Glenn in CO

9 hours ago, oldcoinhunter said:

So, how did you clean it?

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 just love the characteristics of NV gold.

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.

4 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

Glenn in CO - What I so much envy about you and even more than the amazing gold you recover, is that you get to do it with your favorite detecting partner by your side (your wife).  You belong to a very elite club there my friend and please hug her, praise her and really let her know how lucky you two are.  Now on to that beautiful gold, your abilities of proper cleaning has reached a new level and as a guy who has found my share, I'm envious of your attention to detail.  Yes the pursuit/hunt and the surroundings of it are usually the most overlooked by many... but yet is the biggest reason we're out there.  The gold is usually secondary.  Now you keep doing what your doing and letting us see a little on occasion, golden dreams.  Thanks for providing input and drool material.

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

On 9/7/2021 at 10:42 AM, Steve Herschbach said:

The GPX 6000 has one bit of magic for this task. The Normal/Difficult ground setting button. It allows a change in the tone response by simply pressing a button. I do not know the details of Normal vs Difficult, but it changes the timings enough to flip the tone response on many targets. I found I could use it to get four different target classes.

1. Hi tone normal, high tone difficult = Aluminum foil, misc aluminum, wire, most bottle caps, misc small ferrous - low VDI targets. Small gold.
2. Hi tone normal, low tone difficult = Nickel range targets, larger aluminum. Larger gold.
3. Low tone normal, low tone difficult = Zinc penny range targets. Even larger gold.
4. Low tone normal, high tone difficult = Quarters, dimes, copper penny, high VDI targets, nails (larger ferrous). Silver rings.

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 ?

9 hours ago, IdahoPeg said:

Hope your wife has a speedy recovery! Do you know if she had the minimally invasive anterior approach?

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

On 9/3/2021 at 8:03 AM, IdahoPeg said:

I’m looking at a Hip Replacement in the near future

I and my wife were in Alaska in May and her left hip was really bothering her and she was having a hard time walking. I told her when we got back home she needed to see a doctor. They gave her shot in her hip and that only lasted a few days and the pain was getting worse, so she had a hip replacement two weeks ago, so now she's on the mend. We haven't been able to do any detecting of any kind the whole summer, but hopefully in a few weeks we might get some nugget hunting trips before the weather sets in high country.

Great story, photos and gold! Thanks for sharing.

On 8/30/2021 at 2:51 PM, GB_Amateur said:

Some of the buckles are chrome plated which I assume (but don't really know) means they are fairly recent, meaning 20th Century.

The buckles might be nickel plated which would make them older.

Great finds and story, thanks for sharing!

Nice nugget there Gerry, WTG!👍

Great write-up and helpful tips. Congratulations on finding gold in a new area you haven’t been before. Can’t wait for part two!

Very nice gold and successful with your new detector. WTG!

Very nice gold and the right combination of knowledge, detectors and tools for a successful trip. Well done!

Glad to hear you’re trip to Alaska went well, hopefully you will share some stories and photos of the chunky stuff you found.

Great write up! Ghost towns are tough to hunt, but can be very rewarding. My wife found a 1899 $5 Gold Coin on a club outing at a coal mining town in southern Colorado, I'm still tying to find mine!😄

GPX 6000

Equinox 800

Minelab 6” round coil $179.00

Save the rest for fuel and grub, which at today prices won't last long!

I read your post on Monte's site and sounds like you and your sister had great time. Ghost towns are tough to hunt, sometimes it's the amount time you put in hunting a site and the layout of the town to get the good finds.

My wife and l would like to make one of the outings in the future.

Enjoy your new ride, sounds sweet! Good luck on your upcoming adventures.👍