Theres a lot in the oldest section in town (pre 1900), that had an old mechanics garage on it. Someone had purchased it in the spring, tore down the garage part, and started to renovate the lot. We have been trying to catch the owner to see if we could detect the lot all summer, but to no avail. Today I drove by it on my way to another permission, and saw a guy parked in front reading a plat diagram. I spun around, and asked him if he was the owner. He said yes. I then asked permission for my buddy and I to hunt it, and he said sure! I wanted to check the other permission I was headed to first, and said that I would be back later. The contractor had scraped about a foot and a half of the top soil off, and moved it to the center of the lot. I started hunting around the level scraped out area on one side, and got a near solid 15 hit on the NOX that was just under the surface. I popped it out to see this ring:
At first I thought it was costume type jewelry with gold plate on it, but as I cleaned it more I noticed there wasnt the typical wear that would expose the base material underneath the plate. There are no purity or makers marks on it, but the crown area looks odd. It almost looks like epoxy was used as the base, and the jeweler placed a ring of small stones near the edge, then small chunks of gold between them and the stone at the center.
My buddy says the ring design near the crown looks old, and Ive been trying to find out when purity marks became the standard. Ill take it to a jeweler next week to see what they think, and see if they can clean it better.
Thanks for looking, and HH!
At first I thought it was costume type jewelry with gold plate on it, but as I cleaned it more I noticed there wasnt the typical wear that would expose the base material underneath the plate. There are no purity or makers marks on it, but the crown area looks odd. It almost looks like epoxy was used as the base, and the jeweler placed a ring of small stones near the edge, then small chunks of gold between them and the stone at the center.
My buddy says the ring design near the crown looks old, and Ive been trying to find out when purity marks became the standard. Ill take it to a jeweler next week to see what they think, and see if they can clean it better.
Thanks for looking, and HH!