Compadre out...F2 back in...GOLD AND DIAMONDS!!! Update-Appraisal below...

[DIGGER27]

Ok one thing i gotta ask. We havent heard a lot from you in a while captain Digger. Is it possibly cause you was out diggin trash for weeks to find this gem? Im not saying its now worth to dig lots of trash. To be honest im very jelious of this ring. Its HUGE$$$$

LOL

Oh, I've been around.
Dug up my oldest coin, an 1880 Indian Head when I was back in Bama over Christmas vacation, (which won 1st place in the oldest coin award at my meeting last night), and a few other cool things in the last few weeks.
The problem is it has gotten pretty cold around these parts lately and unless you pick the right sites the ground can be frozen down several inches.
Right now it is 18 and the wind is usually blowing around here more often than not.
I'm pretty hardcore but sometimes not so much so I don't go out every day.

Before I found this ring I went on a few hunts but cherry picked a lot in the last several weeks because I just didn't feel like digging all the trash I usually do in the cold and ground that is getting a little hard.
Plus, it was a long and great record breaking year for me, but right now I am a little tired.
I used a lot more disc than normal for me and I was shooting for my first silver of the year because it is way easier to find than gold.
I found some clad and a few neat trinkets but nothing to write home about or worthy to post.
I will leave that for the newbies because I enjoy when they post pics of their first finds even if it just a few coins and trash.

When I find something like this ring that is special and I can be proud of believe me I can't wait to get home and post a picture here on the forum and write about it.

 

[RyanChappell]

WOW!!! Congratulations!! I was incommunicado on my son's scout trip this weekend.

So it came in a little higher than a nickel? Just like a rectangular pulltab? That is a lot lower than I would have expected. My wedding band and several others I tested, came in like a Bud bottle twist off caps, or a little higher.



I knew it was a men's wedding band, an expensive one. I was thinking the diamonds were real, because no one would go to the trouble of putting CZs like that on a fancy men's wedding band. Diamonds under .3 ct are pretty cheap right? The emerald cuts ones might cost a little more, but what makes this over $1,000 retail is the quality, craftmanship. The fact that they are real adds to the value more than the parts of their sum.

 

[DIGGER27]

WOW!!! Congratulations!! I was incommunicado on my son's scout trip this weekend.

So it came in a little higher than a nickel? Just like a rectangular pulltab? That is a lot lower than I would have expected. My wedding band and several others I tested, came in like a Bud bottle twist off caps, or a little higher.

View attachment 195256

I knew it was a men's wedding band, an expensive one. I was thinking the diamonds were real, because no one would go to the trouble of putting CZs like that on a fancy men's wedding band. Diamonds under .3 ct are pretty cheap right? The emerald cuts ones might cost a little more, but what makes this over $1,000 retail is the quality, craftmanship. The fact that they are real adds to the value more than the parts of their sum.

Thanks, Michael!
Actually, a normal nickel is usually a 33 on the F2, this ring was a solid 32.
Since white gold is made with alloys of either nickel, silver or palladium...it makes sense.

Now I guess I should get it to a decent appraiser and see what it is really worth, then since the wife really doesn't want it and wearing this type of ring isn't really my style, I guess I will see if I can sell it and see how much I can get to put towards my next detector.

 

[TN_INDIAN]

Thanks, Michael!
Actually, a normal nickel is usually a 33 on the F2, this ring was a solid 32.
Since white gold is made with alloys of either nickel, silver or palladium...it makes sense.

Now I guess I should get it to a decent appraiser and see what it is really worth, then since the wife really doesn't want it and wearing this type of ring isn't really my style, I guess I will see if I can sell it and see how much I can get to put towards my next detector.

I see a upgrade very soon haha. Changed my mind on what to upgrade to many times. after figureing bills etc etc its looking like the T2 SE is gonna be my choice. Hope you get F75 SE tho. I enjoy your write ups and finds. cant get over that ring you just found GREAT job.

 

[DIGGER27]

I see a upgrade very soon haha. Changed my mind on what to upgrade to many times. after figureing bills etc etc its looking like the T2 SE is gonna be my choice. Hope you get F75 SE tho. I enjoy your write ups and finds. cant get over that ring you just found GREAT job.

Can't go wrong with the T2.
Just about the same as the F75 in most ways and I know people that have them and love them.
That sniper coil that I think comes in most of the packages nowadays also goes pretty deep according to one friend, and it is his primary coil for most hunts nowadays.

 

[TN_INDIAN]

Can't wait to clean out some basketball courts. I no serveral that I just Kno will produce something. I mainly hunt old schools and churches and parks. And few of them has the basketball courts and I remember avoiding them cause of the great amount of trash. Thanks once again Digger for sharing and giving the newbies like myself hope and determination.

 

[DIGGER27]

Can't wait to clean out some basketball courts. I no serveral that I just Kno will produce something. I mainly hunt old schools and churches and parks. And few of them has the basketball courts and I remember avoiding them cause of the great amount of trash. Thanks once again Digger for sharing and giving the newbies like myself hope and determination.

No problem.
I love it when someone takes any advice I give like maybe digging a little more trash and then they go out and find something great because of it.

Here is a picture of every piece of gold I have dug since I started in mid Feb 2010.

3 class rings were all lower zinc signals like some larger can slaw.
3 were high tab signals just below zinc.
2 were nickel signals but just above my usual real nickel numbers like many tabs.
3 were nickel signals again, but just below my usual real nickel numbers and again like many tabs.
3 were smaller or thinner and came in as foil signals from low to high.
1 chain the clasp comes in as iron.

As you can see every one came in as a trash signal.
Even though some of them were in the coin areas like nickel or zinc pennies, in reality even those were in areas and numbers that usually meant trash.
Every one of these were a surprise when I dug them, and a thrill when I saw what they really were.

This is why I do this and why I made my mind up long ago to dig as much trash as I could stand.
Sometimes it seems like I can hardly remember my name, but I can actually remember every feeling that I felt on every one of these finds at the instant I dug them just like they happened 30 seconds ago.
I love that thrilling feeling, I am addicted to it and I want to feel it again and again.

I have dug probably way more than my share of trash in my relatively short time in this hobby, but I look at this pic and have absolutely no regrets.

 

[DixieRiverDiggr]

Congrats! Very Nice!



HH!

~ Red

 

[sonnydigs]

Excellent, that is a very nice ring..
Congrats, you have really been cleaning up on the rings..
Sonny

 

[DIGGER27]

Made the banner on American Detectorist with this ring.

I love it when friends and family like your finds, but when others that share the hobby that know how special a find like this is and acknowledge it...even better!

 

[hillbillydigger]

Made the banner on American Detectorist with this ring.

I love it when friends and family like your finds, but when others that share the hobby that know how special a find like this is acknowledge it...even better!

Congratulations! That's really cool. Is American Detectorist a website or magazine? Never heard of it.

 

[sonnydigs]

Congrats...
It's a killer for sure..
Sonny

 

[jcop52]

Congrats Digger

 

[DiggerDame]

Wow ! What a great way to start the year. Congrats ! Looks like 2013 holds lots of good things for you and your sweetie !

 

[Kreeper]

Thanks for sharing your story and experiences with us Digger. You are an inspiration to the rest of us!

I have been detecting for 4 years and have yet to find a ring worth any value. I will not give up though, and I will take your advice and dig more "trash" to increase my odds, and outdoor basketball courts will be on my hit list from now on.

You mentioned a trip to Bama and finding an 1880 Indian Head coin. I live near Birmingham. Can you tell us a little more about that find? What type of area were you hunting when you found it? How deep was it? What detector were you using?

Thanks!

 

[Silverhound]

All I can say is WOW!
HH
Mike

 

[DIGGER27]

Thanks for sharing your story and experiences with us Digger. You are an inspiration to the rest of us!

I have been detecting for 4 years and have yet to find a ring worth any value. I will not give up though, and I will take your advice and dig more "trash" to increase my odds, and outdoor basketball courts will be on my hit list from now on.

You mentioned a trip to Bama and finding an 1880 Indian Head coin. I live near Birmingham. Can you tell us a little more about that find? What type of area were you hunting when you found it? How deep was it? What detector were you using?

Thanks!

George Ward Park on the ridge that runs along the south end along Green Springs ave.
I found 2 Indian heads, (1904, 1880), on the eastern end of that ridge that both came in as zinc, along with some real old head stamps and a zillion older pull tabs that also came in as zinc.
Neither were very deep, the 1880 was the deepest maybe 3-4 inches.
Both were found with my Compadre.

Ryanchappel hunts that area, too and he is a member of the local MD club in Birmingham.
One of the members clued him in on this area of the park and it has been pounded over the years by many hunters, but there are still a few cool things left to find.
One member found a 3 cent silver trime up there years ago.

This is one of the trashiest parks I have ever been to, some picnic areas are so trashy that I had to clean out about 15 pieces of trash in a one foot square area just to get a clean spot to GB my Vaquero.
There are probably some rings around there because I believe most hunters avoid these areas because of the ridiculous amount of garbage that has been accumulating there for about 100 years.
If you hunt the picnic areas this is what you have to deal with.
This is the amount of trash I dug on one hunt in those areas.




Still, there are areas of the park that could still hold some great targets if you work for it.
These are 2 of my favorite finds of all time and they were both found in this park near the area on the opposite end way north of that southern ridge.

 

[DIGGER27]

Congratulations! That's really cool. Is American Detectorist a website or magazine? Never heard of it.

Just another forum I joined to get tips and info.
I post once in awhile just to brag or if I can help someone out with some advice.
http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/index.php

 

[DIGGER27]

APPRAISAL....



Met a fellow MD club member that used to manage jewelry stores at one of his old workplaces, a Helzberg Diamond store.
He introduced me to the current manager and then we all went into a little room to examine this ring under the microscope.

This ring holds approximately 3/8 of a carat in diamond weight.
They both came to the conclusion that the clarity of the baguettes were an SI1, the round diamonds were a little better at an SI2, but over all as a group they could be considered an SI2.

Slightly Included (SI1, SI2, & SI3)
Contains noticeable inclusions under 10x magnification, including clouds, knots, crystals, cavities, and feathers.

Color is in the range of I-J.

I,J (Near Colorless)
Contains slightly detectable color. An I-color or J-color diamond is an excellent value, as it typically appears colorless to the untrained eye.

From some research I found that thee ratings are considered a very good value and pretty popular because any defects and color would would not be seen with the naked eye and only under 10x's magnification so they would look close to flawless by most people.

The consensus is that at regular retail this would be a $1299.00 ring, selling it on the street I should expect somewhere around $800 as a good and fair price for both parties.

Sounds great to me.
Come spring I think the newest generation Black F75 SE might be in my future.

And to think I was just bending down to dig up a pull tab...

 

[pescadore]

Thats a beautiful ring Digger and well deserved after digging all that trash.. Congrats on the great find and thanks for the great post !!