Compass
Forum Supporter
The swell, winds and tide sounded somewhat promising over the weekend so I headed for the beach early Sunday morning. There were scattered targets here and there and I found one 50 yard stretch of wet sand that yielded about 50 coins but most of them were zinc pennies that were deep. One interesting find from that beach was this Southern California Edison medal:
I decided to try another beach but it was a bust so I left the car there and walked a couple of miles to a remote beach that I haven't hunted in about a year. There was a small cut in the sand at this beach with patches of black sand below it and it was here that I started to find clad-era coinage and rusty trash in about equal amounts.
The good news was that I also started to find lead fishing weights- a sign that other heavy metals such as silver and gold could be in reach.
Unfortunately, it was nearing 11:30am and I only had about 30 more minutes left to hunt. I still had to walk back to the car and make a long drive to make a family commitment that afternoon.
A lot of the targets were shallow- only an inch or two deep, especially those in the black sand. Just before noon I heard a clear, strong signal about 3-4 feet from the cut. One scoop, a quick shake, and there it was. It was like lightning had struck. There in the bottom of the basket was a clean, shining, impossibly yellow looking and BIG circle of gold!
There wasn't anyone nearby so I lifted the ring out of the scoop enjoying the massive feel of it. I could see the stamp on the inside and it read, "18K JABEL". This was the the biggest 18K ring I have ever found!
Funny how I had never heard of "JABEL" until recently when another local forum member Jeff found one.
When I got home the first thing I did was weigh the ring and here is the result:
Some of you may remember my ring return after Labor Day to someone on Craig's List. I don't know if it is "Karma" or "El Nino" or something else but since that time I have been on a pretty good run.
This is my 4th 18K ring since Labor Day. As much as I've seen over the years I'm still a little shocked to find such a nice ring when conditions were not ideal. You just never know in this hobby. Here are the rest of Sunday's finds:
On Monday the winds and surf were really making the news here. Hopefully, some of you SoCal hunters can get out because I think it could be good. Thanks for reading, Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
I decided to try another beach but it was a bust so I left the car there and walked a couple of miles to a remote beach that I haven't hunted in about a year. There was a small cut in the sand at this beach with patches of black sand below it and it was here that I started to find clad-era coinage and rusty trash in about equal amounts.
The good news was that I also started to find lead fishing weights- a sign that other heavy metals such as silver and gold could be in reach.
Unfortunately, it was nearing 11:30am and I only had about 30 more minutes left to hunt. I still had to walk back to the car and make a long drive to make a family commitment that afternoon.
A lot of the targets were shallow- only an inch or two deep, especially those in the black sand. Just before noon I heard a clear, strong signal about 3-4 feet from the cut. One scoop, a quick shake, and there it was. It was like lightning had struck. There in the bottom of the basket was a clean, shining, impossibly yellow looking and BIG circle of gold!
There wasn't anyone nearby so I lifted the ring out of the scoop enjoying the massive feel of it. I could see the stamp on the inside and it read, "18K JABEL". This was the the biggest 18K ring I have ever found!
Funny how I had never heard of "JABEL" until recently when another local forum member Jeff found one.
When I got home the first thing I did was weigh the ring and here is the result:Some of you may remember my ring return after Labor Day to someone on Craig's List. I don't know if it is "Karma" or "El Nino" or something else but since that time I have been on a pretty good run.
This is my 4th 18K ring since Labor Day. As much as I've seen over the years I'm still a little shocked to find such a nice ring when conditions were not ideal. You just never know in this hobby. Here are the rest of Sunday's finds:On Monday the winds and surf were really making the news here. Hopefully, some of you SoCal hunters can get out because I think it could be good. Thanks for reading, Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
That's a VERY nice hefty gold! You seemed to be hungry for it judging by the bight you took outta that spoon!! 
