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Spring Tide Finds - Including A Big Bullet..


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18 hours ago, Erik Oostra said:

All junk.. Except maybe for the tungsten carbine ring.. I've got three boxes for all my rings, earrings, bracelets, necklaces etc., One for gold, one for silver and one for junk, and I can never decide if tungsten rings are junk or not.. I'm not going to keep a separate box for them (although they pop up quite a lot), but I know some people will pay big bucks for them.. I've recovered one which was a dude's wedding ring.. I'm pretty sure that's what the others were as well.. I'm not saying I love them (but they do feel so smooth and heavy), I'm just having a hard time deciding if tungsten rings are worth flogging off to jewellery dealers? So far I've been giving them away to anyone who likes them.

17 hours ago, PI-Man said:

I have the same problem with the tungsten.  Funny thing is I see them online for several hundred but when I talked to jeweler he said about 20 bucks lol.

17 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

I regard tungsten carbide rings to be the payoff for fuel and parking if I don't find anything better 😏 and do the same thing, give them away. About the most expensive one I've found was about $250.

Jewelry prices/value seem to break into three categories:  1) the retail cost, 2) the resell/rebuy value, 3) the salvage/melt value.  For gold rings, all three are meaningful.  Tungsten isn't a precious metal.  I just looked online and as I write the spot price is $3.25 per lb.  To put this in perspective, that's a bit less than 3x the current spot price of aluminum.

It's not obvious to me which of 2) and 3) above is the better choice for liquiditing finds in general, but as always it likely depends upon who the rebuyer is and how much s/he wants/needs the object.  Even for precious metals, 1) is considerably higher than 2) or 3) and for base metals the ratio is likely ridiculous, especially 1) compared to 3).

If it weren't for the old saying "sell the sizzle, not the steak", most jewelers would have been out of business long ago.

 

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On 1/23/2023 at 5:08 PM, Valens Legacy said:

How much longer are you going to have these low tides that you are having now.

They're pretty much back to normal now.. I had a looksee at a spot that keeps spitting out old silver coins and bits of gold jewellery after high tides or storms undermine the embankment along the foreshore.. The sea claimed a few more trees and a huge amount of sand was spread along the beach.. Also the creek that flows into the bay has changed course, it now snakes its way along instead of a straight channel to the sea.. The changes never fail to amaze me.. 

This morning I hunted amongst the exposed tree roots and the strips of sand washed out off the embankment.. I ended up with 2 three-pence, 1 six-pence and an old copper ring.. That gold sovereign remains bloody elusive.. I'll find it yet.. 😁 

a1.JPG

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I'm sure that the gold will show up soon for you, as you are determined to find it.

Good luck and stay safe.

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On 1/26/2023 at 5:33 PM, Valens Legacy said:

I'm sure that the gold will show up soon for you, as you are determined to find it.

I thought I had my second gold ring for this year.. The way it shone in my headlamp when I dug it out nearly stopped my heart.. It had just enough gold platting on it to make me think it was the real deal.. More fool me.. Funny thing is, it rang up as a solid 8 on the Nox.. That convinced me to dig.. Anyway, here's some pics.. 

1b.JPG

1c.JPG

Here's a not so flattering picture.. 

1d.JPG

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On 1/22/2023 at 2:19 PM, Erik Oostra said:

These are this morning's finds from hunting the lowest of low tides.. From tomorrow I'll also hit less popular bays whilst the tides are still low.. At least I'll be able to hunt again when I normally wake up at 4:00 am.. The low lows also mean high highs, and during the next couple of days I'll also have a looksee at places where foreshores and beaches have washed away.. Especially those spots where I find old silver coins, they're always good after big tides and storms.. 

This morning I stuck to an stretch way beyond the shark nets where I normally can't get to without dive gear.. This bay slopes a bit steeper than last night's so the incoming tide wasn't chasing me so hard.. I was a bit disappointed as I had my hopes set far too high.. I've always wanted to have a leisurely hunt in this spot without scuba detectors and I've long dreamt about all the jewellery that's made its way down there over the years..

But I keep forgetting about the bloody council with their beach rejuvenation program.. This involves huge dredges and dump trucks a couple of weeks a year to keep the beach in front of the pub from disappearing.. This part of the bay is a lucrative tourist trap and the council will do anything to keep it going.. Including dumping tonnes of sand over potentially rich hunting grounds.. I hardly had any signals and good targets were all shallow and fairly newish (except for the square nail), not like the gold ring from another bay which looks like it had settled deep in its spot years ago..   

Anyway, here's todays finds.. All junk.. Except maybe for the tungsten carbine ring.. I've got three boxes for all my rings, earrings, bracelets, necklaces etc., One for gold, one for silver and one for junk, and I can never decide if tungsten rings are junk or not.. I'm not going to keep a separate box for them (although they pop up quite a lot), but I know some people will pay big bucks for them.. I've recovered one which was a dude's wedding ring.. I'm pretty sure that's what the others were as well.. I'm not saying I love them (but they do feel so smooth and heavy), I'm just having a hard time deciding if tungsten rings are worth flogging off to jewellery dealers? So far I've been giving them away to anyone who likes them.. 

1a.JPG

How the heck do you have the endurance to go out day after day? After breaking my sand scoop handle, I've been run ragged. I'm also going back out tomorrow anyways. :laugh:

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