beachclad
Full Member
Due to the beach closures in April and May, I decided to post my finds for all 3 months in Q2 in a single post.
As you can see by my clad count, those two months were dismal. I rebounded with the clad count in June, but not quite at the pace of January-March.
Misc. finds:
I did, by a miracle, manage to find a .925 silver (gold plated) Michael Kors women's ring in April, pictured above. It retails on eBay for around $30, but it's scratched. Bummer.
Once the beaches started to open up, I found yet more toy cars, including an oversized truck. Now if I could just find a life-sized car buried in the sand, that would be a real bucket-lister.
I also found more fake bling, including a men's black Tungsten ring with roman numerals (no brand, unfortunately), a dinosaur earring, a key-shaped earring, and a stainless steel black rosary necklace. The silvery circular-shaped tag says "ABCO CREM" so I think it's a cremation tag for maybe a dog (found at a dog beach).
Coincidentally, I commented on one of Felix's threads last month asking him how he finds so many nice Ray-Bans and literally the next day, I found my first pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses (cracked).
I went on to find 3 more generic pairs, of which only 1 is in "wearable" condition (just barely).
Oh, and I think I found a shark tooth. I'm not a paleontologist so it could just be a rock.
and now...the good stuff!
The Good Stuff:
Besides the beaches re-opening, June was eventful because it brought seaweed. Piles and piles of putrid Sargassum so thick that it was hard to detect in many areas.
There was also some sand movement as a result of adverse weather in early June.
June also brought...gold.
Why is there a crusty cell phone in the photo? I'll get to that below...
My first gold ring was a total fluke (1st ring on the left, bottom row). I found it on just the second and final target of my short hunt, just off a beach entrance/exit, near the towel line. It rang up as a 10-11 on the ID screen. No doubt a fresh drop. I usually check the weather before every hunt, but on this occasion, I forgot to. When I arrive at the beach, the sky starts flashing and I could hear thunder getting a little too close for comfort. Holding two metal poles, I didn't want to die, so I ran for my life. Turns out, I did get struck by lightning (metaphorically). The ring was stamped 14K with a Friedman's mark. Weight: 1.7 grams.
Then I came upon a slope, and it was here that I had a metal detecting epiphany.
I even drew a diagram:
I had detected this area many times before, but on this occasion, I noticed that the targets at the base of this slope were all heavy. I hear the old-timers on the forum who always say that if you find heavy items like sinkers, then you're in the right spot. Well, for the first time that I can ever recall, I felt what it was like to be in the right spot.
During the entire 2 hour hunt, I dug just 1 piece of aluminum. Everything was heavy, including several 3 oz. sinkers, keys, clad, large pieces of metal hardware like hinges, nuts, bolts, and that cell phone, from 1996!
It's crazy to think, but that Startrac phone was the first-ever flip-phone. It sounded like a quarter and it was buried there for 24 years before I found it. I had no idea what it was when I dug it up, but later that night, I connected the dots.
There must have been serious tidal action that managed to move enough sand to expose that phone. That's why I found the gold!
The first ring in this spot was the 1st ring in the first row. It has black stones and a little verdigris. I'll have to clean it. It's stamped 14K and "THL" for Samuel Aaron, a jewelry designer. It has a very old gold look to it. It had to have been buried there at least as long as the phone. Rang up in the nickel range (11-12 on the Nox). Weight: 3 grams.
A little further up the slope, I find a small clover shaped gold thing. It looks like part of an earring. It has two tiny diamonds still on it, and they tested real on the diamond tester. The green piece in the center may have held a larger stone like an emerald that's missing now. No hallmark, but it's very heavy for an object of that size. Under a microscope, it looks like gold with all the hairline scratches. I grabbed an old chemical testing kit that's been in my storage closet for years, and I scratched a little of it on some sandpaper. Didn't see a base layer. I think it passed the 10K test, but not the 14K test. It could just be that my chemicals were bad.
Until I can figure out what it's composed of exactly, I'm considering it gold. Weight: 2 grams.
The next day I run back to the same spot hoping to relive the glory of the night before. I was starting to find aluminum junk between the tide lines so I knew this spot was beginning to dry up. Luckily I found another ring, no hallmark. Very thin men's ring. Passed 10K test. Again, it looked like old gold. Rang up like a nickel (12-13 on the Nox). Weight: 1.4 grams.
That was it for the "old" gold though, at least until there's major erosion.
I detected the slope at an angle, and sure enough, another small ladies ring (top row, 4th ring). Stamped 10K with a mark that looks like a figure 8. It rang up in the 9-11 range on the Nox. I was digging everything in this area. I even considered bringing a shovel and digging a trench. Weight: 1.2 grams.
The next day, I run back to the same spot. I hoped for more sand movement. Just an inch or two! Let me hear those faint signals.
To no avail. The slope was exhausted. It yielded 3 gold rings and a clover-shaped gold thing.
The rest of the hunt, I wandered around the slope, depressed. I needed that feeling of reaching down and holding that heavy, shiny circular object between my fingers.
As I wandered, I looked at the seaweed. I remembered reading in one of Drayton's books that the seaweed can sometimes hold heavy items.
About 100 or so yards from the (formerly) magical slope. I found probably my best ring yet, among the piles of seaweed between the tide lines. A very shiny ladies ring (top row, 3rd ring from left) that weighed in at 2.7 grams. Stamped 14K with a VI mark. I suspect it may have been a fresh drop because I circled around the area and only found light aluminum bits. Not sure how it got there and if it had anything to do with the same phenomenon that occurred back at the magical slope. Either way, I'll take it.
The next week sucked. I dug every signal in this area like a junkie looking for his next ring fix. I found more trash than I care to mention. Lots of dimes and nickels though. The Equinox really likes nickels.
The seaweed had gotten so thick that I decided to end the month up in the dry sand, near the dunes. The stuff I found near the dunes was surprising, including several more 3 oz. lead sinkers. Lead, in front of the dunes?! How? I've seen people sunbathing around these spots, so I kept looking. That's when I found a low jumpy signal in the 6-11 range. My first gold necklace. It's stamped 14K "585" and "Italy." Not quite up by the dunes but close. Probably another fresh drop. Weight: 5.1 grams.
So there you have it, folks. My best month so far, by a longshot. Seven gold, including 5 rings.
I'm still trying to figure out why exactly the rings showed up in this spot despite no noticeable erosion. At least not the cliffs you picture in your mind when you think of erosion. There were similar looking slopes up and down the beach but none held anything valuable. That's the puzzling aspect of it.
For July, I'm hoping for a nice tropical storm, and more gold.
As you can see by my clad count, those two months were dismal. I rebounded with the clad count in June, but not quite at the pace of January-March.
Misc. finds:
I did, by a miracle, manage to find a .925 silver (gold plated) Michael Kors women's ring in April, pictured above. It retails on eBay for around $30, but it's scratched. Bummer.
Once the beaches started to open up, I found yet more toy cars, including an oversized truck. Now if I could just find a life-sized car buried in the sand, that would be a real bucket-lister.
I also found more fake bling, including a men's black Tungsten ring with roman numerals (no brand, unfortunately), a dinosaur earring, a key-shaped earring, and a stainless steel black rosary necklace. The silvery circular-shaped tag says "ABCO CREM" so I think it's a cremation tag for maybe a dog (found at a dog beach).
Coincidentally, I commented on one of Felix's threads last month asking him how he finds so many nice Ray-Bans and literally the next day, I found my first pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses (cracked).
I went on to find 3 more generic pairs, of which only 1 is in "wearable" condition (just barely).
Oh, and I think I found a shark tooth. I'm not a paleontologist so it could just be a rock.
and now...the good stuff!
The Good Stuff:
Besides the beaches re-opening, June was eventful because it brought seaweed. Piles and piles of putrid Sargassum so thick that it was hard to detect in many areas.
There was also some sand movement as a result of adverse weather in early June.
June also brought...gold.
Why is there a crusty cell phone in the photo? I'll get to that below...
My first gold ring was a total fluke (1st ring on the left, bottom row). I found it on just the second and final target of my short hunt, just off a beach entrance/exit, near the towel line. It rang up as a 10-11 on the ID screen. No doubt a fresh drop. I usually check the weather before every hunt, but on this occasion, I forgot to. When I arrive at the beach, the sky starts flashing and I could hear thunder getting a little too close for comfort. Holding two metal poles, I didn't want to die, so I ran for my life. Turns out, I did get struck by lightning (metaphorically). The ring was stamped 14K with a Friedman's mark. Weight: 1.7 grams.
Then I came upon a slope, and it was here that I had a metal detecting epiphany.
I even drew a diagram:
I had detected this area many times before, but on this occasion, I noticed that the targets at the base of this slope were all heavy. I hear the old-timers on the forum who always say that if you find heavy items like sinkers, then you're in the right spot. Well, for the first time that I can ever recall, I felt what it was like to be in the right spot.
During the entire 2 hour hunt, I dug just 1 piece of aluminum. Everything was heavy, including several 3 oz. sinkers, keys, clad, large pieces of metal hardware like hinges, nuts, bolts, and that cell phone, from 1996!
It's crazy to think, but that Startrac phone was the first-ever flip-phone. It sounded like a quarter and it was buried there for 24 years before I found it. I had no idea what it was when I dug it up, but later that night, I connected the dots.
There must have been serious tidal action that managed to move enough sand to expose that phone. That's why I found the gold!
The first ring in this spot was the 1st ring in the first row. It has black stones and a little verdigris. I'll have to clean it. It's stamped 14K and "THL" for Samuel Aaron, a jewelry designer. It has a very old gold look to it. It had to have been buried there at least as long as the phone. Rang up in the nickel range (11-12 on the Nox). Weight: 3 grams.
A little further up the slope, I find a small clover shaped gold thing. It looks like part of an earring. It has two tiny diamonds still on it, and they tested real on the diamond tester. The green piece in the center may have held a larger stone like an emerald that's missing now. No hallmark, but it's very heavy for an object of that size. Under a microscope, it looks like gold with all the hairline scratches. I grabbed an old chemical testing kit that's been in my storage closet for years, and I scratched a little of it on some sandpaper. Didn't see a base layer. I think it passed the 10K test, but not the 14K test. It could just be that my chemicals were bad.
Until I can figure out what it's composed of exactly, I'm considering it gold. Weight: 2 grams.
The next day I run back to the same spot hoping to relive the glory of the night before. I was starting to find aluminum junk between the tide lines so I knew this spot was beginning to dry up. Luckily I found another ring, no hallmark. Very thin men's ring. Passed 10K test. Again, it looked like old gold. Rang up like a nickel (12-13 on the Nox). Weight: 1.4 grams.
That was it for the "old" gold though, at least until there's major erosion.
I detected the slope at an angle, and sure enough, another small ladies ring (top row, 4th ring). Stamped 10K with a mark that looks like a figure 8. It rang up in the 9-11 range on the Nox. I was digging everything in this area. I even considered bringing a shovel and digging a trench. Weight: 1.2 grams.
The next day, I run back to the same spot. I hoped for more sand movement. Just an inch or two! Let me hear those faint signals.
To no avail. The slope was exhausted. It yielded 3 gold rings and a clover-shaped gold thing.
The rest of the hunt, I wandered around the slope, depressed. I needed that feeling of reaching down and holding that heavy, shiny circular object between my fingers.
As I wandered, I looked at the seaweed. I remembered reading in one of Drayton's books that the seaweed can sometimes hold heavy items.
About 100 or so yards from the (formerly) magical slope. I found probably my best ring yet, among the piles of seaweed between the tide lines. A very shiny ladies ring (top row, 3rd ring from left) that weighed in at 2.7 grams. Stamped 14K with a VI mark. I suspect it may have been a fresh drop because I circled around the area and only found light aluminum bits. Not sure how it got there and if it had anything to do with the same phenomenon that occurred back at the magical slope. Either way, I'll take it.
The next week sucked. I dug every signal in this area like a junkie looking for his next ring fix. I found more trash than I care to mention. Lots of dimes and nickels though. The Equinox really likes nickels.
The seaweed had gotten so thick that I decided to end the month up in the dry sand, near the dunes. The stuff I found near the dunes was surprising, including several more 3 oz. lead sinkers. Lead, in front of the dunes?! How? I've seen people sunbathing around these spots, so I kept looking. That's when I found a low jumpy signal in the 6-11 range. My first gold necklace. It's stamped 14K "585" and "Italy." Not quite up by the dunes but close. Probably another fresh drop. Weight: 5.1 grams.
So there you have it, folks. My best month so far, by a longshot. Seven gold, including 5 rings.
I'm still trying to figure out why exactly the rings showed up in this spot despite no noticeable erosion. At least not the cliffs you picture in your mind when you think of erosion. There were similar looking slopes up and down the beach but none held anything valuable. That's the puzzling aspect of it.
For July, I'm hoping for a nice tropical storm, and more gold.
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