5 Gold Rings, 1 Chunky 22ct

[TTT2866]

Hi all. Lost my password, couldn't be bothered resetting it lol so I've just been lurking on the work PC for a few weeks. 

Been out heaps this year - I'm up to 53 rings for 2024 so far, mainly thanks to a couple of untouched washouts that I accidentally uncovered. One of the first hunts for the year produced 24 rings, I'll post that in another thread. The very first water hunt for the year, back around Jan 5th, ish, produced 5 nice gold rings, including my 3rd, and biggest 22ct ring.

I nicknamed this one "Boggle-eye", it looks very steampunk. What an odd design though? Our jeweller said it looks to be a natural emerald and natural ruby, but the ring has been crudely modified and the second stone was added at a later date, you can see 1 stone was set nicely but the other was simply "attached" with a bezel. Maybe there was a matching smaller stone that broke? 

It's hallmarked "22ct KDM".

Fun fact, KDM is short for Cadmium which was only used in jewellery for a short time and is now banned in India due to being toxic when worn/worked with. From memory, it's the solder that contains it, not the gold alloy but I could be wrong on that. Either way, I'm scrapping it and reusing the stones. 

The day started out quiet, I bumped in to another fellow prospector snorkeling in the water using his Excal who managed to snag a ring as well. I was using the Manticore w/ 11" coil. The area was a flat sandy clayish rocky area which always holds lots of coins and jewellery. I used to dive it with my Nomad but with all this sand movement and calm water lately, it's really easy to snorkel there and just duck dive for each target which is awesome! Might be a bit different in winter though.  The area photographed below is from months ago when I dived it with the D2 - it's very similar now but way more open instead of just the odd small opening in the sand. 

Also, not to knock the Deus too hard but... this Manticore is an absolute beast. D2 was super unstable and struggled to pick up a lot of targets due to how much iron was there. The Manticore has been an absolute dream to use. So stable and has incredible depth - the WG ring in the middle was about 1ft down in sand and still rang up beautifully. Highly recommend. 

Thanks for reading. HH

 

[midalake]

OUTSTANDING!!!! 

[Valens Legacy]

Beautiful score on the rings.

Good luck on  the next outing.

[TampaBayBrad]

A hunter's dream! Wow. 53 rings in a month. I would be out hunting every day until the place dried up. Another vote for Manticore. Great story, happy snorkeling!

[Rick N. MI]

Amazing rings.

[CalReg]

Sweet! Nice to see someone out there finding gold at the beach!

[okara gold]

Now that's a nice-looking ring! Congrats on all the great finds.

[TTT2866]

On 2/7/2024 at 4:22 PM, midalake said:

OUTSTANDING!!!! 

 

On 2/7/2024 at 6:16 PM, Valens Legacy said:

Beautiful score on the rings.

Good luck on  the next outing.

 

On 2/7/2024 at 9:11 PM, TampaBayBrad said:

A hunter's dream! Wow. 53 rings in a month. I would be out hunting every day until the place dried up. Another vote for Manticore. Great story, happy snorkeling!

 

On 2/8/2024 at 7:15 AM, Rick N. MI said:

Amazing rings.

 

On 2/8/2024 at 8:55 AM, CalReg said:

Sweet! Nice to see someone out there finding gold at the beach!

 

On 2/8/2024 at 10:38 AM, okara gold said:

Now that's a nice-looking ring! Congrats on all the great finds.

Thanks all! Went back and got a few more goodies nearby 😄

The ring with the writing all around it is 9ct but rang up SUPER high when buried. Only a 60's signal when uncovered. Thought it was gonna be silver lol 

young Q.Vic shilling was a surprise, not many old coins turn up here. 2 18k and the rest are 9k. The "sun ring" was a lone signal a few days after, ringing up at a low 30's and about 30 meters away. 14ct gold which is very uncommon here. Looks very solid but was about 4 ish grams only as it's hollow underneath. 

 

Anyhow, I've replaced my missing GoPro so stay tuned for some videos this year! 

[schoolofhardNox]

You have some stellar sites to hunt. It just shows how different a hunt can be when you are in an area that possibly has never been hunted before. It also shows how nature can expose layers that we did not think existed anymore. Great hunt!

[rvpopeye]

Great haul , again ! The beach that keeps on giving...🤩