Glenn in CO

Steve, when you get your new XP Deus II and put some hours on it, I hope you do a review as other detectors you have done in the past. Looking forward to seeing it if you have the time. My Xp Deus II with the 9" coil is delivering this Saturday and curious to see how it handles the mineralization we have here in Colorado.

What's interesting about these gold specimens is they maybe similar in character, but like snowflakes none are exactly the same. Here's a few more:

The gold specimens are from previous years. The finding, cleaning and seeing the end results is the most enjoyment part of the process, the cataloging and photographing can be tedious and time consuming at times. I could skip the cataloging and photographing process, but when you sell to a buyer/collector and no longer have them, I want something I can look back on and relive the memories of finding them.

The weather the last couple weeks where I live in Colorado has decided to remain cold and snowing leaving very little opportunities to go detecting even though spring is just around corner. I usually take this idle time to catch up on cataloging and photographing gold specimens that I’ve cleaned. Here are some recent examples of mother nature great works:

If so, will it be in September. Planning upcoming trips and would like to attend this one.

Great to hear you out detecting again, 24 nuggets in 7 days would be outstanding trip for me. Like to hear more on your exploring tips on how you decide on areas you want to detect. Thanks for sharing,

Very nice finds, looks like a very productive year for you. May 2022 be as good or better. Thanks for sharing!

Unfortunately the detector I wanted for Christmas isn't available yet, fingers crossed maybe next month? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family.

Hey Gerry I hope you have recently been on some great nugget hunting adventure that you would wiling to share with us as a holiday treat. The gold specimen in its natural state with the host rock and limonite weighed in at 55.1 grams. So there was 5.57 grams of gold that fell of the specimen as the acid dissolve the host rock and limonite. There is a small amount if host rock left in the specimen to help stabilize and keep the specimen intact. So the amount of gold that fell off and the gold remaining on the cleaned specimen totals 34 grams. Without doing a specific gravity test I would guess the total of all the gold would be around 31 to 32 grams and 22 to 23 grams of host rock and limonite. Happy Holidays to you and your family!

The location where this type of is found has a high silver content. Unfortunately when I take a photograph I must use low light because of the gold specimen has a highly reflective surface and will wash-out the photograph and you would not see any of the detail. This gold specimen is a combination of wire and crystalline gold and commands high dollars from collectors.

Over a four week period I used Muriatic Acid, Whink and CLR. The first three weeks I used Muriatic Acid, then Whink for four days and then CLR for three days.

Over a four week period I used Muriatic Acid, Whink and CLR. For more detail on how I clean gold specimens, click on links below on a earlier post I did this year. Cleaning Gold Specimens - Seven Parts Cleaning Gold Specimens - The Final Results

When I find a gold specimen like this, I usually don't get too excited about cleaning it. One of the main reasons is this type of gold specimen when going through the cleaning process will lose some or all its shape and character resulting in a disappointing specimen and reducing the value which in most cases it would be better to leave the specimen in its originally state. I decided to gamble and see what it's true potential might be for aesthetic and value. This gold specimen before going through the cleaning process weighed in at 55.1 grams. You can see the gold has permeated throughout the host rock and no visual indication if the specimen will hold its shape and character. In the final cleaning process, I did leave some of the host rock for stability as the specimen would have become too fragile by removing all of it. The gold specimen after going the cleaning process lost 5.57 grams of gold resulting in the specimen now weighing 28.43 grams. Sometimes you must gamble.

“Debbie Smikoski from MineLab and Kevin Hoagland from the GPAA out with us for their expertise on metal detectors and geology/lode mining. This is an unforgettable day of mining.”

I wonder if they will have the GO TERRAIN app available when the XP Deus II gets in customers hands? Don't see any information about it on their website.

XP Deus II Manual

Great coin and bottle finds! Bet you can't wait to try the new XP Deus II underwater. 👍

Great find! Keep the videos coming.👍

I agree that is some great looking gold, congrats on a successful trip!

Sorry for your loss and condolences to you and his family. My dad passed away last year at the age of 96, we had many great adventures metal detecting and prospecting, the memories of those times ease the pain.

Thanks for the compliments Gerry. This year has not been a good one for nugget hunting. Starting in spring we did some traveling in Texas (went to the Garrett Memorial Hunt) and then in May we were in Alaska visiting family. My wife was complaining about pain in her hips and knees during these trips and seem like it was getting worse. In June after we returned from Alaska she went to the doctor and found out her left hip joint was bad which was causing problems with her other joints. She received a injection in her bad hip and that didn't last two weeks, so the next step was hip replacement. So the news of having a hip replacement did not go well as my wife has a poor opinion of doctors in general. Well after talking with friends and family who had hip replacements she decided to have it done. Well tomorrow (Thursday) will be eight weeks since her surgery and she has her final doctors appointment. So far she is almost back to normal and hopefully the doctor says she's good to go. With her being laid up for a period of time it gave me the opportunity to clean more gold specimens and photograph them, so you may see some more photos in future postings. The gold specimens we find are like snowflakes, no two are a like and you wonder how mother nature made them. Before and after photos :

I and my wife have been very fortunate in the area we search for gold for the last thirty years. The type of specimen gold we find be it only one or several pieces we would consider that a successful trip as most specimens are mostly sub gram, maybe a gram or more and a occasional grain in size. The type of gold specimens varies between wire, leaf and sponge in character. Being small in size and weight the gold specimens command very high prices. With that being said, I and my wife enjoyed the thrill of the hunt, the beautiful mountain surroundings and the possibility of finding one or more specimens, the monetary value was always secondary. We have never sold any of the gold specimens we had found until last month. The gold specimens were sold to a gold dealer and I committed to an exclusive arrangement where he has the option of buying all future gold specimens I have before I contact other gold dealers. Here's a few I cleaned up recently and will be coming up for sale:

Here's a link to website that might have more information on your thimble. Silver Thimbles

I have a question Steve. In the low tone normal, high difficult setting does the audio response change enough where surface targets are loud or stronger and deeper targets are weaker in audio? What I'm getting at is can you possibly cherry pick with the audio response like the TDI ?

Yes she is doing well. She had the minimally invasive anterior surgery procedure done. The doctor that did the procedure says that is his preferred way of doing a hip replacement because he does not have to disturb the muscles that hold the hip’s ball and socket in place, there is less risk of the hip dislocating post-surgery. The surgery was about forty minutes long and they had her up and walking in three hours. She had to stay overnight even though they consider it a out patient procedure. She did rent a machine for two weeks (even though insurance didn't cover it) called a "NICE" machine and it helps with the healing and recover process. The machine provides ice and compression therapy via a wrap around the hip and thigh area. The doctor said her hip was bone on bone and in pretty bad shape. She now is walking around fine and she goes to her first follow-up visit this Thursday. Doctor says the normal rehab is about six weeks. Here is the website of the doctor that did the surgery and it has a lot of good information: https://coloradohipkneedoc.com/?utm_source=GMBSocialClimb&utm_medium=Dr.TylerR.Bron,MD