Heavy Metals Such As Gold Rings Or Silver/Gold Coins Being "Flung" Up Onto The Beach?

[Critterhunter]

We all know gold is heavy and will sink pretty fast, especially in wet sand and water, but what I'm wondering is people's opinions on say old gold or silver coins from ship wrecks, along with gold rings, in how or if they can be pushed up onto the beach from the water? Do you believe these items can be pushed up onto the beach via strong waves or currents, or do you believe they pretty much stay put where they were lost? For instance, as sand gets blasted from the water an onto the beach, will it take these items with it if the waves or currents are strong enough, or do you think that can only happen if the sand is now gone and the items are laying on hard bedrock where they can more easily be pushed along and taken away?

I've of course read of gold and silver coins being found on the beach from massive storms, somehow pushed out of the ocean due to water forces, but yet I've heard people debate over the years and say there is now way a heavy gold ring or coin could possibly be moved like that. Those would seem to be two conflicting opinions, and yet I've never seen this topic discussed to the meat of the matter.

So what is your opinion on this? Me? I would say it would have to be that gold rings or silver/gold coins can be brought up onto the beach with moving sand, because otherwise how would these old coins traced back to certain ship wrecks end up there?

Do you believe they can be moved like, and if you do, do you believe it will be carried along with the sand, or that it will only move once all the sand is gone and it's resting on a hard lower layer of bedrock or clay where it can more easily be moved or pushed to it's final destination?

 

[scubadetector]

Critter,

Coins can get flung onto a beach very easy becasue they are flat. the shipwrecks in Florida prove that items get scattered because of the storms. Even rings can be moved aouund although its a bit harder to do because they are hollow in the middle. I have found rings that have washed on the beach. One had a flat top and so it probably moved easier. it was an old signet ring with a date of Dec 25, 1913 inside. However, I do believe that is the exception and not the rule.

Most the rings by the nature of how a ring is, like a wedding band will probably just sink deeper and I am sure move a little but not be flung around like a coin which is flat and solid will.

I have found many many wheat pennies in the surf in Michigan that have been sand blasted and moved everywhere.

 

[Kossie]

I used to be sceptical but I am convinced that deep buried heavier objects can wash up. The objects need to be exposed to onshore wave action. Therefore the lighter overburden needs to be stripped and the wave action has to surpass a threshold in order to move the object. Since the objects can sink quite deep when bedrock is absent, it may take several seasons with multiple severe storms/hurricanes and short intervals between those (and dominant erosion), before objects are thrown on the beach. If the storms are to weak and the wave action as well, the object may end up deeper in the sand waiting for a new chance for the vault to be unlocked. Extremely heavy objects may never wash up. Also the shape of the object as mentioned by scubadetector as well as it's orientation determines the resistance to movement.

Last year was a season with strong winds on my shore (Dutch coast). I dug more old coins and rings. This year the winds are significantly weaker. The loot and my motivation to work the beach is considerably less this year. I hope the remnants of Sandy will resort some effect. But it looks like it will pass to far north.

 

[KinTN]

Ocean currents absolutely can move heavy objects up the beach. If it matters, I was a geologist in a past life and have seen evidence post storms. Water is VERY powerful.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

scuba, you're spot-on. Sand, as well as the targets it contains, does come in and out, with the seasons (storms, erosion, subsequent rebuild by mother nature, etc...). And yes, coins go in and out easier, d/t their shape, weight, and ability to flip and roll easily. Contrast to fishing sinkers and gold rings which move slower and/or tend to "stay put".

I rarely get coins on the "way in", as sand rebuilds. The best detecting is when sand is on the way out (during erosion), where .......... 8 ft. of sand can be removed overnight (leaving the targets spread in a sluice-box fashion over the wet beach hopefully). Contras to when the sand is building back in (spring and summer), and it's subtle, slow, etc....

As some of the pictures from the storm shows, the "building back up" (sand coming IN) happens during storms too. In other words: one storm will push the sand UP, while another storm might take the sand OUT, and so forth. Anyhow, the trick is to be where the sand was on-it's-way OUT, and hunt to see the targets that are left behind, NOT to be where the sand was pushed TO.

JMHO.

 

[OldBeechnut]

Best hunting in OC MD right now is on the upper part of the beach, All the rings are far up.......along with alot of sand. The tractors are moving the sand back down and spreading the sand out, I seen several gold found today in this soft spread out sand..tuff hunting but it's there. Best advice is being out there and putting the time in, every beach is different, along with the storms.

 

[smoldrn]

I've found 3 & 4oz fishing weights 40yds from the water where a storm had washed them up, so yes, I would think that good targets could be moved by the waves. Water is a very powerful force.

 

[BigDan]

After one particular storm I found about 20 OLD silver dimes and quarters scattered high up on a beach. They obviously were dredged up from the deep. The next tide they were gone. Maybe I had them all

 

[dewcon4414]

surface targets are obviously floaters. Gold rings.... a good many come from those at the surf edge where people drop them or they are cut from the sand. Like targets settle to low area..... that tells me they move and then are covered up. I dont believe gold objects like rings are flung up onto the beach..... they appear to be drops often cut out when erroison happens. Where they settle depends on the hard pan and current..... most remain close to where they were dropped out there. We all know stuff gets covered out there FAST.

Dew

 

[Butch in Charleston]

Ray "Seaweed" Midgett is a lifelong beach hunter on the Outer Banks of NC....He has some interesting theories about this:

Seaweed

 

[GTzer]

All depends on many factors-wind included. Not from MDing (for me) so much as surface collecting. Objects get tossed and sorted. Just like sometimes the big' heavy rocks are on the surface. -or big fossils or shells.
A handful of times I have found coins on the surface of a beach. Usually if you find 1 you will find others. I had one time when I found them on little pedestals after a change in the wind. I remember a picture from the '60's showing that same scene for copper shipwreck coins. Never found rings like that.

None of the coins I described were old-but-the were corroded enough that they were not recent drops. I used to surface collect every day of every summer for over 13 years. (wish I'd had a MD). I know from this that coins wash up -lay on the surface-then are buried quickly (same with fossils and shells). I always referred to it as catching when I would pursue an uncovered target.Plenty got away.

Rarely ever MDed after a Nor'easter. One time we gridded a beach and found that the only targets were in a narrow band about 10 feet from the receding surf. We walked in a straight line after that and found a few hundred coins but no jewelry. These were not beach type MDs.

I am also a fisherman. A few times I found dozens of lead weights and metal lures on the surface. If that can happen-then it is a possibility that there could be a gold day too.
Just my opinion, I guess I missed any of those days or wasn't the first guy out there.

Last--coin beach in DE. Old article from the '60's stated that the folks at the old lifeguard station filled a few kegs with Hibernia coppers after one storm.

 

[goldnugget]

I believe the Wave can move any Heavy object. I have seen at the Dunes over 2000 triangle Fishing weight or more in one Location after a Hurricane. I thought about just picking out the Good ones to Sale but gave up. I should have stayed in that spot because that is where the Silver Coins were. I could have made a Fortune just selling fishing weights. This location is South of Wilmington.

 

[oneon]

My beach faces South. In a strong wind from the south that would normally sand in the beach - if the waves are big enough - I have found lots of goods on the upper slope. In the case of sandy that blew my beach apart like a nuclear bomb hit .. your guess is as good as mine for all I know the gold is in the street. Finding rings, watches only one gold...weird...This storm seems better for old coins that were under layers of sand on the dry.