First gold of the year, BUT there's a lesson to be learned for all...
pcgs69
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Warning... long, wordy story to follow...
Went to a "pre Civil War" house earlier this week in hopes of having Large Cents and Seated silver throwing themselves at me... Whelp, that wasn't the case and the only "old" coin that showed was a 1942 wheat. I did, however, find a dirty, crusty, brass ring that signaled as if it was gold. As soon as it popped out, it was completely brown or covered with crust. I quickly showed the owner stating it was probably brass as it's all dirty. I did see a couple of brighter spots that almost seemed like gold peeking through. Placed it in my pocket and detected for another couple hours. Got home and shook my head at the brass ring, and noticed the stone was missing too. "Ugh, well, let me polish it up anyway, just to be 100% sure...wait a second, this crust is coming off somewhat easily, but not easy enough...let me keep trying." Soon after I had what looked like a gold ring, still somewhat dirty, but mostly clean. "Could it be?" There was a stamp inside of what looks like three connected diamond rings, but no karat marking. I posted the stamp over at Treasurenet. Turns out it's a ring from a M.B. Bryant & Co. which apparently was around in New York in the 1930s. "Ok, now we're getting somewhere, vintage ring, good enough to have a maker's stamp... gold colored... maybe!" So I take it to the local pawn shop, it's gold! She couldn't get a concrete karat reading as somehow the three areas she tested came up as 10k, 14k and 18k respectively. My guess is it's either 10k or 14k overall. It's small, 0.8 grams, but still my first gold of the year, and 1930s gold too! It'll be worth a shot to scoop up the dirt from the area it was found and sift for the missing stone. This was my first decent find by the fabled "OLD TREE" - looks like it may have been a garden area previously.
So, the moral of the story is, just because it's tarnished/crusty, it could still be gold! Doesn't hurt to polish it up and get it tested to be sure. This one could have ended up in the junk bin.
Got out last night to a different location. Not much to be found, but came across this very worn 1906 V Nickel. I don't know if the frost did something, but all three older nickels I found this year (2 Vs and a buffalo) all produced very solid and strong signals. I only found one V nickel last year. Already have two this year. Guess I'm making up for the lack of silver coins this year!
Went to a "pre Civil War" house earlier this week in hopes of having Large Cents and Seated silver throwing themselves at me... Whelp, that wasn't the case and the only "old" coin that showed was a 1942 wheat. I did, however, find a dirty, crusty, brass ring that signaled as if it was gold. As soon as it popped out, it was completely brown or covered with crust. I quickly showed the owner stating it was probably brass as it's all dirty. I did see a couple of brighter spots that almost seemed like gold peeking through. Placed it in my pocket and detected for another couple hours. Got home and shook my head at the brass ring, and noticed the stone was missing too. "Ugh, well, let me polish it up anyway, just to be 100% sure...wait a second, this crust is coming off somewhat easily, but not easy enough...let me keep trying." Soon after I had what looked like a gold ring, still somewhat dirty, but mostly clean. "Could it be?" There was a stamp inside of what looks like three connected diamond rings, but no karat marking. I posted the stamp over at Treasurenet. Turns out it's a ring from a M.B. Bryant & Co. which apparently was around in New York in the 1930s. "Ok, now we're getting somewhere, vintage ring, good enough to have a maker's stamp... gold colored... maybe!" So I take it to the local pawn shop, it's gold! She couldn't get a concrete karat reading as somehow the three areas she tested came up as 10k, 14k and 18k respectively. My guess is it's either 10k or 14k overall. It's small, 0.8 grams, but still my first gold of the year, and 1930s gold too! It'll be worth a shot to scoop up the dirt from the area it was found and sift for the missing stone. This was my first decent find by the fabled "OLD TREE" - looks like it may have been a garden area previously.
So, the moral of the story is, just because it's tarnished/crusty, it could still be gold! Doesn't hurt to polish it up and get it tested to be sure. This one could have ended up in the junk bin.
Got out last night to a different location. Not much to be found, but came across this very worn 1906 V Nickel. I don't know if the frost did something, but all three older nickels I found this year (2 Vs and a buffalo) all produced very solid and strong signals. I only found one V nickel last year. Already have two this year. Guess I'm making up for the lack of silver coins this year!
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Comments
<< <i>So, the moral of the story is, just because it's tarnished/crusty, it could still be gold! Doesn't hurt to polish it up and get it tested to be sure. This one could have ended up in the junk bin. >>
An excellent point, which I shall take to heart. I've dug some rings that looked that way and assumed them to be brass or plated or whatever, because they were tarnished, but now that you mention it, I might have to give a second look to some of my ""junk".
10K is less than half gold, so of course it would tarnish according to what the other half of the alloy is. The 10K wedding band on my hand has tarnished in the recessed areas, though of course my daily use of the left hand keeps the higher parts of it polished. I kind of like the way it looks, actually. The darker toning in the recessed parts gives it an antiquey look.
<< <i>.....though of course my daily use of the left hand keeps the higher parts of it polished.
<< <i>
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