Compass

Thanks KOB, Funny but when I watch all the people in the water on the beach cams I just know that at low tide that there will be tons of targets on that spot but that just never seems to be the case. Maybe people are being more careful with their jewelry these days or maybe I just over-estimate their tendency to lose things. Most of my targets are also from higher on the slope.

Thanks okara gold, Scary to think that I missed that ring on my first pass through that area earlier that morning and then eventually finding it with only minutes to spare on my battery. I'll bet that there are many times that we are so close to success or failure and don't even realize it.

Thanks Joe, It's only the second 21K ring I have ever found along with a 22K earring several years ago. For a while I didn't see the stamp and thought I got my first 24K piece of jewelry but that bucket lister will have to wait. Yes, I love the design too- it looks hand crafted.

Thanks Mitchel, Even though I've been hitting the beaches pretty regularly the last 10 years I'm still learning things about the beach most every time out. The impacts of tides, swell and wind on sand movement is something that even experts seem to not fully understand. I certainly don't either but from trial and error I am starting to get more consistent results as I become more familiar with the places I hunt whether high on the slope or the negative tide area.

Thanks Dances With Doves, It may seems that way but I usually only post when I have my better hunts. But, since my recent retirement I have been metal detecting a lot more. I also, usually, try to go to the beach only when the combination of tides/swell/wind make the conditions promising for sand movement. Fortunately, I have some productive fresh water hunting grounds when the beach is slow so, all in all, my chances of finding treasure have improved this year.

As other members here have observed, we had a little sand movement at some local beaches. I didn't know that when I drove down with my TDI BeachHunter the first night but I knew the tides were favorable so I was hoping for some recent drops, at least. When I got down to the wet sand, the moonlight allowed to see some small cuts in the beach with some nicely angled slopes highlighted with streaks of black sand. Shortly after turning the detector on I started hitting targets with about every other step. I was digging so much trash that I started thinking that a non-pulse detector might have been a better choice. However, I was finding a few lead sinkers and clad coins and within the first hour I scooped out a nice sized men's ring which looked like the right color and felt good in my hand. A short time later I added a beautifully blackened silver band to cap off a relatively short but productive hunt. In my car I was able to make out a "14K" stamp on the gold ring. On the second night I picked up right where I left off the night before. I stayed with the TDI even though I knew that I would be digging lots of trash. I just love the way it belts out a tone on even small targets and soon dug a "soft" sounding signal that turned out to a medium sized gold chain that was stiffened from the time spent in the elements, an apparent sign of a lower carat chain. Over the next 6 hours I was digging non-stop finding lots of clad coinage, trash and jewelry although most of the jewelry was costume jewelry with a few pieces of silver in the mix. I had found 6 rings by this time but all were junk save one thin, wire silver ring. The sun had risen, the tide was rising, people were starting to show up and my second battery pack was nearing the end of its charge so I started working my way up the coast towards my car. Walking through areas I had hunted earlier in the dark I was finding a few more targets here and there and acquired a nice tone in the wet sand. A couple of quick scoops and I was staring at an unbelievably bright gold ring sticking out of the wet sand. Now I have found a lot of gold rings before but I don't know if any of them rivaled the sight I was currently witnessing. The color of the ring was impossibly rich and I could see that it was beautifully crafted. I was tempted to take a picture with my cell phone but there were so many people around that I decided against it. I picked it up (felt glorious in my hand) and calmly put it into my zippered pouch. I dug one more target before my battery died, a "SOG" multi-purpose tool which was still in pretty decent shape. The third hunt was pretty uneventful as the sand had filled back in pretty noticeably. Another St. Christopher medal and small tungsten ring were the best of it. As you can see in the last picture, the ring is stamped "21K" which is almost 90 percent pure gold. It and the gold ring from the night before weigh about 7 grams each. The gold chain weighs a little over 6 grams and was challenging to clean. Oxidation occurred on the back of each link where soldering had, apparently, taken place. Perhaps a hand made chain??? It also had a couple of knots that were frozen in place. 10K gold often becomes brittle after being in salt water for some time and sure enough, I snapped off about 2 inches from one end while trying to loosen up the links. Sorry for the lengthy post but thanks for reading! GL&HH!

I was out there last night and I agree- I love hunting under a full moon in shorts and a t-shirt and digging targets. Still dark, though, and you have to have your head on a swivel to avoid unwanted surprises. Congrats on all the clad although it's unfortunate that you worked so hard and found so many targets without being rewarded with some nice jewelry.

That's a beauty Seeker- congrats! I like those chunky women's rings.

What a great story of your first gold find- congrats! That's a pretty nice weight for your first one too.

Welcome Bill from another fan of the Nox 800 but I use mine mostly in freshwater as I prefer to use pulse detectors at the beach. However, I remember hunting one San Diego beach that was so infested with iron that I couldn't use my Dual Field. The Nox would have been great to use back then.

Congrats on that vintage beauty! I don't care for tungsten but, like lead, it can indicate that the gold is nearby.

Thanks GB, This was found in freshwater but my understanding is that the higher the gold content is, the more resistant to corrosion the piece will be. Much of the 10K gold I have found in freshwater will be tarnished but usually not black like this was. The 10K I find at the beach often has a green patina buildup on parts of the ring. 14K and above usually holds up pretty well, even after decades in the water but I think the alloys used have a lot to do with it.

Great story and congrats on the recovery!

Interesting how similar those 2 gold rings are. Congrats OBN- you are crushing it right now!

Thanks Joe, I'd feel better if we we had more of a swell but you never know. It will be fun to swing the BeachHunter again though!

Thanks 2Valen, Good tides this weekend so may head back to the beach.

Last week I posted a picture and write-up of a nice lake hunt I had. So today I am cleaning some of the silver from that hunt but one small silver ring is looking quite yellow compare to the other silver items. I put on my glasses and sure enough, it is stamped "417" for being 10K gold. It's not the biggest ring at 1.2 grams but it's kind of cool looking and bumped my total gold weight up a notch! Sure was a nice little surprise.

Wow, what beautiful color on that 18K gold- congrats!!!😮

That is metal detecting perfection! - Lots of gold- check - Old gold- check - Lots of silver- check - No trash- check - New mod exceeds expectations- check (looks great too!) Fantastic hunt all around Joe- Congrats!!!

It's been a pretty good year for me despite the pandemic and (mostly) sanded in conditions at my favorite beaches. I am at 20 gold rings and 8 other gold items. Most of the gold I am finding is small but I do have 3 gold rings that weigh over 10 grams and I don't think I found any that big last year. I was fortunate to come across a lake that was partially drained for maintenance earlier this year and found 14 gold rings in about as many visits, all with the Nox 800. In fact, all but 4 of my gold finds this year have been with the Nox. However, if I spent more time at the beach I'm sure that my BeachHunter would have balanced the scales a little. The end of the summer through the end of the year have been good beach seasons for me so I expect the BeachHunter to do some catching up very soon.

Oops!

That looks pretty awesome KAC! Depending on the the type of sand it is used in 1/4" may clog pretty quick with shells, rocks and/or debris. What I have found in the 2 times I have used mine in the lake is that even with my wide tine spacing, 1 or 2 shells or bottle caps can cause significant drag. 2 feet seems pretty wide to me but I hope it works out. Please keep us posted!

It does happen periodically. Congrats on the silver and gold!

Thank you Rat, I can't believe how fast the hours seem to fly by when I am detecting. I used to hunt, get tired, find a gold ring and say to myself, "okay, that's good enough". I now realize how much treasure I walked away from. I still get tired, of course, but I try to not be satisfied with 1 or 2 nice finds when I know that there are more there.