CA gold rush country hunt

Tom_in_CA

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I got out with some buddies for the previous holiday weekend for a hunt. At one of our "back-pocket" gold rush country sites. This site, on a previous hunt show & tell posted here, had produced some goodies :

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=279643

Eg.: foreign coins from the early 1800s, seated half, etc.... So we went back to try our luck again this last weekend. And were not disappointed. However, I got my b*tt kicked by my friends. They out-hunted me big time, d/t I got no coins this time. And they're not letting me forget it ! haha :mad:

Coins this time were a super crisp 1853 P quarter, and a super crisp 1853 P dime (ironically matching years). Other than that .... Chinese cash coins (obligatory for gold rush sites). And utterly zero clad ! A real dream site, in that .... any "penny/dime" signal has you holding your breath . Saying "come to papa". :laughing: But lots of period "whatzitz" and relics, that keep you relishing in the history. Eg.: lantern parts, gun parts, old hardware doohickies, toe-taps, powder flask parts, buttons, buckles, etc...... We were in hog-heaven :cool:

And a crowning glory was my friend's gold nugget. These are sometimes found in gold rush country relicky sites (ie.: the tent city or saloon-row zones). And it's debatable how they got there. Certainly .... since this is gold country after all, it's *possible* that it's a naturally occurring nugget. However, we are in relic mode mindset. And since 99.99% of nuggets found in nature never exceed pinhead size, it's very rare that "coin machines" would find naturally occurring nuggets. HOWEVER, since gold hunting is what was historically going on there, and since nuggets (and powder ) were historically used as forms-of-exchange (eg.: a pinch of powder or a nugget buys you a drink), then : It's possible that some nuggets got carried around as forms of money. Ie.: miners literally carried nuggets around with them. And carried back to to their tent-city hobbles,stores, etc.... And could have lost them there, outside of the natural normally occurring nugget settle-zones.

No matter how it got there, we're not complaining. It weighs 13.3 grams. Thus assuming 24k, he had $670-ish of raw gold alone. It read in the low nickel range and was 4" deep. So : Hat's off to my friend for not missing that whisper !

As you can see: Powder flasks, miners buckles, period hardware, coins, rifle-butt plate, etc... Fun fun fun !

Anyone care to venture some grade guesses on the two coins ?
 

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What an amazing collection of finds!
I would agree that the gold nugget was something an individual carried, perhaps as payment.
That Seated quarter is in fabulous shape:shock:
 
Great write-up and incredible finds for your group, Tom! I’m sure you’ll get ‘em back next time on coins.
 
thanx fellas. My friends are reading, and will enjoy your "coming along".

"outrageous" seated quarter! (hot damn!)
new england farm field find in cali! "beats hell"
out of a "largie,and no slippin' and a slidin'
ehe! heh! he!

(h.h.!)
j.t.
 
Was another fun outing Tom. Cant wait to get out again. Still love that super rare Star Buckle you got! Was an amazing find.

When I popped that quarter all you could say was, "Oh, it's just clad!" Anyways, it was a fun hunt. Proved up our research and saved some more history to share with our friends!

Greg
 
Fine hunt Tom, fine hunt!

"outrageous" seated quarter! (hot damn!)
new england farm field find in cali! "beats hell"
out of a "largie,and no slippin' and a slidin'
ehe! heh! he! ...

Great write-up and incredible finds for your group, Tom! I’m sure you’ll get ‘em back next time on coins.

thanx guys. Yes I guess some seated beat those "pesky east coast LC's" , eh ? :laughing: I'm fine with letting these young-guns beat me now and then :roll:

...Still love that super rare Star Buckle you got! ....

Well yes. Otherwise there would have been added fodder for your jokes at my expense ! :laughing:
 
Tom congrats to you and you buds on some fine hunting. Nice bunch of relics with silver and some gold to top it off I'd say you guys had a stellar day. However those seated have no S mint mark and being they are a long way from home you might want to send them back east. lol HH Mark
 
Philadelphia minted seated coins must come back east. Just send them to me in Pennsylvania and they will be home.

Thus assuming 24k, he had $670-ish of raw gold alone. It read in the low nickel range and was 4" deep

CA natural gold is typically more like 18-20K and ringing up like a nickle (low conductor) tends to verify this lower Karat.
Still a great find and worth $100's.

Another great hunt out there Tom. Congrats.
 
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looks like you guys had another great hunt. Sorry you came in with a dnf in terms of coins, can't win em all.
 
Great job to you and GStout! Terrific finds as always. Love the gold nugget and those seated coins are gorgeous!

I guess giving back that 20 pesos gold coin to GStout76 is continuing to pay off! (inside joke).
 
Great write-up, Tom, about a very fun hunt. I guess you did not want to post a closeup of my dime and nugget. I understand that they must be hard to look at in light of the fact that you were so close to them when they were still in the ground. Time to start thinking about that Nox?
3361c2be303de206a9f1e17b389ee4f7.jpg



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... However those seated have no S mint mark and being they are a long way from home you might want to send them back east. lol ....

Philadelphia minted seated coins must come back east. Just send them to me in Pennsylvania and they will be home.....

Ah c'mon guys, cut us some slack. The SF mint had not started yet by 1853. So isn't it legit for us to be handling P mints for these early dates ?? Please ? please ? :sissyfight:

....CA natural gold is typically more like 18-20K and ringing up like a nickle (low conductor) tends to verify this lower Karat.
Still a great find and ....

Ah, thanx for that info. None of the 3 of us are nugget buffs. We all live along the coastal parts of CA, far from nugget regions. So we're strictly coin/relic/beach guys. Didn't know this factoid. Thanx !
 
looks like you guys had another great hunt. Sorry you came in with a dnf in terms of coins, can't win em all.

Great job to you and GStout! Terrific finds as always. Love the gold nugget and those seated coins are gorgeous!

I guess giving back that 20 pesos gold coin to GStout76 is continuing to pay off! (inside joke).

Sounds like a fun weekend and great assortment of finds. Congrats!

thanx for looking fellas ! And Jamflicker, so that you know : We stayed north of the Santa Barbara line. Honest ! :blush2:
 
Great write-up, Tom, about a very fun hunt. I guess you did not want to post a closeup of my dime and nugget. I understand that they must be hard to look at in light of the fact that you were so close to them when they were still in the ground. Time to start thinking about that Nox? ...

Greg, C'mon, now honestly, had the tables been reversed, and I'd spanked you, do you think that I would be giving you a hard time ? Huh ? Huh ? :hornetsnest::nono: So there's no need to rub it in little feller ! :mder:
 
The back-story on Greg's eagle tongue buckle is note-worthy : I had JUST dug my miner's star tongue buckle only 5 or 10 minutes earlier. And .... knowing that Greg loves those buckles, and knowing they'd spanked me on coins, I was quite smug that I could *at least* go home with the ranking of being the lone person to find the coveted buckles. Right ? I was feeling a bit vindicated finally.

But was that good enough for Greg ? NNNEEeeeoooo He has to go pop up a buckle of his own, not even 5 or 10 minutes later. GGGrrrrr :mad:

And there's a closeup of his nugget. Nice job Greg !


....
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Dang, dude, what a neat lot of finds! Holy cow! I have been really lazy lately and haven't been out. Nobody to blame but me lmao. :D

thanks for sharing!
 
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