Night Hunts = 3 Golds

[Compass]

As other members here have observed, we had a little sand movement at some local beaches. I didn't know that when I drove down with my TDI BeachHunter the first night but I knew the tides were favorable so I was hoping for some recent drops, at least. When I got down to the wet sand, the moonlight allowed to see some small cuts in the beach with some nicely angled slopes highlighted with streaks of black sand.

Shortly after turning the detector on I started hitting targets with about every other step. I was digging so much trash that I started thinking that a non-pulse detector might have been a better choice. However, I was finding a few lead sinkers and clad coins and within the first hour I scooped out a nice sized men's ring which looked like the right color and felt good in my hand. A short time later I added a beautifully blackened silver band to cap off a relatively short but productive hunt.

In my car I was able to make out a "14K" stamp on the gold ring. 

On the second night I picked up right where I left off the night before. I stayed with the TDI even though I knew that I would be digging lots of trash. I just love the way it belts out a tone on even small targets and soon dug a "soft" sounding signal that turned out to a medium sized gold chain that was stiffened from the time spent in the elements, an apparent sign of a lower carat chain. Over the next 6 hours I was digging non-stop finding lots of clad coinage, trash and jewelry although most of the jewelry was costume jewelry with a few pieces of silver in the mix. I had found 6 rings by this time but all were junk save one thin, wire silver ring.

The sun had risen, the tide was rising, people were starting to show up and my second battery pack was nearing the end of its charge so I started working my way up the coast towards my car. Walking through areas I had hunted earlier in the dark I was finding a few more targets here and there and acquired a nice tone in the wet sand. A couple of quick scoops and I was staring at an unbelievably bright gold ring sticking out of the wet sand.

Now I have found a lot of gold rings before but I don't know if any of them rivaled the sight I was currently witnessing. The color of the ring was impossibly rich and I could see that it was beautifully crafted. I was tempted to take a picture with my cell phone but there were so many people around that I decided against it. I picked it up (felt glorious in my hand) and calmly put it into my zippered pouch. I dug one more target before my battery died, a "SOG" multi-purpose tool which was still in pretty decent shape.

The third hunt was pretty uneventful  as the sand had filled back in pretty noticeably. Another St. Christopher medal and small tungsten ring were the best of it.

As you can see in the last picture, the ring is stamped "21K" which is almost 90 percent pure gold. It and the gold ring from the night before weigh about 7 grams each. The gold chain weighs a little over 6 grams and was challenging to clean. Oxidation occurred on the back of each link where soldering had, apparently, taken place. Perhaps a hand made chain??? It also had a couple of knots that were frozen in place. 10K gold often becomes brittle after being in salt water for some time and sure enough, I snapped off about 2 inches from one end while trying to loosen up the links.

Sorry for the lengthy post but thanks for reading! GL&HH! 

[dogodog]

Great finds Compass, The F on that ring stands for fabbuloso. Sometimes the late bird finds the worm!!!

[matt]

That 21k ring is a beauty! The color looks fantastic.

[Dances With Doves]

 Great hunts.It seems you have a compass to find treasure.

 

[tvr]

Love that 21K ring! You had a great couple of nights!

[mn90403]

Those are some great hunts and better results.  I'll give it a try again tonight.

This brings up a point that I sometimes make.  We all talk about hunting the 'low tide' when in fact we are hitting the cuts that happened at HIGH TIDE.  If the waves were right some of the heavies didn't make it up to the cut and we find them in mid-beach.  It is actually rare for me on my beaches to find the good stuff in the negative tide area.  It is up on the very high plus side (with good waves at that time) where I find more.

Mitchel

[Joe Beechnut OBN]

Love the 21k also! Nice design and high K!!

Like you I''ve questioned my choice of machine..but most of the time by days end I'm Happy with the choice I made.

[Compass]

1 hour ago, Dances With Doves said:

 Great hunts.It seems you have a compass to find treasure.

 

Thanks Dances With Doves, It may seems that way but I usually only post when I have my better hunts. But, since my recent retirement I have been metal detecting a lot more. I also, usually,  try to go to the beach only when the combination of tides/swell/wind make the conditions promising for sand movement. Fortunately, I have some productive fresh water hunting grounds when the beach is slow so, all in all, my chances of finding treasure have improved this year.

[schoolofhardNox]

Beautiful hunts. Sometimes you just hit it right and have great results. Other times you try very hard and just get clad 😄 That's the fun of detecting for me. Waiting for that gold moment is addicting.

[Compass]

39 minutes ago, mn90403 said:

Those are some great hunts and better results.  I'll give it a try again tonight.

This brings up a point that I sometimes make.  We all talk about hunting the 'low tide' when in fact we are hitting the cuts that happened at HIGH TIDE.  If the waves were right some of the heavies didn't make it up to the cut and we find them in mid-beach.  It is actually rare for me on my beaches to find the good stuff in the negative tide area.  It is up on the very high plus side (with good waves at that time) where I find more.

Mitchel

Thanks Mitchel, Even though I've been hitting the beaches pretty regularly the last 10 years I'm still learning things about the beach most every time out. The impacts of tides, swell and wind on sand movement is something that even experts seem to not fully understand. I certainly don't either but from trial and error I am starting to get more consistent results as I become more familiar with the places I hunt whether high on the slope or the negative tide area.