Compass
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A friend of mine said that he was heading down to the beach after work on Friday so I said I'd join him. There were some encouraging surf reports but I wasn't too optimistic because I didn't think that the tide was all that favorable. Like I've said many times before- "I'm still learning almost every time I go detecting at the beach."
We got to the beach a couple of hours after high tide. There was a strong on-shore wind and the seas were fairly rough. The waves were coming in pretty hard and fast and were kissing the existing cut. I don't think that they were getting high enough on the slope to cut any more but the existing sand on the slope was moving around I believe.
As soon as I started hunting the wet sand I started finding coins at a surprising clip- most of them mid-slope. Not long after starting I found my first gold of the hunt- an eyeball find. "Poppy" was laying on top of a patch of black sand not unlike the gold chain I found a week ago. A short time later I found a very small gold ring. I'm not sure if it is a toe ring or a child's ring but it is stamped "14BK" (???)
For the next couple of hours my friend and I continued to find coins. It started to feel like my last couple of hunts when I started finding rings on the lower slope as the tide went out. I told my buddy that I felt that there was going to be a good possibility of finding rings but, unfortunately, he had to leave.
I think it was about 15 minutes later that I got a nice crisp signal very low on the slope. By this time I was working in and out of the rough surf and I didn't have much time to scoop out a target before the next wave was on top of me. I can't remember if it took me 1 or 2 attempts to get the target into the scoop but I'll never forget what a beautiful sight I saw in the basket after I rinsed it out with the next wave. There in the bottom of the scoop was an impossibly bright yellow, clean, circle of gold, radiating a rich color in the waning sunlight! I love it when there is no doubt that you have found good gold. At first I thought that the ring had some enamel or other inlay for contrast but I soon realized that some of the crevices of the ring were filled with verdigris. This ring had been there a while.
A short time later another gold ring found its way into my finds pouch- a beautifully colored but lightweight and the ugliest gold ring I think that I have ever found. A product of the first day of jewelry making class perhaps?
There is no stamp but the acid test indicates at least 18K.
I continued to find coins, lead and a couple more rings on the low slope as the moonlight became all I had to see with. I scooped out a target and reached down to retrieve it from the mound. I felt the smooth shape of a ring in my hand and in the low light it looked like I had hit a grand slam- a wedding ring with large diamonds! I drove all the way home reflecting on the incredible week I had, topping it off with the find of a lifetime. Still, I wouldn't get too excited until I was able to read the markings inside the ring.
This is the Friendly Metal Detecting Forum so I can't repeat what I said when I got home and read the "925" stamped on the inside of the ring. Still, it is silver and I had found 4 more pieces of gold jewelry on this hunt so it was an amazing week anyway!
GL&HH!
We got to the beach a couple of hours after high tide. There was a strong on-shore wind and the seas were fairly rough. The waves were coming in pretty hard and fast and were kissing the existing cut. I don't think that they were getting high enough on the slope to cut any more but the existing sand on the slope was moving around I believe.
As soon as I started hunting the wet sand I started finding coins at a surprising clip- most of them mid-slope. Not long after starting I found my first gold of the hunt- an eyeball find. "Poppy" was laying on top of a patch of black sand not unlike the gold chain I found a week ago. A short time later I found a very small gold ring. I'm not sure if it is a toe ring or a child's ring but it is stamped "14BK" (???)
For the next couple of hours my friend and I continued to find coins. It started to feel like my last couple of hunts when I started finding rings on the lower slope as the tide went out. I told my buddy that I felt that there was going to be a good possibility of finding rings but, unfortunately, he had to leave.
I think it was about 15 minutes later that I got a nice crisp signal very low on the slope. By this time I was working in and out of the rough surf and I didn't have much time to scoop out a target before the next wave was on top of me. I can't remember if it took me 1 or 2 attempts to get the target into the scoop but I'll never forget what a beautiful sight I saw in the basket after I rinsed it out with the next wave. There in the bottom of the scoop was an impossibly bright yellow, clean, circle of gold, radiating a rich color in the waning sunlight! I love it when there is no doubt that you have found good gold. At first I thought that the ring had some enamel or other inlay for contrast but I soon realized that some of the crevices of the ring were filled with verdigris. This ring had been there a while.
A short time later another gold ring found its way into my finds pouch- a beautifully colored but lightweight and the ugliest gold ring I think that I have ever found. A product of the first day of jewelry making class perhaps?
There is no stamp but the acid test indicates at least 18K.
I continued to find coins, lead and a couple more rings on the low slope as the moonlight became all I had to see with. I scooped out a target and reached down to retrieve it from the mound. I felt the smooth shape of a ring in my hand and in the low light it looked like I had hit a grand slam- a wedding ring with large diamonds! I drove all the way home reflecting on the incredible week I had, topping it off with the find of a lifetime. Still, I wouldn't get too excited until I was able to read the markings inside the ring.
This is the Friendly Metal Detecting Forum so I can't repeat what I said when I got home and read the "925" stamped on the inside of the ring. Still, it is silver and I had found 4 more pieces of gold jewelry on this hunt so it was an amazing week anyway!
GL&HH!