Where do coins and jewelry go when lost in water

[18caret]

I have been trying out some ways to research this for a while. Years ago while detecting a local beach I found a Loy of coins, especially quarters in one location at the far end of the beach. They were in the north part of the beach up in dry/sometimes wet area of the sand . On a similar problem working on with application to today, involves a Bay Area beach where there is wave action and tidal currents. Years ago my brother and I detected this site (an old amusement park) where many many old coins and lots of jewelry and other things were found. The site has over 150 years of activity dating as far back as late 1800's. A lot of stuff was below detector detection levels. About 20 years ago there were a lot of pilings there from an old steam ship dock. the pilings were recently cut off flush with the bottom. Now (about ten years later) at low tide they are sticking out of the bottom about 2 feet. This means that the all the sand has moved. Now, it also means that all the goodies that were there are sitting on the bottom in the top level (One would think because they are heavier than sand) . The shell and hard pack clay is about 6 inches below sand level now, well within detector range. However a search finds nothing. Got an ideas? I would like to hear them

 

[OBN]

I have been trying out some ways to research this for a while. Years ago while detecting a local beach I found a Loy of coins, especially quarters in one location at the far end of the beach. They were in the north part of the beach up in dry/sometimes wet area of the sand . On a similar problem working on with application to today, involves a Bay Area beach where there is wave action and tidal currents. Years ago my brother and I detected this site (an old amusement park) where many many old coins and lots of jewelry and other things were found. The site has over 150 years of activity dating as far back as late 1800's. A lot of stuff was below detector detection levels. About 20 years ago there were a lot of pilings there from an old steam ship dock. the pilings were recently cut off flush with the bottom. Now (about ten years later) at low tide they are sticking out of the bottom about 2 feet. This means that the all the sand has moved. Now, it also means that all the goodies that were there are sitting on the bottom in the top level (One would think because they are heavier than sand) . The shell and hard pack clay is about 6 inches below sand level now, well within detector range. However a search finds nothing. Got an ideas? I would like to hear them

I had a spot similar too that in 2019.. Chesapeake Bay Beach, once was a Amusement park from the late 1800s to 1960s, hay day was 1900 to 1933 Hunted it several times before ... never found much.. always sanded in bad... until i discovered on June 29th 2019.

Took a friend there and in "close" I felt several pilings in a area there was never any, I put him in that area as I went exploring. I went deep as I could, upper chest deep.. came across a few silver coins.. and that was all I dug that day.. Thursday. ....................... Came back Friday with another friend, Ed.. put Ed into that area Mark had been the day before and I went right back to where I found the silver coins. Boom ! More silver coins and 1 gold band.

Driving home I told Ed Im coming back to this spot the next good lowtide we have..

Late Sunday, beautiful late lowtide.. Hammered that same area but a little deeper and killed it. Six old gold rings.. and Pilings I had never felt before.. most just a few inches above the sand level.

That July I would dig 37? Gold rings, been awhile forgot the exact number. And after 9 month total 150 plus gold rings were dug.. and lots of sinkers, every where.. and the area as far as I know, "I had never seen anyone fishing it". Many were old.. many were modern. Dug several gold rings around the pilings..

So fast forwards to March 14th 2020.. Big storm, beach faces east, storm had 45 to 50 mph SW winds.. from that day on it was like some one had came thru with a dredge and moved all the sand from the bottom ...it was down to the hardpan.. pilings were totally exposed, many 2plus feet showing. I did notice and had to be careful the bottom was much deeper and I had to tiptoe and back track to get back to where I could touch the bottom safely.. Also, when hunting this spot during the great gold dig the bottom had very little ups... and downs slopes, it was flatter. Once the storm came thru and the sand was gone, there were lows, up and downs like rolling hills and water was deeper in these areas due to the change in the bottom.

I did very well at that location for 9 months, the gold, the coins, the sinkers.. everything was gone...only iron in the low spots and it was random... I hunted it many times in hope of finding something to give me details on what had happened. 5 years later Nada from that spot. If I were to take someone there and tell them the story they would call me a liar.. luckily I did get many gold rings on video

To this day I'm still trying to figure out where all the gold and silver went.. ... and trying to figure out how it got there with sinkers, or was it always there and covered? Or did it get washed in from another area, or has it been moving around and happened to land right there for me. and then washed away again. One thing for sure its gone and all has moved.
So that leads me to think yours has moved at some point and time. Maybe check areas on that beach that it might move to, I know about every two months I will recheck mine in hope of finding a trail or trace. I even did a few random pits digs in areas NW of where it may have washed.

Also a little story, about another spot. This place had rock jetties that extended out into the water, maybe 60 feet. Hunted the place on and off over the years, in the 14 years of hunting this spot the rock jetti's have been washed away... mostly. There are still a few big boulders in place but most have been spread out and even disappear into the sands. Hard to believe these boulders as big as recliner could be moved. If the forces of nature can move them, it can move sand, gold and just about anything we would be looking for...

Good Luck!

 

[DizzyDigger]

Back in the late 70's and early 80's I used to hunt Newport and Huntington beaches
down in So. Cal. Always thought it odd, but I would find groups of quarters or
other coins in one general area (like 2 ft. around).

My guess is the tides move like-sized objects together, over time.

 

[ARC]

"Tidal movements constantly shift and reshape the seabed, especially sands, due to the predictable ebb and flow of water, stronger wave action, and changing current strengths, leading to dynamic, ever-changing sandbars and ripple patterns that alter over daily, seasonal, and long-term scales, influenced by coastal shape and larger climate changes."

In other words... the bottom environment and patterns are ever changing... they are never static... they may pattern out for awhile but that pattern will change over time... be it in hours... days... months... years in some cases.... but... they are moving and shifting.

Unless its embedded and large ... it / your spot will move... to where ? who knows.
So...
IF you got a spot today.... it may not be there tomorrow or the next day... OR the next week... or month etc.

The sea is a mysterious mistress... forever on the move.
Some moves are quicker than others... but it is forever moving ... like its alive.
So... the only constant... is change.

So... IF you have a great spot... WORK IT until gone... for it will be gone one way or another at some point.
Be it you got it all... or it moved on.

 

[18caret]

I had a spot similar too that in 2019.. Chesapeake Bay Beach, once was a Amusement park from the late 1800s to 1960s, hay day was 1900 to 1933 Hunted it several times before ... never found much.. always sanded in bad... until i discovered on June 29th 2019.

Took a friend there and in "close" I felt several pilings in a area there was never any, I put him in that area as I went exploring. I went deep as I could, upper chest deep.. came across a few silver coins.. and that was all I dug that day.. Thursday. ....................... Came back Friday with another friend, Ed.. put Ed into that area Mark had been the day before and I went right back to where I found the silver coins. Boom ! More silver coins and 1 gold band.
View attachment 2239922
Driving home I told Ed Im coming back to this spot the next good lowtide we have..

Late Sunday, beautiful late lowtide.. Hammered that same area but a little deeper and killed it. Six old gold rings.. and Pilings I had never felt before.. most just a few inches above the sand level.
View attachment 2239923

That July I would dig 37? Gold rings, been awhile forgot the exact number. And after 9 month total 150 plus gold rings were dug.. and lots of sinkers, every where.. and the area as far as I know, "I had never seen anyone fishing it". Many were old.. many were modern. Dug several gold rings around the pilings..

So fast forwards to March 14th 2020.. Big storm, beach faces east, storm had 45 to 50 mph SW winds.. from that day on it was like some one had came thru with a dredge and moved all the sand from the bottom ...it was down to the hardpan.. pilings were totally exposed, many 2plus feet showing. I did notice and had to be careful the bottom was much deeper and I had to tiptoe and back track to get back to where I could touch the bottom safely.. Also, when hunting this spot during the great gold dig the bottom had very little ups... and downs slopes, it was flatter. Once the storm came thru and the sand was gone, there were lows, up and downs like rolling hills and water was deeper in these areas due to the change in the bottom.

I did very well at that location for 9 months, the gold, the coins, the sinkers.. everything was gone...only iron in the low spots and it was random... I hunted it many times in hope of finding something to give me details on what had happened. 5 years later Nada from that spot. If I were to take someone there and tell them the story they would call me a liar.. luckily I did get many gold rings on video

To this day I'm still trying to figure out where all the gold and silver went.. ... and trying to figure out how it got there with sinkers, or was it always there and covered? Or did it get washed in from another area, or has it been moving around and happened to land right there for me. and then washed away again. One thing for sure its gone and all has moved.
So that leads me to think yours has moved at some point and time. Maybe check areas on that beach that it might move to, I know about every two months I will recheck mine in hope of finding a trail or trace. I even did a few random pits digs in areas NW of where it may have washed.

Also a little story, about another spot. This place had rock jetties that extended out into the water, maybe 60 feet. Hunted the place on and off over the years, in the 14 years of hunting this spot the rock jetti's have been washed away... mostly. There are still a few big boulders in place but most have been spread out and even disappear into the sands. Hard to believe these boulders as big as recliner could be moved. If the forces of nature can move them, it can move sand, gold and just about anything we would be looking for...

Good Luck!

These sites sound very similar to this site I was writing about. One thing I forgot to mention. In the 70's I was told that two woman were detecting with detectors that were not water proof. I was told they made floats for them and towed them behind as they detected. I was also told they found two large coffee cans of gold and silver rings as well as several hundred coins dating from late 1800 to 1950's. I was old they pretty much cleaned it out. My brother and I did find stuff in the early 80's. but not like that. Now all you find is a lot of old iron junk and sinkers. Ounce in a while a ring. There was other items that one would find. Apparently the person in charge of emptying all this coin operated games etc, would come down, years ago when the dock was still there and throw all the slugs that would find from the coin machines into the water. There would also be a lot of cabins tokens also. These were pretty cool, made of brass with a number on them and a little hole along the rim. I guess people lost them while swimming.

 

[Sand Swinger]

These sites sound very similar to this site I was writing about. One thing I forgot to mention. In the 70's I was told that two woman were detecting with detectors that were not water proof. I was told they made floats for them and towed them behind as they detected. I was also told they found two large coffee cans of gold and silver rings as well as several hundred coins dating from late 1800 to 1950's. I was old they pretty much cleaned it out.

If they were detecting in the 70's, then they were using detectors probably made in the 70's, which are dinosaurs compared to today's technology. They may have gotten everything out that they could back then, using 70's detector technology, but IMO, they didn't totally clean that area out. In 1971, I upgraded from a BFO Heathkit to a TR White's Coinmaster IV. Back in the early 70's, if I detected a target at 5" or 6" with that Coinmaster IV, that was considered deep, lol. If I used that detector today and spent days covering a small area until I didn't receive any more signals, I technically could say that the area was "cleaned out". But it was "cleaned out" using a 70's technology TR detector. I could go back to that same area today with my Minelab BBS Sovereign Elite or Dual Field PI and detect targets a foot or a foot & a half deep, possibly more. And on a beach or in ocean water, it's never totally cleaned out because beaches change every day due to wind, tides, currents, etc. That's the beautiful thing about a beach, it can never really be totally worked out, because it's always a moving target.

If the conditions there are the same as when those ladies detected, and you hunted that same area with a today's technology SMF or PI, I bet you'd find lots of goodies that were beyond the detection range of their detectors at the time. Of course, the 70's was a long time ago, and waterlines, sand, beaches change over time, so the conditions that exist there today could be totally different than conditions when the ladies were hunting there. But when you hear that an area has been "cleaned" or "worked" out, the questions become; what was the technology the hunters used and what is their experience level? Many times, an experienced hunter with a mid - upper mid-level detector that he/she is extremely familiar with, can outhunt a novice with a top-of-the-line detector. Experience plays a big part as well.

 

[OBN]

If they were detecting in the 70's, then they were using detectors probably made in the 70's, which are dinosaurs compared to today's technology. They may have gotten everything out that they could back then, using 70's detector technology, but IMO, they didn't totally clean that area out. In 1971, I upgraded from a BFO Heathkit to a TR White's Coinmaster IV. Back in the early 70's, if I detected a target at 5" or 6" with that Coinmaster IV, that was considered deep, lol. If I used that detector today and spent days covering a small area until I didn't receive any more signals, I technically could say that the area was "cleaned out". But it was "cleaned out" using a 70's technology TR detector. I could go back to that same area today with my Minelab BBS Sovereign Elite or Dual Field PI and detect targets a foot or a foot & a half deep, possibly more. And on a beach or in ocean water, it's never totally cleaned out because beaches change every day due to wind, tides, currents, etc. That's the beautiful thing about a beach, it can never really be totally worked out, because it's always a moving target.

If the conditions there are the same as when those ladies detected, and you hunted that same area with a today's technology SMF or PI, I bet you'd find lots of goodies that were beyond the detection range of their detectors at the time. Of course, the 70's was a long time ago, and waterlines, sand, beaches change over time, so the conditions that exist there today could be totally different than conditions when the ladies were hunting there. But when you hear that an area has been "cleaned" or "worked" out, the questions become; what was the technology the hunters used and what is their experience level? Many times, an experienced hunter with a mid - upper mid-level detector that he/she is extremely familiar with, can outhunt a novice with a top-of-the-line detector. Experience plays a big part as well.

So true on the Dinosaurs detectors. The beaches I hunt were hammered for many years with PI 1000s, and CZ6 that oldtimers floated the control box on the floating sifter. I'm amazed I find anything at all.

Here in the Chesapeake Bay things do move but nothing like the Ocean beaches. Unless we have a good wind storm.. And this is the open bay....east and western shores. Up the rivers, you hammer a spot it gets to the point there is not much left. I've even mined a few of these spots, digging away and sifting the digs, then check the hole which can be five foot wide and a couple feet deep with the metal detector. Another trick I do, I used a Sea Doo scooter to blow out areas, its yet to pay for itself but with the price of gold going wild I do need to start using it again.

 

[mjb Mike]

I do alot of detectinging in the chesapeak.I have alot of spots were ive hunted for years and produce good finds.the more you hit them the less the finds become.shifting sand is not a bad thing.leave the spot alone for a while let mother nature do her thing and move things around and then come back and hit them again.Year after year these spot still produce.

 

[mjb Mike]

storms and tides can move sand in and can move it out.with the sand moving in it also can carry good targets in and sand moving out can uncover deeper heavier targets

 

[OBN]

shifting sand is not a bad thing.leave the spot alone for a while let mother nature do her thing and move things around and then come back and hit them again.Year after year these spot still produce.

Going to be a interesting year, I just got two boat ramp passes to a couple rivers where I had a few beaches that were real good in 2017 and 2018, It will be interest to see if these spots have been restocked with treasures. After things started getting bleak I jumped to ones that were producing and never revisited them. Two gave over fifty gold rings, one is on the open bay and the other up a river.

 

[mjb Mike]

here in the bay look for sustaned north west wides it can drasticly lower the water levels in the bay.last month we had a couple days were this happened and water levels were so low. there was about 30 to 40 yards of dryish sand that was out of the water.Water line 40 yards out from normal low tide.

 

[ARC]

As a kid i watched the guys clean up in the late 70's early 80's on the beach where i lived.
Once I witnessed 2 guys walk off that beach with a pillow case almost a 6th full.
All i can really remember was it was one heavy looking sack of jewelry and coins.
Back then you could really rake it in.

 

[Sand Swinger]

Going to be a interesting year, I just got two boat ramp passes to a couple rivers where I had a few beaches that were real good in 2017 and 2018, It will be interest to see if these spots have been restocked with treasures. After things started getting bleak I jumped to ones that were producing and never revisited them. Two gave over fifty gold rings, one is on the open bay and the other up a river.

Thanks for the reminder Joe, I need to get my 2026 state park parking pass for my truck.

River Question: We know that objects dropped in the ocean can and do move due to wave action, currents, tides, etc. And they can also move in the Bay, although less so than the ocean. Rivers always seem to have constant movement of flowing water. Don't know if that flow could be considered "currents", but water continually flows in rivers enroute to the bay. And after a storm or hard rain, the water level rises and that water is moving fast. Used to go tubing up the Gunpowder after a heavy rain to take advantage of the fast-moving higher water level.

So, when you're detecting rivers, are the targets you find all in the same general area, i.e., in front of any beach locations, or do you also find targets downstream due to the rivers moving water? Just wonder if a river's moving water might push targets further downstream.

 

[LawrencetheMDer]

Hurricane came through and I found that coins, particularly surfing coins like quarters, moved about 30 yards inland from the beach. No gold in this coin infested area (about 700-800 found) except for 1/2 of a gold locket (a surfer?). Eight gold rings were found in the rocks where the original beach once existed. Gold doesn't move much.
Ever dig a gold target and have it follow the bottom of the hole as it gets deeper and deeper? Gold does the same as water removes sand...it goes deeper and deeper until they recover it in China!

 

[Sand Swinger]

Eight gold rings were found in the rocks where the original beach once existed. Gold doesn't move much.
Ever dig a gold target and have it follow the bottom of the hole as it gets deeper and deeper? Gold does the same as water removes sand...it goes deeper and deeper until they recover it in China!

Sorry Lawrence but saying that gold doesn't move much is totally incorrect, at least if you're talking about ocean water beaches. I know with 100% certainty that gold and other targets can definitely be moved by ocean waters. So how did those 8 gold rings get in the rocks? Probably due to the hurricane and strong waves and fast moving water moved those rings and mixed them in with the rocks. Gold rings can definitely be moved by the waves, current, tides, wind, etc.

I used to theorize that items dropped in the ocean move, but now I no longer need to theorize because I now have absolute proof via personal experience, along with the experience/accounts of several other hunters. Check out my reply on the other thread, and you'll see that gold rings can and do move, and sometimes they can move extremely far distances.

where do coins and jewlery go when they are lost in the ocean???

Do coins and rings usually stay put when lost in the ocean/beach or do the move around allot with the wave action? Are they washed up on shore or do the get pulled out to deeper water? Wher do you find the most goodies? I plan on doing more water hunts this winter and would like to make the most...

www.treasurenet.com

 

[OBN]

Thanks for the reminder Joe, I need to get my 2026 state park parking pass for my truck.

River Question: We know that objects dropped in the ocean can and do move due to wave action, currents, tides, etc. And they can also move in the Bay, although less so than the ocean. Rivers always seem to have constant movement of flowing water. Don't know if that flow could be considered "currents", but water continually flows in rivers enroute to the bay. And after a storm or hard rain, the water level rises and that water is moving fast. Used to go tubing up the Gunpowder after a heavy rain to take advantage of the fast-moving higher water level.

So, when you're detecting rivers, are the targets you find all in the same general area, i.e., in front of any beach locations, or do you also find targets downstream due to the rivers moving water? Just wonder if a river's moving water might push targets further downstream.

Just my opinion on all of this... there are so many variables anything is possible, every beach is different and how it functions is best know by those that hunt that spot.

For the areas I've hunted that are river beaches, the Bay rivers are so wide that there is not a lot of movement. And that would be Gun powder, Middle River, Back River, Patapsco River, Curtis Creek, Stoney Creek, Rock Creek, Magothy, Severn, South River, and Rhode River Beaches. Think I've hit just about all of the bigger beaches up these rivers and a few I've hunted and went back into within a month you could tell some one had hunted it for the sand was soft where I dug. Give them a few months and you can't tell.. I honestly thing the summer boat traffic moves more sand then the normal winds and waves. And every spot has its own patterns, none are just alike. I would say most targets that were dropped 60/120 years ago are close to where they were dropped, up the rivers. And they do sink if the conditions allow.

Now the spots on the open bay, each has its own pattern but things move and it all depends on the winds. tides / endless list of reasons each is different. And one thing about storms in the Bay, they can be good or they can be bad.. Most I've experienced have damaged good hunting conditions. This was a storm at Sandy Point this spring.. Open bay, things move.

 

[OBN]

here in the bay look for sustaned north west wides it can drasticly lower the water levels in the bay.last month we had a couple days were this happened and water levels were so low. there was about 30 to 40 yards of dryish sand that was out of the water.Water line 40 yards out from normal low tide.

Amen to that! One reason I check windy.com everyday.
Also if there is a front pushing out which can be West, NW, and North winds. Those seem to be the better lows, some reason that front pushes more water, We have not had any of these lately but in winter 2019 water dropped 2.6 feet.

These are different storm fronts each set of pictures

 

[OBN]

These sites sound very similar to this site I was writing about. One thing I forgot to mention. In the 70's I was told that two woman were detecting with detectors that were not water proof. I was told they made floats for them and towed them behind as they detected. I was also told they found two large coffee cans of gold and silver rings as well as several hundred coins dating from late 1800 to 1950's. I was old they pretty much cleaned it out. My brother and I did find stuff in the early 80's. but not like that. Now all you find is a lot of old iron junk and sinkers. Ounce in a while a ring. There was other items that one would find. Apparently the person in charge of emptying all this coin operated games etc, would come down, years ago when the dock was still there and throw all the slugs that would find from the coin machines into the water. There would also be a lot of cabins tokens also. These were pretty cool, made of brass with a number on them and a little hole along the rim. I guess people lost them while swimming.

Just thinking about your spot. How deep are you going out? And are you playing the tides? Some of my best spots I'm out 600 to 800 feet off shore and I have a few friends up in NE that have to play the tides also to find gold where they hunt.

 

[surfnturf]

Just thinking about your spot. How deep are you going out? And are you playing the tides? Some of my best spots I'm out 600 to 800 feet off shore and I have a few friends up in NE that have to play the tides also to find gold where they

Yes, sir, all about the tides!!

 

[BLK HOLE]

I don't know about anyone else, but I have found that all the coins and jewelry go to a place I have never found!