I haven't had much luck finding anything old or valuable lately...even after putting in tons of research. Well, I decided to try a park that dates back to 1938 one town to the north.
To my surprise I had the place almost completely to myself! There's a creek that bisects the park into two pieces. I started with the much smaller northern portion. I walked over the creek bridge, fired up my Xterra 505 and started swinging along an impenetrable wall of blackberry bushes that separates the park from an old Victorian home. Literally, five steps from my starting point I got an iffy signal. It was an 18 from left to right, and a 42/45 from right back to the left. When I rotated 90 degrees it went into the mid-ferrous range both ways. I decided to dig it. I figured it was trash. Boy was I wrong. Turned out to be this chunky gold band along side a rusty square nail! Its stamped on the inside and all I can make out is "14". I'm hoping that's 14k. There are other symbols after the "14 but I can't make them out and I can't seem to find my magnifying glass at the moment. I don't have a gold test kit or a gram scale yet either.
My first thought was that it was gold plated because it had what I thought were thin spots in the metal that appeared to reveal a lighter colored white metal beneath, but after some cleaning and buffing its gone and a nice gold tone throughout. I will take it to jeweler tomorrow for an official word.
The first and second pics are of it as it came out of the ground. The ring has been lightly cleaned in the third pic.
Thanks for looking and reading my long wordy thread...I'm a little excited!!
EDIT Got a magnified pic of the hallmark and I think its 14KTGE....*&%! its electroplated. So disappointed...
To my surprise I had the place almost completely to myself! There's a creek that bisects the park into two pieces. I started with the much smaller northern portion. I walked over the creek bridge, fired up my Xterra 505 and started swinging along an impenetrable wall of blackberry bushes that separates the park from an old Victorian home. Literally, five steps from my starting point I got an iffy signal. It was an 18 from left to right, and a 42/45 from right back to the left. When I rotated 90 degrees it went into the mid-ferrous range both ways. I decided to dig it. I figured it was trash. Boy was I wrong. Turned out to be this chunky gold band along side a rusty square nail! Its stamped on the inside and all I can make out is "14". I'm hoping that's 14k. There are other symbols after the "14 but I can't make them out and I can't seem to find my magnifying glass at the moment. I don't have a gold test kit or a gram scale yet either.
My first thought was that it was gold plated because it had what I thought were thin spots in the metal that appeared to reveal a lighter colored white metal beneath, but after some cleaning and buffing its gone and a nice gold tone throughout. I will take it to jeweler tomorrow for an official word.
The first and second pics are of it as it came out of the ground. The ring has been lightly cleaned in the third pic.
Thanks for looking and reading my long wordy thread...I'm a little excited!!
EDIT Got a magnified pic of the hallmark and I think its 14KTGE....*&%! its electroplated. So disappointed...
congrats !!
That woulda been a real beauty there..cheap people! Sooner or later, you will get a real one and I hope its a monster for you!
