"Mysterious Metal" washing up on Gulf Coast Beaches???

godisnum1 · May 25, 2009

"Mysterious Metal" washing up on Gulf Coast Beaches

Alright, I know I've said it before... but I need to know what this "mysterious metal" (what I'm calling it) is that I keep finding on most of the beaches I've hunted here in Saint Petersburg, Florida!! :icon_scratch:

The beaches I've found it on is Treasure Island Beach, Madeira Beach, North Beach at Fort DeSoto, and (primarily) St Pete Beach.

No one seems to know what this stuff is, or where it might be coming from... so I need some help to identify it!
To me, it appears to just be some iron or something... but I'm confident it's not iron. I've dug plenty of iron to know it's not that. On my detector (White's IDX Pro), it shows up as $1, 50 cents, or Silver (the very far right of my display)... no matter if the piece is as small as a dime, or the size of a dollar piece or larger. I'm pretty sure it's not silver, as I stuck some of my neo-magnets to a few pieces. They do seem to show a very small trace of rust color, though not all do. They also have an almost "ring" tone to them when hit together. Not quite the sound silver makes when hit together, but they still have a slight high tone when struck together rather than a dull one. If you can't tell already, I'm quite frustrated with this "mysterious" stuff. I might also try posting this in the Florida and Beach Detecting sections, just to see if anyone else knows about this stuff. And yes, I have tried looking it up on the net, but have been unsuccessful in finding anything about this stuff washing ashore.

Thanks for ANY help anyone can offer my curiosity!!!

Bran <><

godisnum1 · May 26, 2009

Re: "Mysterious Metal" washing up on Gulf Coast Beaches

bigcypresshunter said:
They dont have rust on them because the iron all around has rusted to nothing. Keep in mind that what you have is the remaining steel from large heavy sheets. Wave action will clean up a piece of metal. Did you ever notice that pennies found in the surf are shiny copper with no corrosion?

Nope, I haven't hunted in the surf yet because I don't have a scoop... and my detector isn't the best when it hits that wet sand.
But I can envision how well the sand and water could clean metallic items up a bit in the surf and constant tumbling.

Bran <><

Bigcypresshunter · May 26, 2009

Re: "Mysterious Metal" washing up on Gulf Coast Beaches

I think they are just cleaned up from wave action in the surf. They should eventually rust. All I can say with certainty is I have found the same.

Bigcypresshunter · May 26, 2009

Re: "Mysterious Metal" washing up on Gulf Coast Beaches

I found a piece. Its not rusted either. Ill try to take a pic.

godisnum1 · May 26, 2009

Re: "Mysterious Metal" washing up on Gulf Coast Beaches

bigcypresshunter said:
I found a piece. Its not rusted either. Ill try to take a pic.

Cool!

Bran <><

Bigcypresshunter · May 26, 2009

Re: "Mysterious Metal" washing up on Gulf Coast Beaches

I thought I had buckets full but I must have threw them away. This piece is a year old at least. Its not rusting away any more but I can see some rust. You can see it flaking apart in layers. If I inserted a knife, I could break it but its ferrous. . I saved them because I thought at first they might be blackened cobs. They are very old shipwreck junk. One side sticks to a magnet good but the other side only slightly.
You may have an old Spanish shipwreck and these could be pieces of cannon, anchor, or anything else iron. Ifind mine at known 1715 shipwreck locations but there are 1800's wrecks mixed in.

ivan salis · May 26, 2009

Re: "Mysterious Metal" washing up on Gulf Coast Beaches

yep its leverite for sure. :wink:

godisnum1 · May 26, 2009

Re: "Mysterious Metal" washing up on Gulf Coast Beaches

Sure does look like some of my pieces in the first pic...

Bran <><

Bigcypresshunter · May 26, 2009

Re: "Mysterious Metal" washing up on Gulf Coast Beaches

ivan salis said:
yep its leverite for sure.

I had to look it up.

"Leave her right" there?

leveriten. (also leaverite) a worthless stone or rock, especially one mistaken as being valuable. Subjects: English, Environment, Slang

Bigcypresshunter · May 26, 2009

Re: "Mysterious Metal" washing up on Gulf Coast Beaches

godisnum1 said:
Sure does look like some of my pieces in the first pic...

Bran <><

My flash went off second pic, sorry. The first pic is the color.

godisnum1 · May 26, 2009

Re: "Mysterious Metal" washing up on Gulf Coast Beaches

Ok, well maybe I'll build an impenetrable MDing fortress on the beach out of this stuff then! :icon_pirat:

Bran <><

Bigcypresshunter · May 26, 2009

Re: "Mysterious Metal" washing up on Gulf Coast Beaches

godisnum1 said:
Ok, well maybe I'll build an impenetrable MDing fortress on the beach out of this stuff then!

Bran <><

It might tell you that a shipweck is offshore. Unless they came from a pipe or seawall. $:-\$

ivan salis · May 26, 2009

Re: "Mysterious Metal" washing up on Gulf Coast Beaches

old prospecting term --useless junk stone / item -- short for "leave her right there " --lev er rite air --- leverite for short. -- good item? asked the tendefoot --nope "leverite" said the old timer