fdutra
Full Member
Haven't seen a sign of gold since last December, or anything that even resembled a Noreaster until a couple 3 weeks ago that was followed by a couple more minor easterly gales. What I did see was a lot of sand, a lot of Westerlies, and an almost total lack of targets including coins, flip tops, and bottle caps, so you can imagine I was chomping at the bit to make it out last Friday and again this past week. Got in about 20 hours overall between roughly 5 hunts and 8 different beaches.
Hunt 1
First target, first scoop, that little silver is teasing me and I'm loving it. It slows down a bit but at least I'm hitting good targets so there's hope. I head into shallow water to warm up and wham! Buttery 18k gold weighing in at 12 grams,,, knew it was high karat just from the glow in the scoop.
A quick run & gun to warm up a bit and check the next beach. Again, first target, first scoop, and I'm looking at a big, 925 silvery pot leaf,,, I always thought they were green?
Also picked up this concretion with what appears to possibly be another ???
(the pic doesn't show off the embedded ring sized band very well)
Hunts 2
The wind kept me ashore over the weekend and into the early part of last week but I did manage to find a cut on the lee shore that had one small, productive section of very wet, knocking me over while trying to dig, sand where I spent my lunch hours for the next 3 days before having to go home and get into something dry. Each day there was more and more sand filling in until it was just Felix's and thin dimes by day 3.
The best of it was the merc and a silver rosie, the bling is all bling.
Hunt 3
This was my favorite hunt of the week even though there wasn't any gold.
This beach is loaded with iron debris and concretions which helps to keep the looters at bay, which is fine by me and my trusty Excalibur. My last hunt there right after the Noreaster revealed that a bar which ran perpendicular to the shore had moved about 50 yards down. I spent the day scouring the area where the bar used to be only to find 2 sinkers and a milk crate full of concretions, one of which broke open revealing a bronze hand forged ship spike.
After 2 weeks and a couple more blows, a channel of sorts has formed running across where the old bar used to be, bet you can guess where i spent my next four hours.
I did find silver and I have no idea what it is/was, though it looks familiar and could have been attached to a strap of sorts at the notch where the 3 bars are located.
The brass (?) item which appears to be a fork handle was actually made just as it appears in the picture. Would love some input on these items. That ironstone soup bowl is huge by today's standards, about 1/2 inch thick, but sadly no marks.
Any thoughts on non destructive techniques for removing items from concretions? I tried a hammer but that didn't work out so well for me or the unknown item.
Hunt 4
This beach is one of the most popular and is usually good for at least a handful of coins and a piece or two of jewelry. I have searched it several times over the winter without even a bottle cap! It also happens to be the furthest beach to the west and I'm guessing that a lot of the sand blown in from all the Westerly winds has ended up here. Eureka! 1.3 g of 14k. I like it.
Hunt 5
Took advantage of a rare negative tide to head out deep on a difficult, deep stretch of beach only to find few targets out in the deep, cold sections. Heading in to warm up and bam!, an 8 g 14k class ring and an 8 g 14K white gold band. Two more gold for a grand total of 4 gold for the week, and my first golden week of the year. The take home for me was where I found the gold vs where I expected it to be. All four gold were very close to shore where a band of small (1-2") cobble had collected just in front or in the swash, with the silver and junk out in trough or deeper water. I'm thinking the small cobble acted like a sluice box and created a base for the gold to lie on top of before sinking back into oblivion. If that's the case than the sluice box may have been working again in this weekend's Easterly gales. Guess I'm just going to have to head out again once the waves lay down a bit,,, and here I thought I was going to be able to get some real work in this week.
Hunt 1
First target, first scoop, that little silver is teasing me and I'm loving it. It slows down a bit but at least I'm hitting good targets so there's hope. I head into shallow water to warm up and wham! Buttery 18k gold weighing in at 12 grams,,, knew it was high karat just from the glow in the scoop.
A quick run & gun to warm up a bit and check the next beach. Again, first target, first scoop, and I'm looking at a big, 925 silvery pot leaf,,, I always thought they were green?
Also picked up this concretion with what appears to possibly be another ???
(the pic doesn't show off the embedded ring sized band very well)
Hunts 2
The wind kept me ashore over the weekend and into the early part of last week but I did manage to find a cut on the lee shore that had one small, productive section of very wet, knocking me over while trying to dig, sand where I spent my lunch hours for the next 3 days before having to go home and get into something dry. Each day there was more and more sand filling in until it was just Felix's and thin dimes by day 3.
The best of it was the merc and a silver rosie, the bling is all bling.
Hunt 3
This was my favorite hunt of the week even though there wasn't any gold.
This beach is loaded with iron debris and concretions which helps to keep the looters at bay, which is fine by me and my trusty Excalibur. My last hunt there right after the Noreaster revealed that a bar which ran perpendicular to the shore had moved about 50 yards down. I spent the day scouring the area where the bar used to be only to find 2 sinkers and a milk crate full of concretions, one of which broke open revealing a bronze hand forged ship spike.
After 2 weeks and a couple more blows, a channel of sorts has formed running across where the old bar used to be, bet you can guess where i spent my next four hours.
I did find silver and I have no idea what it is/was, though it looks familiar and could have been attached to a strap of sorts at the notch where the 3 bars are located.
The brass (?) item which appears to be a fork handle was actually made just as it appears in the picture. Would love some input on these items. That ironstone soup bowl is huge by today's standards, about 1/2 inch thick, but sadly no marks.
Any thoughts on non destructive techniques for removing items from concretions? I tried a hammer but that didn't work out so well for me or the unknown item.
Hunt 4
This beach is one of the most popular and is usually good for at least a handful of coins and a piece or two of jewelry. I have searched it several times over the winter without even a bottle cap! It also happens to be the furthest beach to the west and I'm guessing that a lot of the sand blown in from all the Westerly winds has ended up here. Eureka! 1.3 g of 14k. I like it.
Hunt 5
Took advantage of a rare negative tide to head out deep on a difficult, deep stretch of beach only to find few targets out in the deep, cold sections. Heading in to warm up and bam!, an 8 g 14k class ring and an 8 g 14K white gold band. Two more gold for a grand total of 4 gold for the week, and my first golden week of the year. The take home for me was where I found the gold vs where I expected it to be. All four gold were very close to shore where a band of small (1-2") cobble had collected just in front or in the swash, with the silver and junk out in trough or deeper water. I'm thinking the small cobble acted like a sluice box and created a base for the gold to lie on top of before sinking back into oblivion. If that's the case than the sluice box may have been working again in this weekend's Easterly gales. Guess I'm just going to have to head out again once the waves lay down a bit,,, and here I thought I was going to be able to get some real work in this week.
Good to see some good hunts there and congrats on the gold and other neat finds!
, congrats , ,,,,,HH
