Finding Diamond Stud Earrings, Most Of You Can't... Yet

[kac]

Isn't that 1943 copper penny worth more than all the studs people showing?

Both my pin pointers hit small gold at about an 1/8" away, the ML Pro Find 35 does go hair more but hardly worth counting the lines on my ruler.

Still need to find a stud I can test.

[dogodog]

The penny is a war era penny made of steel. Maybe worth 10 cents ha ha. I finally got my carrot to pick up the link. Turns out my battery was a little on the depleted side. It will only pick it up about an inch from the tip. I'm guessing the minelab pointer would do a much better job. The Mk is a great machine but I think its limitations are small gold. Not saying you couldn't find small gold with it, But a higher KHZ machine would be the ticket. 

[kac]

The ML pointer won't hit a 14k chain clasp much more than 1/8". Not worried because I have found plenty or tiny earings a use the pointers to push the dirt around to see what I got so 1/8" is plenty for me.

That is impressive for the carrot though.

[Steve Herschbach]

If in sand or or other loose material I use a plastic nugget scoop. The White’s TRX is probably the hottest normal pinpointer for small stuff this side of the Falcon MD20.

[Ferrous Grump]

I was fortunate enough to rescue this 1 carat stud that was lost on the beach while flying a kite.  The Excalibur II and CTX-3030 could not read the signal of the matching stud before the search.  The Equinox 800 in Gold mode 1 worked!

[Gerry in Idaho]

On most genuine gold and or platinum with diamond stud earrings, the Xcal and the CTX 3030 will not respond to them, but YES the Equinox does.  As for the pinpointer I prefer selling to the folks who hunt micro jewelry and or small picker nuggets in bedrock, YES it is the White's TRX.  SO many people just assume their detector and pointer will pick up the diamond stud.  Why do they think so?  Because they have found small items and sometimes even stud earrings, but I assure you those are sterling, or brass or other metals.

Here is how I learned about my pointer preference and which ones did the task best:

A few years ago an older wealthy gent called and asked if I was interested in making $500 to find a 1 karat diamond stud earring.  Well that certainly peaked my attention and before you know it, I was on the road with 2 detectors (CTX 3030 and GM-1000) and my trustry pointer.  When I arrived he took me to the back of the house into the Master Bedroom.  This room was huge and all I could remember was the gorgeous view looking down onto Boise, just stunning.  He explained his girlfriend lost the earring when taking off her sweater.  Well ok that sounds logical, heck my wife has had earrings get caught herself.  Then my feet and eyes see one problem as I walk into the room.  I immediately notice there is really really really long shag carpet.  In fact, the longest I had ever seen and he mentioned it was custom.  Boy... is my easy money thinking starting to  dwindle, but I still have my hopes up.   He informs me they already vacuumed the carpet with no luck and they rented a detector with no luck.  He even used a flashlight at night to find any possible glimmer from the diamond and still no luck.  I was the last result before the carpet was to get pulled up and burned?  Boy this earring must have some serious ties is what I was thinking?  Who pulls up a custom carpet and burns it just to get a 1 karat diamond? 

I found out, it was a very sentimental family heirloom and needed to be recovered at any and all expense.  My 1st attempted produced 1 penny, a few bobby pins, a couple small staples and hearing a few nail tacks holding down the carpet with the CTX 3030 and small coil.  But no diamond.  My 2nd attempted was with the more sensitive Gold Monster 1000, but it was to powerful, I kept finding every little tack and staple holding the padding under the carpet and the metal that was holding the carpet too.  At least the Monster was finding what the CTX 3030 missed, but I needed to make some fine tuning.  I had to use a trick I use when hunting for a recently lost ring in a park, turn the sensitivity down so I am only getting targets near the surface.  After 2.5 hours and no $500 in my hand, I was starting to wonder if it was in fact not there, but maybe in the bed, her scarf, sweater or somewhere else.  My $500 payday was dwindling as hopes were fading.

Sometimes you need a change of scenery.  An attractive young lady shows up and I assume it is his daughter.  I tell her all the items my detector has found and that I gave them to her dad.  She then grins/smirks a little and tells me, he is not her dad.  OK...I sure messed that up.  Long story short, I realize now I am speaking to the Secretary/receptionist/mistress who lost the earring.  I ask if I may test her other earring with my equipment.  She happily takes off the earring and lets me test.  CTX 3030 would only hear it if touching and from 1 certain angle.  GM-1000 had no issues and I was most certain it wouldn't, but I was too sensitive.  My orange carrot was the real shocker as it would not hit the diamond stud unless touching and in the 1 exact same angle as the CTX.  What is the chances of finding it now?

At this point, I am lost, but I do decide to ask if I could go get some other detector tools from my place and come back?  No worries, he she tells, me as it needs to be found and I was on a "Only get paid if found" mission.

I arrive an hour later with my TRX pointer.  I ask the lady again if I could test the earring and felt I might have a better chance this time.  Sure enough, the White's pointer responded and I had new hope.

What I ended up doing in the end, was grid a small 2 foot area and I ran the pointer from left to right at the same width and started working down as if painting the side of a barn.  When getting a hit, I'd then use the pointer and separate the shag carpet (like looking for a needle in a hay stack).  After about 45 minutes I'm starting to get an idea of signal strengths of the tacks used and how they are differ from the stud, which was a softer hit.  Well another 10 minutes later and many more false hits, I finally open some shag to see $500.

Yes I did in fact find that 1 karat diamond stud.  What was even more rewarding than the money and the hugs I usually get, was that I learned more about the tools I use for my favorite hobby.  To this day I have found 2 additional diamond stud earrings and both of them were using the NOX-800 and TRX Pointer.

I'm not saying other brand of pointers won't work, but I know what the major sellers of pointers can and can not do.  I have not tested them all and that is why I wanted to see results from other folks and what pointer they use.

Now to be fair.  My favorite pointer overall for most coin/relic hunting is the Garrett Carrot followed by Minelab ProFind-35 with the DISC mode...provided it does not break.  Seems the ProFind 35's have the most issues of the major manufactures.  My White's TRX is my nugget hunting pointer as well as Micro Jewelry.

Just like our detectors, the pinpointers have certain tasks they shine at and some task they are not as useful.  After all, that's why some of us have more than 1 detector right?  So hopefully some of you learned from taking the test and or at least reading this post.

Good luck everyone.

 

[Joel]

Gerry,

Interesting, informative and revealing. Thanks for your post.

[dogodog]

Great story and information, But I just would have worked for tips!!!  Ha Ha Ha, Seriously you always give great insight on how things work. You break them down into terms most people will understand and give real world examples. That's what makes you a great teacher. And that's why I try so many different settings on my MK, Just trying to gain a slight edge in performance. 

[kac]

Was out hunting in the woods and came across this tiny ear ring and first though it was silver but the acid test kit puts it between 10k and 14k so it's white gold. Like an idiot I tried to fix the post that was bent and snapped it off. Figured might as well test it. Post alone is .003oz, ear ring in total is .010 oz. Was buried under some leaves maybe 1" down or less.

Complete the Kruzer hits it good at about 4" with 2 tone mode. about 1 1/2"-2" with just the post and on end at less than 1/2" running 19khz 2 tone. Gen mode barely a whisper. With that I tested the ML Pro-Find 35 and Whites Bullseye2 and both will find the post at 1/8" side ways and just about touching on end at max sensitivity.

[kac]

I wanted to add to this that my AT Pro with 9x12 concentric and Tejon with 9x9 concentric both react similar in depth on this ear ring so nothing out of the ordinary.

So what do they add to gold to make white gold? Is it nickel?