Silver, Gold & Diamonds, Oh My!

[Lunk]

Had a couple hours to kill this afternoon, so I took the Equinox to a park here in sunny Arizona that I’ve not been to before. Typically, my goal on these time-constrained forays into the parklands is to cherry pick the higher conductive targets in hopes of finding a silver coin. But this time I decided to also dig targets that fell within the nickel range of the EQX. The first target was a shallow 20-21 signal; yep, you guessed it - a stinkin zincoln. Next up was a 13-14...could be a nickel, but most likely a pop can tab...sure enough, it was a can tab. Swinging along, next signal was a solid hit at 24-25; at 4 inches, out popped a 1963 D copper Lincoln cent: cool, definitely some hope for silver. After digging another pop tab, I got a strange deep signal that would bounce around from 25 to 31; a coin spill perhaps? The culprit was down around 10 inches, and turned out to be a corroded 1945 D copper wheat-back penny. Checking the hole and plug revealed no other targets...a total head-scratcher, but even more reason to suspect slver coinage was in the area. Moving on, the Nox responded with a tight 12 on the display. Down around 6 inches was a surprisingly corroded 2013 D nickel. Next was a broken pop tab around the 2 inch mark, then a nice sounding 27-28 ; the silver dime I’ve been waiting for? Nope, just a flattened aluminum scew-top.? Then I get another solid 12 hit at 4 inches. Fully expecting another nickel. I popped the target out of the hole and was flabbergasted to see a gold and diamond wedding ring! At 14 karat, it’s my first ever solid gold ring. I figured that I’d better stop at that point, since there was no way I was going to top that amazing find, but I decided to keep on swinging for another half an hour since I hadn’t found a silver coin yet. The very next target was a deep sounding solid 31, so I’m hoping beyond hope for a silver quarter. Getting down past 8 inches and the pinpointer was sounding off in the bottom of the hole; another couple inches and the target was out...a Washington quarter alright, and a gentle rub revealed the date: 1941...YES! I decided to quit on a high tone and call it a day. What a super awesome hunt, and I couldn’t be happier.?

 

 

 

 

 

[dewcon4414]

We never really saw a lot of gold being found park hunting before.   So this machine has really opened some doors there.  Nice looking ticket there.

[strick]

Nice going there Lunk! Silver and Gold all in one hunt. The way I look at it is every park has gold it's just a matter of finding it. Just look for the bedrock 

strick

[GB_Amateur]

On 1/23/2019 at 1:47 AM, Lunk said:

I got a strange deep signal that would bounce around from 25 to 31; a coin spill perhaps? The culprit was down around 10 inches, and turned out to be a corroded 1945 D copper wheat-back penny. Checking the hole and plug revealed no other targets...a total head-scratcher

In my experience, this is actually a fairly common occurrence for deep copper coins -- ID while (deep) in the ground higher than expected.  It's nice, though, that it is high instead of low.  Low tends to indicate nearby trash (iron in particular) contaminating the copper signal.  The Equinox is pretty good at giving some kind of positive ID, even with nearby trash.

That ring is a beauty!  Also, I'm stuck on one silver quarter over the last 3 years of serious hunting.  Any (solid) silver is good silver, though.  Nice diversion for you when you're not out looking for nature's jewelry.  ?

[Swegin]

Congrats on the gold and silver.   Were you using the stock coil or the 15"?

 

[Lunk]

I was using the stock coil, Swegin.

[NCtoad]

Congrats on your first gold ring!  It's a nice one too being 14k instead of the lowly 10k stuff?

[Cabin Fever]

Great hunt! That’s a sweet ring, and Silver quarters are hard to come by in parks these days. Time to put on the 15” coil hit that park hard! 

Bryan

[mn90403]

Lunk,

Now you have another club badge.  Gold ring club, welcome.

I'll never catch up with you on nuggets and you many never catch up with me on rings!

Mitchel

[BeachHunter]

Congrats on the gold and silver Lunk. Good job!