King-Of-Bling

If you find one that says 14k FG , it means Fake Gold.

3 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

One good thing a Minelab dealer is the one making the sales not some sporting goods that know nothing of what they selling.

 Chuck 

 PS Who knows the military enlistment may go up just because of this sale.

Doesn't really matter what the dealer knows ( as in the sporting goods guy). It's more important what YOU know , the buyer. And if the buyer don't know jack , he better. Or it's his fault. Those "deals" listed are just the average that ML is running often. Definitely NOT a killer deal.

I like the nugget on the right. It looks just like a sitting dog.

23 minutes ago, TTT2866 said:

a lot! This is only a 7P 0.11ct and it's $12k AUD https://www.pinkdiamondtradecentre.com.au/product/round-diamond-7p-0-11ct/

 

 

 

His "about half carat " diamond has magically grown to 1 carat. Never happened. Lol

1 minute ago, mn90403 said:

He is not going to look it up.  He's going to tell me what it says.  haha  He won't know how to find me.

Hmmm... can't find you , no pictures here either... sounds like this never happened. 🤣. Kinda like 1 of Tom's hypotheticals posts !

1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

I would need something other than a loop to read the numbers.  I'm sure it was a laser, and it is 4 characters long.  It is a very light gray when seen with a loop.  It is very small.  Doesn't seem like a GIA number.  I need to take it to a jeweler.

What happens when the jeweler looks it up and says "I found the owner" and then wants to confiscate it. What will you do then ?

32 minutes ago, Glenn in CO said:

These two websites have a variety of different types of gold nuggets, specimens and paydirt. You can get a idea of what different types of gold nuggets and specimens are going for:

https://goldnuggetsforsale.com/

https://goldnuggetsales.com/

 

 

I've learned a bit about nuggets now. That site does have some beautiful pieces and some big prices. For some who are into that I can see how it is natural art. But I would still like to find something like this , currently on display at the Golden Nugget , Laughlin. Nev.

That's a great question and wondered myself the same thing. I've seen where guys give me this elaborate sales pitch like it's some piece of art. People will only pay what it's worth to them , but Idk as fact. All I'm thinking is melt value when it comes down to it.

1 hour ago, Skull diver said:

For the past three weeks or so, I find myself digging with the Deus 2 any ID from 25 to 80 and above.

An incredible amount of lead and coins and really rarely any gold.

Yesterday morning with my very old Ctx, barely a piece of lead and a coin, but 4 pieces in 4 1/2 hours.

Same spot, third session in a row with D2, Excalibur and now Ctx.

I have no comment on this except that I find the loss of time due to the allocation of low conductors everywhere in the ID scale of Deus 2 unacceptable.

I am also strongly displeased with Xp's dry response that it does not intend to vary the distribution of low conductors with an update.

I may sell shortly...

I would also add that Xp talks about signet rings in that higher ID band, but I have encountered this problem twice now with 18K wedding bands of 6.49 and 6.29 grams each.

Thickness can be a terrible issue on this machine. An expensive issue.

Dump the D2. The wide range of #s is why a few guys( after many attempts) have ditched it here in So.Cal...And we are not underwater hunters like you are. Many factors as you already know  contribute to what gold jewelry will ring up as. Other machines are not immune either such as the Nox. But junk targets (anything not gold) and sucking air/time underwater is of concern. I sure do like my old DF as my sidearm , lol. Btw....nice rings !

On 3/3/2024 at 6:42 PM, Digalicious said:

I hear ya.

Last summer was my first time doing in water hunting. Total was 24 rings and 4 chains. 1 of the chains was silver, the rest were junkers, 3 of the rings were silver, and 3 gold. The remaining 18 rings were junkers (mostly Tungsten). Oh ya, got a few tiny earrings too, but meh.

When I first started detecting 35 years ago, the majority of rings I found were gold. It's a total flip flop now. 

I can't blame the people who buy the TC rings though. If I wanted to buy a ring, that's what I would buy. The TC rings are very unique, and stunning. All for a tiny fraction of the cost of the real thing. Ditto for the gems.

Silver coins are harder and harder to find, and most jewelry is now fake...but beautiful! Due to that and some other reasons, I'm thinking this awesome hobby is going down. Although, I'll never stop hunting until I'm physically unable to do so.

Ahhh......Yes...back in the day ! I remember there was none of this Chineseum garbage around. It was silver , gold and copper. Pretty much in that order. Occasionally I would find gold plated , but because the price of metals/labor was so much cheaper , people could afford the good stuff.

10 hours ago, mn90403 said:

I've hunted that same beach twice in the last 3 days and the majority of what I found was dimes.  There are a lot of zincs and a few quarter but it is not much of a jewelry beach right now.  That little cut was made by the wind waves and it can change at any time but today I took a break.

Yesterday when I was there a guy took an electric bike that you rent into the surf.  He laid it down and then he went for a 'swim' with all his clothes on.  He was loaded or something.  He came back to the bike after about 10 minutes and laid next to the bike and waves were washing over him.  I couldn't let this continue so I propped up my detector and went over to him.  He didn't want me to help him.

I called 911 and waited for someone to show up.  In the mean time another guy went to help and this guy got him and the bike out of the surf.  This was right in front of a life guard station and a life guard who was in his truck.  They apparently knew him.  The other good Smartian got him up to about where you see the detectorist in the pictures above and the police showed up.  I told them I had called and I was told if they had any questions they would come to me if I was still working the area with my detector.

After about 20 minutes of talking to the guy they just left.  The guy refused help from them also.  He was wet, his pants coming off and he was just out of it but they have lots of guys like that that refuse help.  I had been reluctant to try and help him and this is why.  He is not ready and with the drugs he is on he may never be ready.

I'm always on high alert when I go under that pier from 1 side to the next. They are often hiding and lurking in the shadows.

My experience on similar rings like that is SS. Possibly with a heavy plating. Magnet will get a slight attraction to it. Gold , platinum and Palladium will not do that.

Can't believe what I'm reading here. All you guys hiding receipts from the wife , being scared. Man-up I say ! Tell her what your going to buy and that's the end of it. I you got the right one she will be happy for you.

Yes. There is a FB group called Metal Detecting Arizona. A recent post with many pics show a guy and his buddy who repelled down into a shaft. He brings his detector and found a few things. Appears he does this often. Very interesting....

On 12/13/2023 at 7:36 AM, Bill (S. CA) said:

Jeff, I think the answer is the same as always.  Shill testers.  Yes men who want free stuff.  Years ago when I worked with Minelab they would hand me units and tell me that their testers had all signed off on them.  In several cases the prototypes were disasters.  I honestly don't know who they use anymore but back then almost all of their testers were in Europe.  In the U.S. there we only two of us.  

I'm afraid now that Minelab (and Nokta for that matter) are locked into using YouTube idiots to test their products.  They are the new version of shill testers.  The last straight up tester I am aware of was Steve Herschbach on the Axiom.  

If Minelab had any brains they would sign you to an NDA and get you involved. Pfrunt, too.  That is, if you guys wanted to be.  Testing is a lot of work and I don't know if I would do it nowadays.  I spent hours on the phone with engineers in Australia, downloaded dozens of fixes, spent days in the field and wrote up reports after work at night.  All for no pay.   A the end I was allowed to keep one prototype.  The reason I did it was to get a good machine to use (I bought one) and also to do our hobby right so to speak.  

To sum up, I'm bummed like you that the target ID scale isn't better.  That's why I won't buy a 900.  I love my 800 but I really don't use it much in the parks because of the 11 -14 range issue you mention.  I tried to use my Apex instead but it's a tough go in the trash. Actually, right now the Legend is my favorite park detector.   Its TID range is excellent and the numbers are stable.  The bummer is that my Legend is going in for service (won't charge fully) so I am out of options.  I wish I could afford a Deus II but I just can't justify that kind of money.  Gee, maybe I should charge up my old Etrac...if I can lift it!

In regards to the European vs you 2 (known) US testers and them giving the greenlight on prototypes and you seeing major problems : Do you think some of their results vs yours could be the result of locations at all ? Specifically , soil and sand , mineralization , them being across the pond ? Or maybe it didn't matter and they were more biased , idk. 

Another possibility that no one has considered is the sale of the company. I've seen this before 1st hand in business. A classic pump n dump. Could be the major shareholders/Ceo are in on it. ML has been VERY successful the last 5 years and the dollar has been strong compared to the Aussie. What better time to jack up the prices with their proven track record in all aspects and then sell it off ? I can say I told you so next year !😂

On 11/27/2023 at 4:32 AM, NCtoad said:

Here’s my scoop.  Plenty strong (and heavy), but even though it’s small compared to most beach scoops, it’s still way too big to get in crevices between rocks.  Needs a pointy end instead of rounded.  I wish someone with better design capabilities could come up with something just for rocky creeks like this.  

Looks like a Borderline scoop. He can customize and make any type of scoop to your specifications. 

Here ya go ! May have posted this a couple years ago. As I was pulling in to a parking lot to go hunt in Laguna Beach. As I got out there's a crushed 14k , about 8 gram nugget ring. Scrounged around and also found 2 silver rings nearby. Then hunted the beach and found some clad and a Christian Dior ring. Lol

12 hours ago, Skull diver said:

Old beauties to be never seen again in the future 

Years ago I took some gold crosses in to be melted. The guy got all weirded out , saying he couldn't take them. He would be cursed. But I said he has no problem selling them and he says "that's different." Well , my next buyer had no problem. Gold is Gold !

6 hours ago, NCtoad said:

I was thinking CD as Calabash Digger😂

Or Cross Dresser !

Great hunt. Looks like my hunts with the greenies and trash. Bottom ring is Christian Dior. Most are plated , some are solid. Still worth a few $$. I have found several over the years.

I'm impressed by this company in the last year. I wouldn't have said this 3 years ago. Looks like it was a great event. But 1 question ; Does anybody know what the name Nokta means or stands for ?

That's it ? You must be busy writing too many books. Haha ! Nice quality. Not sure if I've ever seen a chain like that before. Very unique. 

Since day 1 , you know it has always been about the gold. Always has , always will. Remember earlier this year when we hunted that big storm for days on end ? You were kinda shocked when we pulled old silver , walkers by the handful up high on the blacksand. It was cool but not a big deal because the gold was down lower...

You had a great hunt ! You found gold ! Is the way I look at it. Regardless of all the tabs and trash. Was it epic ? No. But you still had a great time and scored. Always easy to look back on the whole woulda , coulda , shoulda thing. I don't really agree with you passing up certain signals because TIDS , sounds , tones can be offset by target positioning , depth , masking , etc. But it works for you and you are playing your #s game , I get it. That silver ring almost looks like 2 rings together. Again , great hunt Compass.

Exactly what Rvpop said. Go to the where the water tower is ( you should know where that is) and take a few 5 gallon buckets out. Very black and iron rich. Better yet , take your PIs and swing away. But you gotta go slow and keep the coil a few inches off the sand. Experiment.