Billy
Senior Member
It has been so hot here in Western Australia, yesterday reached around 45 degrees celsius, and for the last two weeks it has been averaging over 30 degrees celsius, today was a lot less warmer than yesterday and my girlfriend Natalie and I were bored and took the oppurtunity to go for a drive around the local district of Dumbleyung, where I live.
Dumbleyung has a population of around 250 people, a nice quite little town, famous for our lake "Lake Dumbleyung"
On New Years Eve 1964, after a particularly wet winter had seen the lake fill to overflowing, Donald Campbell set the world water speed record when he piloted his boat, Bluebird K7 across the lake at the remarkable speed of 444.66 km/h (276.3 mph).
Unfortunately Lake Dumbleyung is presently a very dry lake, I have not seen it full of water for around 5 years, when it is full, it is beautiful, full of water birds, even Pelicans and Seagulls come to the lake which is 250kms from the ocean, although no fish can survive in the water due to its extreme salinity. However around 20 years ago fresh water Bream were introduced but died as soon as the lake dried a year or two later.
Anyhow, I decided it would be nice to show my girlfriend the local water ski club, and also thought it would be a great chance to go metal detecting out there, with the aim of finding myself some Lost Gold Jewellery as I knew there would be a high chance because Gold will not corrode in salt water or salinity affected soil, but coins, silver and all other metals will corrode, and also being a water ski club, people skiing have a high chance of losing jewellery due to falls, take offs etc.
As soon as we arrived we were pounced upon by man eating flys (flys that bite) and they were really annoying, but that did not stop my eagerness to get out the Minelab E-Trac Metal Detector as quickly as possible and start swooping potential lost jewellery spots, such as the old boat ramp, the picnic area, the beach area where Mums would babysit their kids.
I started getting heaps of the usual pulltab signals which I expected, after around 10 minutes I got a nice signal through my headphones, and found myself a nicely corroded aluminum beer can.
Then another signal, this one was different, and I could not believe my eyes, I found myself a nice wedding ring... I was very excited and asked Natalie to take a photo of me and my new find.
I was excited for a few reasons, 1. I found Gold! 2. It's something to write about on my Metal Detecting Blog 3. The chances of finding more lost gold rings and jewellery in this area and other lakes around the district are extremely high! and finally 4. It would be fantastic to be able to find the original owner of this ring and reunite them with their lost gold wedding ring which may have slipped off whilst water skiing.
The ring has a engraving, a gold stamp and the manufacturers name stamped on the ring, so if I find the owner, they need to be able to tell me what engraving is on the ring.
The manufactures stamp marking is "Caris"
And from the research I just did I found out the following
I don't think the ring is that old, no more than 50 years from what the engraving says.
In the photos I have attached, please note that it is not snow I am detecting on, obviously because I am wearing shorts, but it is Salt encrusted soil... the lake is saltier that the dead sea.
We only stayed in the area for around 30 minutes, due to the biting flys, but I will definately be returning to the area very soon!
Can't complain, in 30 minutes I found myself a gold ring, a couple of very corroded unidentifiable coins and the usual pulltabs!
Anyhow thats my story for the day!
Cheers Guys!
Dumbleyung has a population of around 250 people, a nice quite little town, famous for our lake "Lake Dumbleyung"
On New Years Eve 1964, after a particularly wet winter had seen the lake fill to overflowing, Donald Campbell set the world water speed record when he piloted his boat, Bluebird K7 across the lake at the remarkable speed of 444.66 km/h (276.3 mph).
Unfortunately Lake Dumbleyung is presently a very dry lake, I have not seen it full of water for around 5 years, when it is full, it is beautiful, full of water birds, even Pelicans and Seagulls come to the lake which is 250kms from the ocean, although no fish can survive in the water due to its extreme salinity. However around 20 years ago fresh water Bream were introduced but died as soon as the lake dried a year or two later.
Anyhow, I decided it would be nice to show my girlfriend the local water ski club, and also thought it would be a great chance to go metal detecting out there, with the aim of finding myself some Lost Gold Jewellery as I knew there would be a high chance because Gold will not corrode in salt water or salinity affected soil, but coins, silver and all other metals will corrode, and also being a water ski club, people skiing have a high chance of losing jewellery due to falls, take offs etc.
As soon as we arrived we were pounced upon by man eating flys (flys that bite) and they were really annoying, but that did not stop my eagerness to get out the Minelab E-Trac Metal Detector as quickly as possible and start swooping potential lost jewellery spots, such as the old boat ramp, the picnic area, the beach area where Mums would babysit their kids.
I started getting heaps of the usual pulltab signals which I expected, after around 10 minutes I got a nice signal through my headphones, and found myself a nicely corroded aluminum beer can.
Then another signal, this one was different, and I could not believe my eyes, I found myself a nice wedding ring... I was very excited and asked Natalie to take a photo of me and my new find.
I was excited for a few reasons, 1. I found Gold! 2. It's something to write about on my Metal Detecting Blog 3. The chances of finding more lost gold rings and jewellery in this area and other lakes around the district are extremely high! and finally 4. It would be fantastic to be able to find the original owner of this ring and reunite them with their lost gold wedding ring which may have slipped off whilst water skiing.
The ring has a engraving, a gold stamp and the manufacturers name stamped on the ring, so if I find the owner, they need to be able to tell me what engraving is on the ring.
The manufactures stamp marking is "Caris"
And from the research I just did I found out the following
John Caris's general store in Vulcan Street Moruya, opposite the Adelaide Hotel, was crammed with an extraordinary array of goods for Christmas. Inside the store, he sold everything from axes to washing soda and men's suits. Caris was also a watchmaker and an optician. He joined the Coolgardie gold rush with his brother in the mid 1890s and eventually opened Caris Brothers, Perth's largest jewellery store.
I don't think the ring is that old, no more than 50 years from what the engraving says.
In the photos I have attached, please note that it is not snow I am detecting on, obviously because I am wearing shorts, but it is Salt encrusted soil... the lake is saltier that the dead sea.
We only stayed in the area for around 30 minutes, due to the biting flys, but I will definately be returning to the area very soon!
Can't complain, in 30 minutes I found myself a gold ring, a couple of very corroded unidentifiable coins and the usual pulltabs!
Anyhow thats my story for the day!
Cheers Guys!