silent on the subject" (ie.: no law forbidding) good enough ? In other words, if you're not finding laws that forbid, then presto : Not forbidden. Right ? Naturally, like anywhere in the world, avoid obvious historic sensitive monuments. But to answer your question about Italy , here's one thread I saw years ago on an md'ing forum : Some dude from England was getting ready to vacation to a Beach resort town in Italy. He looked into the laws, and couldn't find anything specific (other than boiler plate cultural heritage stuff). But nothing that dealt with modern coins/jewelry , on modern beaches. So he inquired to the hotel when he arrived. The hotel person shrugged their shoulders and said they'd seen others in the past on the beach, so it must be ok. Therefore the fellow spent several days of his vacation md'ing. And during that time, even saw another md'r or two. No problem whatsoever. Once back in England, he posted his show & tell of several gold rings, various coins, etc... And the post even said "In Italy". After the usual "atteboys", a few others posted stuff like "I thought it was illegal in Italy ?". And would post links of "dire sounding verbiage". So the thread turned into a giant debate on whether or not it's allowed in Italy. Here's the psychology that is no doubt going on : It would be NO DIFFERENT than if someone in Europe were getting ready to vacation in the USA : They might find "dire sounding language" in ARPA. Or find some dire-sounding Lost & found laws. Or read some link of an md'r being "scrammed". Heck, they could ask a purist archie : "Can I ?", and be read the riot act in return (go figure, purist archies hate md'rs). BUT THE REALITY IS : You can md here to your hearts content. And all such dire stuff is for obvious historic landmarks, or very particular singular off-limits spots. But here's what has no doubt happened in little countries where md'ing is a new phenomenon : Is skittish people (bless their little hearts) have spent years swatting hornets nests asking "Can I ?" questions. Their "pressing question" gets bandied about, desk-to-desk, till someone gives it the "easy answer". Now did anyone really ever care less ?? OF COURSE NOT ! And now, presto: Another law or rule or "no" or policy is born. Meanwhile, the md'rs who have always been there, and never bothered, are left scratching their heads saying : "Since when ?". Do you see the self-fulfilling vicious circle going on ? It's as if we md'rs can be our own worst enemies.
  3. Despite that these coins , found in CA (and elsewhere in the USA) can date to as old as the 1600 and 1700s, yet : Those dates have utterly no bearing on the date they were brought here or lost. Apparently they were stored in barrels, over in China, for hundreds of years. And taken out to prepare for long-distance voyage / moving. So when they were lost here, they could already be 100 to 200 + yrs. old.
  4. Your wife has good tastes, d/t that is a pretty looking design ring.
  5. Well, as far as the punishing amounts of light-weight aluminum from beach-detecting, there's a way to avoid that : Hunt ocean beaches after storm erosion. Because then mother nature takes out all the light weight stuff. Leaving ONLY the heavier targets. Eg.: Coins, sinkers, keys, rings, etc.... I've even seen erosion so effective that EVEN ZINC PENNIES are gone (d/t they're lighter weight coins). Also, if you are on a beach that is typically used for fishing, then yes : This tactic can simply leave you with the sinker dilemma punishment. So the trick there is to go to touristy beaches. AND NOT the beaches that are typically fishing all-the-time. Eg.: Tourist swim beaches where you don't typically see surf-fishermen. Then the fishing sinker ratio goes way down. Same for lake hunting : We should not be md'ing at popular fishing lakes. We should be hunting at popular SWIM lakes. And at some of the swim lakes there are zones set aside where fishing isn't allowed (lest sharp fish hooks get introduced, that poke people's feet). And you hunt those set-aside zones, where there will be far less fishing sinker issues. So the trick to finding gold rings is NOT "dig junk till your arms fall off". Instead the trick is : Location location location , and : Timing timing timing.
  6. Love that pose on the scale. That is the "cha-ching" moment. 😜 Good to see some CA action. Thanx for bringing us along !
  7. Good to see some CA action. Congratz.
  8. If you look closely at the picture, you can see that there's no "erosion" going on. The tell-tale sign is seaweed sticks sticking half-way up out of the sand. This shows that sand was coming IN before that picture. Not OUT. So I guess that means it was pushed "up". I have no idea.
  9. Uh, there's a lot of ... uh .... "dire sounding" stuff on there where you have to .... uh ... read between the lines. When you study the evolution of all such nifty list compendium attempts like that, you begin to see a self-fulfilling vicious circle. A bunch of what you read on attempts like that were nothing more than a giant case of "no one cared UNTIL you asked" routine going on. What I mean is, that in order to assemble lists like that IN THE FIRST PLACE, guess how they went about it ? They simply went to the powers-that-be, AND ASKED. Right ? Ie.: Sent letters, or picked up the phone, or showed up at kiosks, or sent emails, asking "Hi, can we metal detect ?" Or "what are the rules/laws regarding the use of metal detectors". And whomever is fielding these "pressing questions", gets bandied desk to desk, till it finally lands on the desk of a purist archie. Who morphs some understanding of cultural heritage, or Lost & found laws, or "alter and disturb" language, or "harvest and remove" verbiages, and returns with a "no". That makes its way into these compendium attempts. AND PRESTO ! Another policy or rule or law or "no" is born. And these were often places that, quite frankly NEVER HAD BEEN AN ISSUE BEFORE . So old-timers were left scratching their heads saying : "Since when ?", or "That's nonsense". So if ever anyone challenges a supposed rule, guess what is sure to happen next ? Yup, you guessed it : Go ask a bored desk-jockey. Do you see the vicious circle ?? Sure, avoid obvious historic sensitive monuments. Sure. But just sayin' that you have to read between the lines when trying to use lists/links like that. I wrote a commentary (upon their request), that you can read there, where it says "alternative view...." at the top.
  10. It was a big nothing-burger in my part of CA (central coast, Monterey Bay). Most every beach simply got flattened. That's where the beach is overpowered . So instead of mother nature picking a parallel and eroding DOWNWARDS, the waves/water simply go up-&-over the dunes, and make a mess and puddles and lagoons inland. And make a mess of parking lots. And only draw down dry fluffy sand and spread it over the inter-tidal zone. And not truly take it out. That's what I saw @ all my area beaches. A few lone exceptions happened on 12/28 and 12/29 (on the heels of the big event). And if you knew where to go, there was some straggler pockets . I got perhaps 150 coins, a few silver coins, and a gold band, by sampling multiple beaches. And found a few exceptions. But all in all : A big nothing burger. Very disappointing. And the forecast continues to tease of incoming swells, that drop in strength by the time they reach our area. Not sure how southern CA did. But based on Compass' report, sounds like it wasn't an epic event there either.
  11. Yes. These 2 systems that passed had no local on-shore winds. Good observation. They were swells that started way out at sea (Alaska, Japan, or whatever), and came all the way across the ocean . I've seen swells arrive on the west coast with NO ADVERSE LOCAL WEATHER before, that : Do indeed erode. But you're right that they are greatly assisted if there is local accompanying on-shore or cross-shore winds, to push them even more violently up on to the beach. This recent system lacked that. Still though, I would have thought we'd have had better results. Santa Cruz area beaches remain flattened, as of the info & reports I'm hearing, the beach cams, etc... Carmel and Asilomar are just flattened. Bummer.
  12. I've never found any north of San Jose. So : I've left all those for you 🙂
  13. Uh, they can *say* dire sounding crap like that. But ask yourself (and be honest) : Do you know of ANYONE who has ever been "arrested" for stepping onto the beach when this has happened ? I mean, sure, give "lip service" when you bump into the lifeguards and rangers , at the parking lot harping "beach closed". But .... if someone makes their way down via other endless ways in (stairways elsewhere, cross-country through paths or alleys, etc...) have you EVER heard of an md'r or surfer being "arrested" ? I been "scrammed" a few times (like during the January 2023 event, and the 1996-97 event). We just hiked in to our desired zones via coming in from the south or north, blah blah . But ARRESTED ? No. And besides : The low tides right now are happening after dark / sunset time. Right ? And who sees down there in the dark ? Who is "down there patrolling" in the dark ? So peaceful. So serene. Just go.
  14. Hey there Doc, do you ever find Phoenix buttons up your way ?
  15. Yesterday, Santa Cruz main beach (Boardwalk), had the following phenomenon occur : Whenever epic ingredients like this coincide (high tide coincide with monster swell ), a phenomenon known as "overpowering" can occur . Where : Instead of the beach eroding DOWN , at a certain parallel (to create cuts or slopes or scallops), instead the water merely washes up into the previously high & dry sand dunes. And brings down all that fluffy sand into the inter-tidal zone. So now you just have scattered clad. And puddles and lagoons inland (parking lots flooded and strewn with seaweed, etc...). This is what happened to the S. Cruz main beach yesterday (and Cowells and Seabright) : It just "flattened" the beach. Same with Palm beach in Watsonville so far. I got some scattered clad, but it was immediately apparent that I was going to need to scout. Finally ended up by ~4pm at New Brighton. Which was eroded correctly and lots of targets were showing up. Including some silver coins (even a nice 1871 seated dime) was showing up among the 4 hunters. A few gold jewelry items. So the tactic next, based on my 45 yrs. "storm chasing" experience, is this : That in the subsequent days following an epic event (which "flattens" rather than "erodes"), you merely check back in the subsequent days. EVEN if things have calmed down in those subsequent days. And lo & behold, what can sometimes happen is that mother nature readjusts her slopes (with the intervening high/low tide cycles) . To fill in voids off shore. In other words, there WAS erosion occurring at the epic day, but that : It was happening off-shore where we can't visually see it. Then in the subsequent days, mother nature robs sand off the inter tidal zone, to fill in those off-shore voids. And THEN the slopes occur. Does that make sense ? So if any central coast CA people are reading this, and want to take a shot at it, I'd try S. Cruz main (and the various other beaches nearby) by Saturday PM's low tide . Because another swell bump is happening Saturday, and is more south facing anyhow. Scout them all, from Cowells, southward to Watsonville. Look for indentations where the low/damp/wet spots indent further into the beach than elsewhere. And where you see abnormally steep slopes, or scallops, or cuts. And best of all : Send me 20% of all your finds (I accept paypal 🙂 )
  16. Good post. Good pix. Nice to see some CA action here 🤠
  17. Regarding the possibility of making a coil, on-your-own, to compete with a manufacturer coil : This endeavor might have been possible back in the 1960s. When the hobby (in-so-far as individual coin hunting) was concerned, was in its infancy. And when electronics were crude (by today's standards). But the problem now is that the super fine-tuning exactness, to eek out the absolute depth and optimum performance, is SO exacting, that a zillionth of an inch off in your windings, can make for the difference of good vs poor depth/performance. It's now done with computerization, and assembly line exactness (where every single coil coming off the line is exactly the same ). I know someone who tried it. And gave up. It has gone far beyond the days of persons sitting around in their garages playing with vacuum tubes, soldering guns, radios, etc....
  18. Hello from Salinas / Monterey area. About 45 min. south of Santa Cruz. Some times silver coins turn up on Seabright, New Brighton, etc.... after storm erosion. As far as ringfinders directory website : I don't see your name, on the directory map, for Santa Cruz. Are you a paid subscriber to the ringfinders ?
  19. Love finding beach erosion cuts. That particular one , with all the rocks, is going to be a bear to dig in, but : I definitely wouldn't pass it up.
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