normmcq

 I just bought an 800 and now am looking forward to learning it Are there any particular threads on this forum that would shorten the learning curve? Thanks in advance.

                                                                                                                                                 Norm

 My only regret upon finding this specimen is that I didn't find thousands of pounds of them, so I could have given all of you one!

                                                                                                                                           Norm

Great job!    You must have had many sleepless nights working on that. I would love to see it in operation.

                                                               Norm

Thanks for sharing that video, My wife and I have been to a lot of those places but we need to do more exploring. One can't fully appreciate the hard work and effort of the miners until you see some of those places and the size of some of the equipment they used.The transportation system back in their day was pretty basic.

                                                                                              Norm

 Lunk

 I didn't mention it, but that nugget with the black matrix came from Gold Basin.

 Northeast

 I am including a picture of my Arizona finds for the winter and them on the scale.

 Mitchel

 The heaviest nugget came from the Quartzsite Metal Detecting Club Claim.                                                                                                                  I didn't get the box full, but have the bottom covered now!

 Lunk

  Not the least bit magnetic and the black seems to be very hard. I sure wish now I had taken some geology classes when I was young enough to learn something.

                                                   Norm

 I really don't know what the matrix is, if you expand the picture you can see small shiny faces. They look crystalline in structure. As to the weight, it is only 1.71 grams. a little creative photography gives it some size

                                         Norm

 I just got back home yesterday from wintering in Arizona and am now seemingly a prisoner in my own home due to the virus. I was able to go out detecting many times with only a few skunk days. The last day out, I found this specimen that is quite different from anything I had found before.

                                                                                                                          Norm

 Great finds Chris, looks like you have almost found your Jeep!

 I didn't know you have those skills too, Beatup nice blades!

                                                                   Norm

Miner John lost everything in the "Camp Fire"

  I hope he able to get back to work

                                                                  Norm

 Mitchel

 California gold, still a few weeks from leaving.

 I recently detected an area close to some prospect holes, all of the usual finds, pieces of old tin cans, the broken end of a pick, shell casings, bullets, logging wire and finally a nugget. After finding the first nugget, I really slowed down and very carefully covered the area. The nuggets seemed to be in almost a straight line below a prospect hole. I thought I covered the line carefully, but returned for a second try and found one more piece, the one in the middle. Always detect around the rims of the holes and the adjacent areas.

I hate square nails, especially when I dig them at the two foot level. Just a word of caution, it is not ok to keep them if they are found on Federal Land.

                                             Norm

Glad to see you out Frank,       Great finds

                                                         Norm

 Recently my detecting friend went back to Canada to visit his parents. He is an avid detectorist, he took his detector with him to try and get some Canadian silver. He spent some time in the local parks and managed a silver dime.................... a U.S. Rosie.  We laughed and laughed about that.

 This week I went to a local reservoir that was built in the late 20's. The power company that controls the lake level always lowers the water this time of the year for flood control and this year it is lower than normal for this time of year. In the past, I have found several silver coins on the shore line and I thought this trip might yield another one. I decided to hunt the area inside the marina that is exposed. you might have guessed it, I got what my friend went looking for.

 Great find!  Still looking for my first Indian Head

                                         Norm

That is a great coin!

Looks like some kind of reed, some kind of musical instrument?

                                                     Norm

I think Mitchel found a very nice sun baker!

 Have a great trip Steve and Dennis, I hope your good luck continues!

                                           Norm

Knowing that my coin would never be graded as a very expensive coin although very desirable, I decided to make it look better for my personal viewing. I looked at a lot of U tube videos and read several things about cleaning silver without damaging the object. Just wanting to know the outcome before trying the method on my coin,. I tried it on other objects. I settled on using cotton balls, Q tips and non abrasive Carnuba oil auto polish. This didn't seem to leave any scratches, only cleaned and polished it. As you can see, all of the scratches and marks from being in the ground for about 140 plus years are still there.

Great finds Steve!

Thanks for the Eagle Eye GB, I completely missed that mint mark.

                                                Norm

I asked and got permission to hunt an old yard in the older part of town.  I was told that it had been detected several times over the years and a $20.00 gold coin was found there about twenty years ago. I said that technology had gotten better and I would like to try my chances. I was very pleasantly surprised with this coin