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Hi everyone, I wanted to start a new thread so I could update everyone. As you know I lost a gold ring in 1981 and have been hunting for it for 40 years, here go’s. I went out Friday night and Saturday night until 10:00 pm and continued my grid search and marked promising signals with wooden stakes. I went back to the yard Sunday and began digging what I had marked with no luck, it was all junk. As I got further and further out into the yard the targets got fewer and fewer and I couldn’t imagine the ring could be that far away so After about 3 hours of searching I moved back up to where I had always thought I had lost the ring, up near the fence. I spent another hour or so digging the few questionable signals that were left and this time using mainly the vanquish and pinpointing with the Tesoro because I have a hard time pinpointing on vanquish. I scanned over a spot I had crossed over literally hundreds of times and I got a faint signal of an 8 on the vanquish and occasionally jumping to 9, I circled it and it was faint but solid 8 and the depth gauge had all the segments filled, it was very deep. I used the pinpoint and dug and come up with nothing, I scanned the hole and still had that faint signal so I got the Tesoro and used pinpoint but heard nothing. I decided to dig a little deeper and still didn’t find anything, scanned again with vanquish and still had the signal so I Got the Tesoro and put it in all metal and was able to run sensitivity maxed out. Next I scraped off some dirt off the top so I could get the Tesoro a little deeper into the ground and started scanning and I got a faint/whisper on pinpoint. While I was pinpointing I noticed this time the pinpoint seemed 2-3 inches North of the hole I was digging. I plunged the digger back in the hole and pulled out a shovel or two of dirt and looked in the hole and saw nothing. I pushed the pinpointer into the hole and immediately it sounded off. Now before I go further I want to say that this had happend literally hundreds of times before, maybe only a few times Had they been this deep. I stuck my hand down in the hole and grabbed a handful of dirt and when I pulled it out I saw it....for the first in 40 years I laid eyes on the ring that had twirled off my finger so long ago. I can not describe feeling. From the day I lost that ring it never left my mind, everytime I stepped in that yard I wondered where that ring was for 40 years. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I probably dug 300-500 holes off and on over the years starting back in 1992/93with a Garret freedom two plus, then on to the Tesoro silver then on to the ML vanquish. Why was I unable to find until now? I believe I have a better understanding now after finding it. When I started back in 92 I didn’t have very much knowledge and was digging anything that fell between iron and pull tab. Next at some point my mom had dug up a small row of dirt and planted monkey grass right thru where the ring was so I had at least for the last 5 years when I went out there I could not detect there because of the grass, I thought about this maybe 6 months ago and ran over the monkey grass and it all died out, this allowed me to search on top of it. I believe though the number one reason I could not find it is because of what you guys call “iron masking”...I had swung coil over this exact spot literally hundreds of times and dug trash out of it and within inches of it several times, I think I finally cleared out enough for the ring to come through, it is actually much smaller than I remember and a minor miracle I was able to find it at all. i want to thank everyone that replied because I did everything you guys said but the number one thing was everyone gave me hope, I was literally fearing that I would never find this ring but the reply’s gave me hope. As you can see from the pics the ring probably wouldn’t get me 20 bucks at a pawn shop but it is priceless to me, my grandfather was born in 1915 and this was his childhood ring and now I don’t have to live with the regret that I Lost it or wonder the rest of my life what happend to it. One more thing, when I lost the ring I mentally logged in my mind where it fell off and vowed to never forget it and find it one day...after 40 years it was exactly where I thought it always was....right where if fell of 40 years ago. I’m not exactly sure how but the ring was probably 9-10 inches deep. Enjoy the pics.

Guys I lost a ring in 1981 in a very specific spot in my parents yard when I was 14. I bought a Garret freedom two in about 92 and could never find it. I bought a Tesoro silver about 5 years ago and still couldn’t find it so I thought I needed a detector with a digital readout so I bought a Minelab vanquish. The area I lost the ring in is probably no bigger than 15x25 feet and I have taken probably 150 items out of the ground in that small area nails, screws,, nuts, bolts, coins, tinfoil etc...My parents passed and the house is going up for sale this Thursday. With the Tesoro I usually would set the disc at the iron and then thumb the knob to just pass pull tab and anything that got choppy or disappeared From foil to tab I dug. I bought the Minelab and have used jewelry mode and dug anything that registered 0-25 I dug and to no avail. A lot of times I will get a signal and the signal might be 15 then -3 or minus 4 and I have dug all of those. I have dug so much that their is literally nothing left that gives a clean signal, I am literally now in all metal mode and trying to dig everything, I even called a guy from ringfinders and he said he probably couldn’t find it and didn’t want to look for it. I was a skinny 14 year old when in lost it so it’s. Its not a huge ring but it was big enough to have the letter “R” engraved on the front, I guess it’s called a signet ring. Can anyone on here give me any suggestions as I am not that experienced using metal detectors. The ring is purely sentimental value having been my grandfathers, then my fathers and then mine. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have also searched further out into the yard thinking possibly the mower had flung it out in the yard but still nothing. Help please.

It's weird how your luck can change week by week.. Last week started off great with a gold ring and finished even greater with a diamond bracelet.. But so far this week it's been nothing at all.. except a 5 cent piece and a load of bottle tops, pull-tabs and aluminium foil etc.. But this is not what makes it weird, the weird thing is that this week comes at the end of the school holidays and a long-weekend public holiday.. It's been a long time since there's been so many people on the island, you couldn't wish for a bigger crowd.. And yet, nothing.. 😬

I went out tonight to a local football field with the exclusive goal of digging a gold chain. Before going out, I looked on this forum to see what numbers I should be looking for. I came across this (thanks 😊) and used the +4-5 range as my target numbers. I know gold chains can come in other numbers, but I had about an hour to detect. While all the numbers in that range turned out to be aluminum, I ran across a solid 9 and had to dig. While it is not a chain, it's the next best thing. I scanned around the pendant, but all the +1-4 targets were foil and aluminum. I always use Park 1, but tonight for kicks, I used Park 2. Not sure it made the difference, but I have been over that area with Park 1 in the past. Park 2, 7 recovery, 17 sensitivity, all metal, 15" coil

Hunted a fresh drop beach Tuesday, now that they are open all day. Tides were low and water was calm. I was able to get into a area where no one had been and got a 14k wedding band. The other two (10k white golds) were closer to shore, no doubt recent drops... (One scoop) When I dug the first, I said gold but never seen a mark and figured it was junk.. until I got to my car and seen both stamped 10k.. The place was hammered good but there were areas still un-hunted after being open a week.

How y’all doing? I appreciate you working with me and I know this question is going to start a frenzy or the opposite in reaction of here we go again probably but I gotta ask - -I been detecting for several years but haven’t got as serious as I’m about to ! - I’ll be hunting in Kentucky dirt and around the natural lake beach’s in like creek sand not beach sand ( locals call them beach’s but it’s just creek sand in abundance by the lake shore for people to swim and dream of the real beach LOL. - I plan on spending around 6-800$ give or take a little. - what’s the best detector I can buy to concentrate on lost gold and silver jewelry….. if I have to pick one let it be gold . I want to concentrate on finding lost gold jewelry. Period. If there are other coin snd relic options on it then I’ll use them probably but I stress gold jewelry lost in the Kentucky ground. Can we decide on one that’s best for that ? Again thank you very much I appreciate yalls time and I will be an avid member for videos and stories. Just saying your comments are taken seriously. Thanks again

I made topic in wrong place so I just deleted it sorry

Out with my buddy Mike in rough waters the other day. Eight silvers and One Old gold marked ... "Sept 29-99" Silvers in bad condition due to being submersed in the bay for many years. Being able to hunt "IN" rough water with a silent running machine allowed me to pull very faints targets normally not heard unless the water is flat. Conditions were 16 to 18 mph winds, choppy water. No falsing while swinging and no noise with the water slapping the machine at any level. I did notice after a few hours hunting I was getting a little noise at the end of my swing (right).. but realized it was from me getting sloppy with my swing. Coil control can really affect the performance. Mike and I over the years have talked and shared ideas on how to improve the xcal ........... this idea finally came to light...Stealth Xcalibur More changes are planned, working on another coil for it right now.

As many of you know, we have been having some good tide swings for the Summer Solstice full moon! Also called a "strawberry moon" here! I went out to one of the renurishment beaches to look for some good sand loss! This particular beach has a limestone shore that "they" feel the need to cover with unnatural "beach" sand, for the "skin roasting" tourist traffic! The ironic thing is, most tourists come to explore the craggy limestone beach!🤯 Luckily for everybody, the sand mostly disappears fast on the lower beach! That, coupled with the extra low tides, makes for fun for most everyone! It's always a tough choice to pick one or two spots to hunt in such a limited timespan! I was hoping to get some old silver, or jewelry from this area with my limited time! But forgot my all important screwdriver, for prying out the older targets from the limestone cracks! I improvised with what I had, but it increased my recovery time, as i was having to pry most of my targets free with a piece of aluminum junk I found! I did not find any silver or jewelry this time, but I did find a nice bronze spike, stuck under a ledge, that had to be worked out of it's sand and shell wedged cubby hole! And some more modern coins that were practically grown into the cracks! Sorta reminds me of how some of you all recover nuggets in a river or stream area! Gotta have the right tools, or it's near impossible! Anyway, if fishing lead were gold nuggets, I'd be doing a seriously silly happy dance! But as is reality, I'll just add the 15-20 ounces to my lead bucket for other uses! Some had been lodged in the rocks a long time! My best find was that spike! As I've never found one in that area! Also a few small pieces of copper sheathing! So the source may someday give up something more precious!👍👍 ***Note to self,😵 and others: Never use your scoop as a prying tool, or a hammer!🤬 I broke the handle, although not fully; so I was very careful for the rest of the hunt! If I didn't already have a replacement at home, I would get one of Steve G's carbon fiber ones! Well; next one!!😁

Was out to a local park for a couple hours toward evening today in the FL heat and humidity. This silver pendant rang in as a 22-23 on the Equinox using Park 1, 50 tones, 17 sensitivity, all metal, using the 15" coil. I had high hopes when I also got a "golden" ring than was a solid 20. Sadly, all that glitters is not gold.☹️ Cleaned up lots of aluminum bits so I won't have to dig them next time!

I'm visiting family and went to a middle school track today where I found a 14k tiger pendant last year. Within the first 10 minutes there was a strong 11 on the Equinox. I didn't really have to dig because the ring was only down about 1/2" due to not sinking into the ground because the blacktop track was under the grass right at the edge of the inside lane. Didn't find much else besides coins after that. Might anyone have an idea what the stones might be?

Was detecting today around a pond that is used by many people. I had one hour, and the 15" on the Equinox was flying. I hit a strong 35-36 which caused my legs to lock up and reverse to make sure of the initial sound. Decided to dig it because it was not indicating it was big when I raised the coil. It was dark enough that I thought it was a silver ring until I got home. I've considered trying to make one of these, and this might be the impetus.

I saw some waves last night and thought I'd get in a wet beach detect today before I drive to a one day desert hunt in the Southern California mountains. I didn't know what to expect and I didn't find very much of interest but I did find this pendant. Does anyone know anything about it and what the symbols and writings mean? I'll do an image search and post what I find.

This morning was the first time in 6 weeks that I’ve had a chance to hunt my local beaches at Alma Bay and Horseshoe Bay.. I didn’t bring a detector with me to Canberra where I was helping out after my old man had a hip replacement.. Being away from the island has turned out great as for the first time in years I dug everything.. At these beaches I usually disregard low target IDs on the Nox800, anything below 13-14 nearly always results in pull-tabs, bottle tops or bits of foil (or 5 cents).. I got into the very bad habit of switching to ‘coin mode’, where I look for low 20s to shoot 1 and 2 dollar coins (50 cents usually reads 17 and 20 cents reads 16).. But the sheer joy of getting back into it made me dig every target.. I’m both very happy I did and kicking myself for not always doing so.. At Horseshoe Bay I found a chunky gold necklace (585 hallmark) and at Alma Bay a little gold ring (375) with little purple stones (maybe amethyst?).. And a fist full of dollars.. It’s really made me wonder what else I’ve left behind.. The necklace rang in at 3-4 and the ring at 11, both were just below the surface in wet sand.. It felt as if they were waiting for me to find them, since I’ve been away we’ve had the Easter holidays and 2 public-holiday long weekends.. These are usually good times of the year to get out early in the morning to hit those beaches, and the island's other beach hunters know it too.. But I haven't been so lucky with the bling bling in a long time, it’s definitely back to digging all targets..

So, I really like the Makro Gold Racer. I keep finding more things about it. Recently, I found a really tiny 14k gold chain visually, just lying on the ground. I had my compadre and it couldnt pick it up. I took the chain home and tried it on my GR. I had the factory settings, 10 on disc, using Disc 2 the deeper one, and tone break at 30. Nothing, I couldn't get it to detect it. So, while I was waving this chain in front of the 10" DD coil I started lowering the disc, I realized the ID number was about 3. So, I experimented with going one number at a time all the way to 0. At 1 I could get a somewhat clear signal. At zero it was a nice signal. Even the big coil coild pick it up at about an inch. I have been trying to find micro jewelery with no luck. Maybe this is why. I have not used the disc mode in all metal. You see, I really like the clear signal the disc modes give. I have a hard time "reading" the all metal mode. I can really hear the signals in the disc modes. Why is the all metal mode so hard to understand? So very faint target sounds compared to the really obvious ones in disc. So, am I searching in all metal when disc is at 0? It sure seems as deep and sensitive as all metal. I get much more audible info than all metal in my opinion. However, I have to state here, I'm not an expert. I know the all metal has a way of indicating a target with thresh hold sounds too, or, the silence of the thresh hold sometimes on tiny targets. But, it's not as easy as this method. I really could hear this tiny chain this way. Can I hunt just as effectively like this or should I keep trying to learn the all metal mode? What's your opinions? And, please, lets keep this discussion to the Gold racer and those who have one. I'm actually really glad to have discovered this. I'm fortunate to have this chain to test.

I dug another fake Cartier LOVE ring yesterday. Second one dug on this beach. Even though I could not read the hallmark inside the ring (gotta have my cheaters for that) I knew it was just like two others that I dug last year and the year before. I do have one real one though. I dug it last year. All the white gold ones are fake. The gold colored one is real. These are getting to be a little to plentiful. LOL

My buddy, and member of this forum FlySAR has been providing ring finding service for years in the Portland Metro Area. As I learned many ropes from him, I became the RingFinder rep for the Olympia WA area before my move to Houston. Below is the link to a video posted by the Oregonian On-line newspaper on one of his ring finds. I hope you enjoy the ending as much as I did... Congrats Del, I'm humbled and honored to call you my friend.

Now, wouldn't it be nice to find something like this! https://www.thevintagenews.com/2021/02/17/medieval-3/

Had a first today...not a bucket list item, however. As I was grabbing the Equinox handle after being on the ground for a dig, I felt something like oatmeal between my glove and handle. Hmm, strange. A quick glance reassured me that it was indeed poo. Thankfully, it was not the worst I have ever smelt and there was plenty of Spanish moss to wipe with.🤪 After that park was enjoyed, I hit another park that has a small pond and tennis courts. Wasn't sure there was going to be anything there, but nothing ventured... Besides many quarters at that place (24 for the day), there was a good signal. When I pinpointed and brushed the leaves away, there was the ring staring back at me. Although fake, I guess it's better than another round of oatmeal! Please share YOUR favorite run-in with dog Poo while detecting so we can all enjoy and relive the experience with you. Bet there are some really fun ones out there!

I took my son down to a beach between rain showers today. When we got there I saw the beach was favorable for a hunt so when I took him home I turned around and went back. Well, not exactly. I went back and I forgot my scoop and rain coat so I had to go back again! There weren't a lot of targets but I did get a couple of quarters and some indicators but I couldn't really find a pattern/line. I knew I didn't have much time and I was a bit impatient with my 800/15 so I stepped up the pace and said I only want 'good' targets on my way to a beach area that has given me good success in the past. Before I could get there I heard this scratchy 8-9 but it was not solid like a good ring. After a couple of scoops I could see color in the side of the hole. That is not a normal thing for me. I wish I had taken a picture but I just scooped it and looked in the bottom. It was a great color, not as heavy as I would have liked and it reminded me of a cheap ring style. But that color had me hopeful for something real. The rain was coming so I had to turn back. I had gotten in 1.5 hours. When I got to the car I could see 18 C. When I got home I looked up 18 C and it said it could be the same as 18K or 18 ct if the ring was made in a country where English was not the spoken language. It cleaned up pretty nice with my ultra sonic cleaner. It weighs 4.6 grams and is only missing 1 of the stone inclusions. They are faceted but many are very cracked and chipped up so I don't know what they are made of but the ring itself catches light well and sparkles. This was the rainbow on the way home! This was the way it looked before I cleaned it up.

This is quite a video ...

Out today to a local soccer complex that I have detected before. I believe it may have been an auto junkyard because there are tons of signals that sound amazing. It's only after I start digging to the earth's core that I realize it is not a silver coin, but rather a large piece of aluminum trim or car door handle, etc. Nevertheless, I had two signals that were actually good, solid high-tones with repeatable numbers. The 50¢ piece was a 33 id. I thought for sure it was going to be a silver ring, but the coin isn't bad either as I don't find many of those anymore. The next high tone that caused pause was a 37-39 id. It was under a soccer goal, so I'm sure it has been detected before--likely left alone due to it sounding a lot like the rest of the trash in the ground. I also was going to leave it, but when the coil was raised and waived over the signal, the audio trailed off quickly. It was very caked with sand, but some brushing help reveal at least some details. The front looks like the rest of the medals I found online, but the back does not appear to be the same. Do any of you have anymore information about these medals? Also, how does one go about cleaning the crusted sand from the medal(bronze)? I know it could harm it possibly, but it certainly won't be worth anything in its current state. Equinox 15", 7 recovery, all metal, Park 1

Late this afternoon I snuck in a beach hunt. It was very disappointing in the beginning. The conditions were just great with a low tide but there was nothing much down low. I began following the advice I gave Adam about Zig Zagging and it was only producing odd targets. Sometimes the beach just doesn't have much to give you I began to say. When I reached one of my good beaches after about a mile walk and the conditions weren't right it was time to return on the high side. This I did and I worked my way into a few coins rather than just trash and by now I had 3 cheap rings which I would have been 'satisfied' with had I gotten back to my car then but it was a great sunset again. This time I didn't have my phone so no pictures of it. I worked the high side for a bit with a grid and then I heard a little 1. When I say 'little' I mean it was not very loud. It was consistent and I was hopeful. I don't get many 1's so in my first scoop I could see something sandy hanging from it and it had knots. It wasn't exactly balled up but I could tell it was a chain and I was hopeful. I could see it ... GOLD! And when I got it home I was able to measure it. It is 30 inches (a delicate link) that weighs 8.4 grams. That gives me some pause but I'll get it checked and modify the post if it is a fake. Here it is with the other junk from the hunt. Here is a hunt from 4 days ago when there was a lot less than today. Mitchel

This is my first. No one to my knowledge has found one of these. Seems to be more for sleep patterns. $299.... so it’s pricy too. Ouraring.com is the site if u want to check them out. Going to cost me $59 to buy a charger if I want to keep this novelty. Many of the fitness watches are cheaper... but aren’t this waterproof. Down loaded the app but it appears the battery is down on it... or at least I hope. 1 scoop so pretty shallow .... came in loud like a TI ring. Ceramic so it’s light as a feather.

I'm sorry for this silence but I've been out a lot of time, busy at work with deliveries... Months ago I was in a sort of "bubble", unable to take a smart choice on my next instrument for the future... Thanks to some angels here, I found the way to see the light again and the shine too some days ago... I just wanna say here that I wish Happy new year to all of You and a brotherly hug from Italy. Skull