Diggin For Gold, And Got A Surprise!

[IronDigger]

I have been nugget hunting seriously for the past 6 years with some fair success and once in a while I would find a relic the prosecutors left behind. These relics compromised primarily of rusty iron, picks, axe heads and shovels. As usual I set out early morning to detect some nuggets when i got this deep tone on my Minelab. I was using my Coiltek 14" mono and I knew by the sound of it that the target was deep. I dug a foot down, than 2 feet..the sound got loud ...but the dirt was compact and hard..virgin ground I thought..another foot down and  perhaps a life changing gold nugget maybe? no gold...damn !! After about a half hour of digging..I pulled out a beautiful piece of a 2 piece Naval buckle. The wreath is sharp, as if it was made yesterday...a gorgeous patina to boot.  After research, I am pretty sure its a 1840-1850's Naval belt buckle, I could be wrong...as I only found 2 examples of it on line and they were reproductions. I think I have a real treasure here, in a historic perspective. I would imagine this sailor probably came to the gold fields from San Francisco, probably went AWOL and set his course to the Sierras in his search for gold. California just became a new State and joined the Union...and now I hold this buckle in my hand. For me this is as good as GOLD !

[Steve Herschbach]

Congratulations on your find. Imagining the story behind funds like these is half the fun!