Glenn in CO

Well you have been finding a lot bottles lately, now you are on a button streak, maybe silver coins next? Great finds, thanks for sharing! 👍

We find these religious medallions quite often in old coal mining camps than anywhere else. Most of the one we find are made out of aluminum and some silver. Nice find! 👍

Hello GB, Well that's an interesting question about photographing my disasters, but I normally say to myself "don't do that again and make the same dumb "@&*!?" mistake!" and try to move on and forget about it. The "disaster" is usually caused by leaving the gold specimen in the acid or chemical I'm using at that time for to long of a period of time or using another cleaning technique to aggressively. The wiregold specimens are a real challenge, especially when you try to completely remove the host rock. Sometimes it's better to leave some host rock to hold the wiregold specimen together. Usually with the the wiregold specimens you have some collateral damage and that ends up going into a glass vial. Here is before and after photos of a wiregold specimen. The specimen before being cleaned was one piece, but now is in two pieces. This specimen I didn't have a whole lot to work with:

Gerry, Thanks for the Minelab hat and the compliment on the gold I've found, but everyone who has submitted photos of their gold specimens on this thread or other posts can be just as proud. Big or small every gold specimen that someone has detected, sluiced or gotten somehow in my mind is unique and one of kind. The fact it is gold and you put in the time and effort is probably the greatest achievement, but the adventure and memories will last forever. I do have some gold specimens that I need to clean and prepare and will pick one and will take anyone who is interested through the whole process. Hopefully that can be a starting point using one or more techniques. Please keep in mind that every gold specimen that I and my wife have found will or has been cleaned and prepared differently or some variation of prepping that was used on other gold specimens. There are to many variables with acids, chemicals and techniques to cover and to have someone try and use for any type of gold specimens and have success. Also keep in mind that specimens can take hours, a few days and sometimes months to achieve the results one is looking for. I've been doing cleaning and prep for over thirty years and I'm still learning.

Very nice assortment of finds from your several outings, especially the seated quarter and lock. Thanks for sharing! 👍

Nice navy button, looks like you had a great button kinda day! Thanks for sharing! 👍

Really nice gold specimens you got there, and all gold specimens are pretty to me! 👍

Here's a few more you might like:

Backyard Treasure Hunt - UK

Here's a link that sells the different shapes and sizes of those pendants: http://www.andjewelry.com/Products/coin-edge-lockets.html

Hello oneguy, Thanks for the compliment on the photography, that's one of my other hobbies. On prepping the gold specimens some do well and stay intact and others do not. Fortunately the acid dissolves the host rock slowly and it allows you to monitor the progress and you can decide whether to continue or not. I've had some disasters where I should have stop with the acid treatment, but that's part of the learning process. Here's some before and after pictures of the gold specimens with the acid treatment:

Gerry and oneguy, you both have some outstanding specimens. Thanks for sharing! Merry Christmas to everyone else on the forum! Here's my 12 days of Christmas:

When you are on gold like that it sure makes it fun! Keep the streak going and keep us posted. 👍

Very nice quartz and gold specimens! WTG 👍

Very nice find! Just think of the stories it could tell. Thanks for saving history!

Looks like pyrite to me. If it seems brittle using a knife when you scrape the outside it's probably pyrite.

You guys are having a great year, at this rate you will need a warehouse to put all the bottles & jugs in! Thanks! for the video and photos👍

Always take PI and Vlf where ever we go and have a backup in case we have a detector that has issues. That goes also for extra coils ,rods, pinpointers, etc. If you drive any distance and not be prepared for what could happen, would question why even bother to go. I can understand if you can only afford one detector, but if that's not the issue if you have extra detector(s) why not pack them along.

I and my wife started out with White's Goldmaster II and we've had every version ending with the GMT. For the area we hunt for gold specimens these detectors have worked really well. Unfortunately a PI detector will not detect some of the gold specimens. Here are the gold specimens we found first year detecting with the Goldmaster II:

When I and my wife stayed there a few years ago at the trailer park in Meadview we met a lot of prospectors who were there for the winter. Seems like most of them were very helpful and wouldn't hesitate to give advice or areas to prospect. They also seem to look out for each other. Maybe things have changed and no longer true. We also had a great time at the Lake Havasu Gold Seekers camp which is in the Franconia area.

You and Lunk are on the gold, WTG!

I as well look forward to the winter months to read about your next nuggets you have found and the story and photos that go with them. Can't wait for the next one! Thanks for sharing!

Nice gold, beautiful country to spend time looking for gold, can't beat that combination! Thanks! for sharing!

Wow, just wow! Good to seeing you post again Lunk. Thanks for sharing!

Very nice nugget there Gerry, absolutely beautiful gold crystals. Definitely a keeper! Give us a look again when you get the limonite off and cleaned up. My guess value wise would be in the $800 to $1200 range and that would be retail. A dealer would would give you half of that amount or a little more. I've seen a Round Mountain gold specimen that has smaller crystals that is 1/2" inch in size, 1 gram in weight retailing around $225. Here's one of mine that was appraised a couple years ago that is about 1/2" x 3/8" in size and 1 gram in weight. The value was $1100, again that is retail.