DIGGER27
In Memory Of
As some of you know I set a silly goal of finding 12 pieces of gold by years end.
This started last March when I had 3 gold targets already and I said what the heck, lets shoot for the moon.
Lo and behold it is now December and I have found 11 gold pieces so far.
10 for sure, one vintage pocket watch that is rolled gold but there still seems to be a decent amount of gold in it and some refiners even pay 80% for rolled gold so I am going to count it.
For the last few weeks I have been on a mission to find that last piece of gold, make it a dozen and hit that ridiculous goal.
Today I went to an older park in order to find this final target and also to play around with the new F70 a bit.
An hour in I already had a bunch of clad, some keys and a piece of junk jewelry.
I had several nickels by this time and then I hit another signal around nickel numbers.
I open a small hole and what do I see..a freakin' gold class ring!
Gold #12 and what a target to hit my goal on, and it looks old.
I pull it out of the dirt and push the dirt out of the center and take a look.
14K!
Can't ask for anything better!
Then I knock the rest of the dirt off the ring and it cleans off fine but when I look at the sides there is nothing on either one except some generic looking symbol, and when I look at the front all I can see are two words around the stone and they are not the name of any high school I ever heard of because those two words say "High School"
Probably not one High School high school in the country, I bet, and it was kinda thin and not really heavy, either.
What the???!!!
What contest in H-E-Double hockey sticks did I win that the universe decides to reward me with this find which has to be the heartbreaker of all heartbreakers when it comes to heartbreaking finds.
Put yourself in my place and think about it a bit and I am sure you will agree.
Just who wears a fake high school ring and who in the world would make one and why?
It does look kinda old and the 14k and some other writing is very worn on the inside band but for awhile I just couldn't believe it and I could not think of a reason for this thing to exist.
Just to make sure I took it to my jeweler and they tested it and said not 14k and a 10k test she said it passed but barely...whatever that means.
Cutting into it there does not appear to be any base metal but still it confused the heck out of the jewelry girl.
Showing it to the wife she came up with what I believe is the answer to all this confusion...salesman sample.
She has seen rings like this before and doing research I found out Balfour, Jostens and other companies do make samples for the many sales people they send out to schools and others throughout the country.
Sometimes they are just plated, some are actual gold but I don't believe the karat purity goes any higher than 8k...if that.
It would not due to have tarnishing samples so some kind of gold is in these things and mine did come out of the dirt clean and shined up even more but still...
I really need to test this with a kit that goes lower than 10k but no matter what I still don't believe I can count this thing as real gold so for now the search continues.
Oh yea...I guess the MD gods weren't done messing with me for the day so on the way back to the truck and I assume just for fun they let me dig like 5 or 6" down and come up with this other ring.
Silver for sure, and at least something in the precious metal area, I thought at first, and yet...no.
Also nice and clean with no tarnish but not a mark on this thing so it is either so old it was never marked or it is nice but still junk.
Guess which one of those two things is the better bet?
The good thing is I had more proof that the F70 is just a beast on coins, finds all kinds including nickels very easily, it also finds keys and junk jewelry and gives me a good indication on trash so I am getting more comfortable every time I swing it.
The bad thing is that stupid ring which I did not find very amusing at all.
I hope the powers that be got their big laugh at my expense today and I hope they find someone else to mess with and leave me alone for awhile, at least.
This started last March when I had 3 gold targets already and I said what the heck, lets shoot for the moon.
Lo and behold it is now December and I have found 11 gold pieces so far.
10 for sure, one vintage pocket watch that is rolled gold but there still seems to be a decent amount of gold in it and some refiners even pay 80% for rolled gold so I am going to count it.
For the last few weeks I have been on a mission to find that last piece of gold, make it a dozen and hit that ridiculous goal.
Today I went to an older park in order to find this final target and also to play around with the new F70 a bit.
An hour in I already had a bunch of clad, some keys and a piece of junk jewelry.
I had several nickels by this time and then I hit another signal around nickel numbers.
I open a small hole and what do I see..a freakin' gold class ring!
Gold #12 and what a target to hit my goal on, and it looks old.
I pull it out of the dirt and push the dirt out of the center and take a look.
14K!
Can't ask for anything better!
Then I knock the rest of the dirt off the ring and it cleans off fine but when I look at the sides there is nothing on either one except some generic looking symbol, and when I look at the front all I can see are two words around the stone and they are not the name of any high school I ever heard of because those two words say "High School"
Probably not one High School high school in the country, I bet, and it was kinda thin and not really heavy, either.
What the???!!!
What contest in H-E-Double hockey sticks did I win that the universe decides to reward me with this find which has to be the heartbreaker of all heartbreakers when it comes to heartbreaking finds.
Put yourself in my place and think about it a bit and I am sure you will agree.
Just who wears a fake high school ring and who in the world would make one and why?
It does look kinda old and the 14k and some other writing is very worn on the inside band but for awhile I just couldn't believe it and I could not think of a reason for this thing to exist.
Just to make sure I took it to my jeweler and they tested it and said not 14k and a 10k test she said it passed but barely...whatever that means.
Cutting into it there does not appear to be any base metal but still it confused the heck out of the jewelry girl.
Showing it to the wife she came up with what I believe is the answer to all this confusion...salesman sample.
She has seen rings like this before and doing research I found out Balfour, Jostens and other companies do make samples for the many sales people they send out to schools and others throughout the country.
Sometimes they are just plated, some are actual gold but I don't believe the karat purity goes any higher than 8k...if that.
It would not due to have tarnishing samples so some kind of gold is in these things and mine did come out of the dirt clean and shined up even more but still...
I really need to test this with a kit that goes lower than 10k but no matter what I still don't believe I can count this thing as real gold so for now the search continues.
Oh yea...I guess the MD gods weren't done messing with me for the day so on the way back to the truck and I assume just for fun they let me dig like 5 or 6" down and come up with this other ring.
Silver for sure, and at least something in the precious metal area, I thought at first, and yet...no.
Also nice and clean with no tarnish but not a mark on this thing so it is either so old it was never marked or it is nice but still junk.
Guess which one of those two things is the better bet?
The good thing is I had more proof that the F70 is just a beast on coins, finds all kinds including nickels very easily, it also finds keys and junk jewelry and gives me a good indication on trash so I am getting more comfortable every time I swing it.
The bad thing is that stupid ring which I did not find very amusing at all.
I hope the powers that be got their big laugh at my expense today and I hope they find someone else to mess with and leave me alone for awhile, at least.
