matt

Wow! That's some great finds for 5 years of work! I'm sure with the snow the actual time spent prospecting is much less than 5 years. That 3+ ouncer is a beauty!

Your story is great and makes me feel really good just reading it after a really tough day.

Great hunt and finds! Hope that Cartier is the real deal.

Funny how many fakes are out there. I found one recently and saw it in the scoop. I was really excited until I grabbed it out of the scoop and it was really lightweight.

The Benchmark brand of wedding bands must be popular. The platinum band I found in June was made by them. Until I found it I had never heard of them.

On 1/9/2022 at 8:50 PM, WesD said:

I use the Link made sledge/maul handles when I make my own picks.  Ace hardware should carry them. Fitting them is pretty easy and takes me maybe 10 min. If you have a chop saw and table mounted belt sander, you're good.  Cut the end off where they slotted it for a wedge so you just have a straight handle shaft... Then sand to fit. Rotate the handle carefully while your sanding and keep checking until your close.  Pound it in the tube with some gorilla glue 2 part epoxy or similar, and pin it with a shovel rivet. 

This one or a similar one might work for you.

Thanks for the great post Wes! I broke my Apex handle digging an irrigation trench laden with tree roots a couple weeks ago. Looks like Ace doesn't sell these anymore.

Does anybody know what size rivet we need for the apex pick? I guess I can grind off the old one and measure it when I remove the old handle.

3 hours ago, WoWoguru said:

I have used the Manticore since it hit the market. Heard a lot of complaints about it, winging about the headphone, the complexity, all in one no one had it.

When I got it, I was overwhelmed by the apparent complexity, BUT after a couple of trips I started to experiment with the settings, a wealth of settings, you can change practically everything.

So, because I live in Bunbury and I have detected most of the places available for years I decided to specialize in finding what the others haven't.

It is incredible how much I am finding all over the place, now I started something new, try to detect only specific targets using only a single frequency, so if someone has tried it

please share your experiences.

Can you elaborate on how you are setting up your detector to only detect specific targets?

Well that sucks.

See you soon!

15 hours ago, Doc Bach said:

Did they come out of the ground looking that clean? If not, how did you clean them? Those are really nice!

Wow! Great find and looks really old to my untrained eyes.

Very nice!

Now that's a nice ring! Great find. Way to go fighting the surf, it's hard to do!

I see the little japanese trucks all over Maui.

What a great story and great detective work to find the owners! That is an incredible set of rings, probably worth a great sum of money. I'm sure the feeling of being able to reunite them with the couple is powerful. Good on you!

Steve aka El Dorado does great work and as Gerry said moved to North Carolina a couple years ago. I sent him a pile of placer pickers to make a replica of my platinum wedding band. He did and it turned out amazing. Unfortunately, even insured usps mail my stuff was stolen when he sent it back and usps insurance would not cover it, I even appealed twice and still was denied. We had pictures and proof of everything. Be careful who you ship things with, especially gold.

Damn nice finds! Hope you checked the hole a third time?

Wow that star sapphire is sweat! Nice finds! The shark tooth pendant is a keeper too.

I find the wave rings in Hawaii too. A few in silver and a couple in gold. Not sure if they are real gold though.

Thanks guys!

Yes, I was using a manticore and the id was 54-55 or so. I will double check the id tomorrow.

Spent a couple hours at my favorite beach yesterday and was rewarded with a nice honker of a platinum men's band. Not sure of the exact size or weight yet, but it's probably a 7-8mm regular dome comfort fit between sizes 11-12 and made by benchmark rings. I'm working on locating the person that lost it, but no one reported it at the hotel and it's not on craigslist lost and found. I am really happy for the find, especially since my pt wedding band was stolen in the usps mail last year when I sent it to El Dorado to make an exact copy of it with some my placer gold. Funny thing is that this is the exact same ring as I lost except I wear a size 10 so If I can't find the person that lost it I will try and have it resized. Current retail for $2,240 right now. I know over 20 years ago my wife paid over $3k for the ring that was stolen, but platinum has not risen like gold.

I love the gold! Congrats!

Very nice finds. All of them!

My minelab units came with a clear protective plastic film on them. Peel it off and install the screen protector.

I am planning to go to the Gold Rush Days event in August for a night or two, but not sure if I can make it up next Friday. Might be a good excuse to go up and see how the area did with the heavy winter we had.

Is anybody planning to go in August? I was hoping they would close off upper main street like they do for other events, but probably in the gym so they don't leave vendor merchandise unlocked. Sure would be fun to meet some of the other members of the forum up there!

Check the local craigslist lost and found. Sorry that happened to you.

That's a really fun to see! We see the humpback whales in Maui doing the same type of things. They show up after Christmas to bread and then head back to Alaska in spring time. My wife loves to go out on the pontoon boat trips whale watching. When they go under the boat in that clear water is kind of scary. They are bigger than the boat!

I like that Greatful Dead ring! Let me know if you want to sell it?