Gold ring, 9 silvers, 5 buffalos, and 25 wheats!
pcgs69
Posts: 4,324 ✭✭✭✭
Detecting was the only thing planned today, so got up early and headed out to the Silver beach. Very first target was a ring! Inspected it, but it was clear it was only gold plated. Pretty much nothing for the next couple hours. With the tide about to change, I noticed it seemed to be a lot lower than I’ve ever seen it. I rushed over to the slower side in hopes of finding some goodies. But got a soda can at well over a foot down. Also got large pieces of metal. A couple of Lincolns and I went back to the other side.
More junk, and more junk. It was probably 3 hours into the hunt before the first silver came out - a war nickel. Slowed again for a while with more junk, then finally got a couple of silver dimes. As the tide was coming in, got a nice gold ring! It looks a bit older, and I can’t tell for sure if it’s 10k or 14k. Stamp is there but very worn, leaning toward 10k.
As the tide kept coming in, I moved up to the sandy part of the beach, but to an area I’ve never touched, not with the CTX, and not with the TDI SL. This area isn’t too big, but it was target after target. Couldn’t believe the wheat cents popping out, and even buffalo nickels. Also got 3 War nickels, and a merc! Who needs low tide when you have this section? Around noon, I was getting tired, hot, and had already gone through three 32oz Powerades, so I reluctantly called it a day. Would have loved to have kept going, but now I know where to resume next time. Got 4 buffalo nickels in this section, and even a junk ring.
Got 25 total wheat cents, 7 silver coins, 6 rings including one gold, one silver, and one probable silver, and some other goodies. HH all!
Haven't clean anything yet, so pics aren't too thrilling.
More junk, and more junk. It was probably 3 hours into the hunt before the first silver came out - a war nickel. Slowed again for a while with more junk, then finally got a couple of silver dimes. As the tide was coming in, got a nice gold ring! It looks a bit older, and I can’t tell for sure if it’s 10k or 14k. Stamp is there but very worn, leaning toward 10k.
As the tide kept coming in, I moved up to the sandy part of the beach, but to an area I’ve never touched, not with the CTX, and not with the TDI SL. This area isn’t too big, but it was target after target. Couldn’t believe the wheat cents popping out, and even buffalo nickels. Also got 3 War nickels, and a merc! Who needs low tide when you have this section? Around noon, I was getting tired, hot, and had already gone through three 32oz Powerades, so I reluctantly called it a day. Would have loved to have kept going, but now I know where to resume next time. Got 4 buffalo nickels in this section, and even a junk ring.
Got 25 total wheat cents, 7 silver coins, 6 rings including one gold, one silver, and one probable silver, and some other goodies. HH all!
Haven't clean anything yet, so pics aren't too thrilling.
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Comments
Cheers, RickO
Lafayette Grading Set
Congrats on the gold!
Seems you find quite a few gold rings that used to have a stone in them, but are found with only prongs (or some of the prongs) remaining. Could be an "interesting" venture to try to find the stone by digging up the surrounding area...
I suppose you'd need a sifter to have any realistic chance of success.
Powerades are good stuff. I often take a few of them myself too, along with some water bottles. For full day gold detecting outings in Australia I brought over 3 gallons of drink and often ended up consuming most of it.
Last year I was detecting at this beach and didn't really have any drinks with me, not even in the car. It was in the 80s, perfectly sunny, and I could feel my body about to give out. I moved right to the car and to the nearest gas station to get hydrated. One of the only times I felt like I could have passed out given another half hour out there without anything. Since then I've been bringing drinks with me on the beach...in a nice Coleman cooler. I tell you, it's a life saver! Probably nothing like walking around Australia in the summer though. That's a lot of liquid consumption there!
I had thought about shoveling some dirt out and sifting later on, but I think I would go mad trying to find the stone amongst the mud and other items. Even the rings that have retained the stone...after cleaning the dirt out, the stone rattles around. Not sure if the pressure of the mud changes the prongs, or if it somehow slightly shrinks/abrades the stone? Surprisingly, that "JFK" ring's stone is perfectly still, so I'm half curious if it could be something good. I can post a pic later of it.
I figure if I couldn't even find half of a gold band with a PI machine, how tough would it be to find a stone in there?
Looking back at all the old threads, looks like you reply and I don't reply many times. Well don't you worry! You'll get responses now!
I would guess that corrosion is the primary reason for stones coming loose, but it could also be that the delicate gold mountings are affected (rather than the stone itself).
Well... I don't really know
As for finding a loose stone, sifting a couple of bucketfuls of dirt is fairly quick - but this of course assumes that the ring and stone stay fairly close together.
Also on that point, I don't really have a feel for how far apart they might end up.
So all in all, this reply of mine is utterly useless!
But in a tidal beach environment, I'm afraid those stones (even when they've survived the erosion and salt water) are probably long separated from the rings by who knows how many decades of shifting sand.
the Beach of Grand Suckiness!
Ok, now that is a great title! pcgs69 should make up a sign and plant it there