The park gave

I stopped by the park for a quick 20 minute hunt after work. I really just wanted to test a new tweak I made to Maurice, my XP Deus metal detector. Right away I started getting good, deep hits. The first thing I dug up was an old gas tank door key (no photo). Then I found a couple of ancient brass whatsits. Finally, at the very end of the 20 minutes I got yet another deep, repeatable hit. At 7 inches of depth I found this:

Yep, that’s my first gold ring of the year. I was beginning to think that I was going to go the whole year without finding a gold ring. Phew! This signet ring is 10K and as soon as I can discern the maker’s mark (it looks like a B and an O with the 10K wedged sideways between the two letters) I will have a more accurate idea of its age. I can safely say that it is not a modern ring though, given the park and the depth at which I found it. Plus the style just says vintage.

I think I will have it reshaped and polished.

Thank you for looking!

Gold ring #2 for the year plus a V nickel!

Woo hoo!

Thank you for looking!

The Very Definition of Masochism

I have gold fever. I can’t deny it. I want gold and lots of it. To that end, me and another hunter, Stevouke, have vowed to dig pull tabs until we both find another gold ring.

The problem is that the very goal seems infinite. There seems to be an endless number of pull tabs and this makes the job seem unmanageable. Maybe I am over thinking this but I thought one way to make the task less daunting was to set boundaries to it somehow.

Stevouke is doing this by keeping a count of the pull tabs he digs. Me, I decided I needed something more tangible and visual. Here is my idea:

If you ever wonder what pain looked like…

I am going to see if I can find a gold ring before I fill this gallon container with pull tabs and foil.

Thank you for looking!

Brothers In Arms

After a little over an hour of digging for gold using my CZ-3D, my body and my soul were weary.

At least there’ll be less to dig next time

So I snapped a picture of my loot and sent it to Stevouke (from the Friendly Metal Detecting Forum) who was hunting in the morning like I was. I got a similar picture back from him and a similar story.

Somehow knowing there’s someone out there who understands what I am doing and why makes me feel a lot better.

Thank you for looking!

The Mystery of Plated Gold

I found yet another ring today. I hunted with my good friend Patton from the Friendly forum and at one point we were joined by another friend and hunter from the Friendly, Stevouke.

I was hunting with the CZ-3D and toward the end of the hunt, I got a nickel signal. It was a repeatable high tone that sounded deep. The pinpoint verified that the target was six inches deep. I was expecting an old nickel but instead, I found a ring at the bottom of the hole.

The ring looked to be made from gold so I immediately looked for markings. The first thing I noticed was a 1/500. I didn’t need to look anymore. I knew this was a gold plated ring. The complete marking reads: 1/500 10K R.G.P. –>M-H.
Seems like a lot of information for a plated ring.

1/500 gold. Does that mean his great-great-great-great grandpa was 100% gold?

The mystery to me is; if gold is so stable, why do gold plated rings turn to muck under the ground?

This ring retains the gold plating on the inside of the ring but it’s all gone from the outside.

At any rate, I like that the CZ-3D gives a high tone on 90% of nickels and on about 40% of the square pull tabs, and since gold often comes in at those readings, I think more rings are on my future.

Jewelry on the AT Pro

I found this ring at lunch time today.

Ring clump!

Ring #5 in two weeks

I hunted with the AT Pro and the 8.5×11 DD coil. I hunt with the Pro wide open, Pro/Zero mode and sensitivity at one bar below max. I keep my ground balance at 76 always to maximize the depth of the Pro on silver items.

What I really want to post about however, is the sound quality of this ring. While the VDI on the Pro said 62, the sound was subtly different than the signals I’d been getting. I will attempt to describe the sound this ring and all the other ones, with the exception of the 10K gold class ring, gave on the Pro.

The Sound was round
The beginning of the signal rose gradually and in a continuous way. The end of the signal fell gradually and continuously as well. This gave the signal a soft quality.

The sound was hollow.
If you expel air from your mouth while puffing up your cheeks and making a sound like a very soft B, then you’ll come close to what I am talking about.

By contrast, the sound pull tabs and foil make is more like striking a solid piece of wood. The sound has a quick and sharp beginning and end. There is no hollow quality to the signal.

That’s the best I can do to try to describe the sounds I am starting to learn. I am still purposely digging as many pull tabs and foil as I can to further educate my ear.

By the way, the 10K gold class ring had a dirty sound to it. It was scratchy and it was mid-tones and high-tones mixed in. I think this was due to two things:

A) The ring had some kind of metal weld material stuck to it where the stone may have been
B) The area I found it at has A LOT of tiny pieces of iron mixed in with the soil.

Also, once the rings and pendants are out of the dirt, the sound difference between them and the pull tabs disappears. Crazy, I know.

I will continue to document this process of discovery so stay tuned!

Thank you for looking.

 

 

Gold Ring!!

A week’s worth of hunts with the AT Pro…

Thank you for looking!