Sand shifting = loads of treasure

[Water wizard]

Hi guys, I Met a rescue diver the other day on a beach i was working at. We got chatting about metal detecting,, and he told me that 2weeks ago all the sand had been washed off the beech, and that there were coins, rings, and loads of metal glinting in the sun light, as far as the eye could see! He found a gold sovereign, and a boy from the village found a gold half sovereign. This bloke had lived there all his life, and had never seen this happen before. He said people were just walking around picking rings and stuff up!!
The next day the sand was back he said, and you would never have know.
On my beech a similar thing happened, and me and wader mike found old silver coins near the surface.
Has anyone else ever seen anything like this?
If only you could predict when and where it was going to happen!
Good luck hunting, WW

 

[mudpuppy]

Yeah, I experienced that once up here on Lake Michigan...not gold coins mind you, similar event though..the waves came in and took off 5 feet of beach in an area about 30yards long, right down to the hardpan, and all the way up to the dune grass.....only for a day or two, but I was there...got a lot of silver rings, one nice gold, and old silver coins and fishing weights, keys, all sorts of stuff...the place is now under 6' of sand again..Its really hard to predict when this will happen, and where...but when a big ripping wind or current hit the shore, a fellow has got to be out there looking for those blowouts as soon as possible! Up here the predominant wind is onshore, and the water temp is very cold most of the year, so those days after a big blow when the wind is offshore, and the water is tolerable, are very seldom indeed! Amazing! I do watch the website "windfinder" so I can sort of get a heads up on a potential blowout, or see a change event coming.
Mud

 

[bootyhoundpa]

im not an expert but i have seen when strong winds blow parralel to the beach and seas are choppy it can move a lot of sand in just a few hours.... it might be worth your while to see if you can reseach the weather conditions that led up to that amount of erosion and moniter future forcasts that are likely to mimic those same conditions...thats the only you can predict the same thing happening again...but it must have been a rare event....

 

[mudpuppy]

Good thing now there are web and beach cams located throughout certain beach areas where a fellow can check out the surf and wind direction as well as the crowds in real time from the comfort of our homes...you can even watch some other detectorist working the beach or water live! even in the dark of night you can tell how heavy the surf is by the reflection of the pier lights off the waves and plan to go or not..
Mud

 

[Water wizard]

Would it be possible to put a marker stick in the beach so you could tell how low the sand was? You could put them in on the beach's with web cams and have an early warning system. Is the lake that you saw it happen on Mud really big? Was it caused by waves and wind, or from a winter thaw? Thanks WW

 

[GTzer]

Nature of the beach sand to cover and uncover. Surface collector (fossil,mineral,artifacts etc) for longer than an MDer. Use to walk the beaches daily every summer.
There have been -only a handful of times when metal and coins littered the surface for a few hours.(happens more frequently with shells,fossils & artifacts).
A few times hundreds of lead fishing weights were on the surface. One time-when the wind reversed after a storm-dozens of corroded (clad) coins were on the surface-each on it's own little pedestal.
Happens-but it doesn't last long when it does.
Another member here found a gold shipwreck coin on the surface. An even rarer and more exceptional find than with an MD.

I don't beach detect a much as I would like-I have never MDed a silver coin on the beach-BUT I have found 3 fossil collecting.

 

[mudpuppy]

Yes! GTzer, After a big wind, the coins would be sitting on those little pedestals of sand...we would ride down there on our Schwinn Typoons and find enough for a peppermint stick or a penny whistle! WW, I'm on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, a pretty big lake, big wind and storms and deep cold water, all sorts quickly changing weather comes in here. Even been documented cases of Saiches, (tidal waves) that have killed people in the past, washed them right off the beaches or piers for no apparent reason..I've lost two relatives in this lake, its a big mean damn place...
Mud

 

[GTzer]

Mudpuppy- only got to see it once w coins sitting on the pedastels.(heard of it a fair amount of times) Wind must have stopped at just the right time. Seen it many times with shells & etc. Seen it happen as I was collecting-only to have the wind continue and collapse the pedastels and then cover.

Wish I had a MD w me the times the lead wts were exposed. Had to be some real shallow gold.

Unique aero & aqua -dynamics create all kinds of possibilities.

 

[Water wizard]

Thanks Mud and GTzer, it is very interesting to hear your stories. It is amazing the lake can produce such extreme weather and I'm sorry about to hear about your loved ones Mud. I would love to see a picture or two of lake Michigan

 

[mudpuppy]

If you go to www.windfinder.com you can search anywhere in the world that has a weather station or a webcam and watch the beaches in real time!
West Michigan has many beachcams that you can easily access and watch the conditions. You just click on the icon and have a go.
Mud

 

[Water wizard]

Thanks mud I checked out that site, pretty good. I am thinking of digging some measuring posts in to a few of my local beaches, what do you recon?

 

[mudpuppy]

I don't know how long they will last, but its worth a try...I see a few of them that are deeply planted for the beach signs on the cams that I go by, so they are helpful. There sure is a lot of sand, and if a fellow can watch the cams when the crowds are there, it gives a guy a good strategy on where and when to hit it!
Mud

 

[opa81]

I have seen these conditions on a Spanish beach a couple of years ago. Half of the beach was gone because of a big storm. Had never seen anything like it.

We walked a specific part of the beach all day and with every turn it looked like someone behind your back threw a big hand full of coins right back on the beach.

With the 3 of us we found half a bucket full of coins.

 

[Water wizard]

That s cool opa81, thanks