A day at the beach

Narthoniel

Bronze Member
Jul 1, 2008
1,755
6
Virginia Beach
Detector(s) used
Excal 2 and E Trac
Hello,

I was fortunate enough to stumble onto this excellent hobby this summer. I was racking my brain for ideas for a hobby that would bring in more than I would have to spend. I bought my first detector in late June, and used it almost every day for 3 weeks in the dry sand. It was then I decided to give this hobby a real go, and bought an Excal 2. I have spent many countless hours scouring the beach, and I have been rewarded many times over.

While I have a lot of photos, 4 finds stand out that I have no pictures of. These were items that I found and returned to people that had lost them. The first was a gold toe ring in the dry sand. Not only was she estatic, but her friend bought my wife and I dinner to thank us for it. Prime rib and shrimp - it was great! The second return I made was another ring lost in the dry sand. I found it in 2 seconds, and she was in tears. She had spent hours digging in the sand looking for it. I was rewarded with $24 for this find. The third was a purse I found on a lifeguard chair at 6 am. It was returned by 8 am the same day, and she gave me a great big hug as thanks. The fourth item I was able to return was a cell phone buried in the dry sand after a concert. I gave the phone to my wife, and soon after, the owner called it. We did not recieve a reward, but thats not always what counts. She did write us a nice letter saying thank you.

As for the rest, I kept it all! Well, some things I gave to kids on the beach. Some I gave to friends and family, but overall, I have a large horde of saved items.

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A picture showing some miscellanious things I found over the year.
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Sunglasses and eye glasses. I found many more than this, but the rest were given away, or thrown out because they wern't in good shape.
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Toy cars. Some went to kids on the beach, or friends. Most of them are here tho.
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No gold or silver here. This is my junk jewelry collection.
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Again, junk earrings. I give them their own category because of the numbers I find.
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Junk rings - no precious metals here. I had quite a few more, some were given away, and others I am not sure where they are.
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My favorite ring of the year that is not gold or silver. Nearly 20 grams and size 13!
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One of the watches I found this year. Gave this to another surf pirate who needed a watch.
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These two pictures show most of the silver rings I have found this year. A few short fo the actual, but pretty close. One was sold, some given away.
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Sold this ring to someone locally, one of the prettiest silver rings I found.
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One of my favorite silver finds. It reads, "With God's help I served in harms way" and "US Marines."
 

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Narthoniel

Narthoniel

Bronze Member
Jul 1, 2008
1,755
6
Virginia Beach
Detector(s) used
Excal 2 and E Trac
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The nicest necklace I found this year. 52 grams of silver. Found the watch the same day. Made by the swiss army company. Still tickin after being 3 feet underwater :).
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An amazing find for the surf. This is an 1884s Morgan Dollar. It is so worn I believe it spent a good 100 years in the ocean.

And now for the stuff you really want to see. GOLD!!
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a nice 18k wedding band, 6.4 grams. The heaviest gold band I found this year.
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10k class ring wieghing 12.5 grams. Was unable to contact the owner, as no school was engraved.
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Black onyx in what tested as 14k gold. Weighed 6.7 grams.
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One of the nicer rings I found. 22k gold with a beautiful yellow sapphire. The stone is .90 carats approxamitly. By the markings inside, this appears to have been made in India. Weighs 3.7 grams.
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An 18k gold pendant depicting Nefertiti. Appears to have been made in India.
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My last gold find of the year. A day or two before the new year I pulled this pendant out of the sea.
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A beautiful 10k Crucifix Pendant with 68 CZ on it. Weighs 7 grams.
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Several rings I found all in one. The top 3 rings are 10k gold. Not sure what stone is in the center of the top ring, but it has 2 diamond accents that tested good. The other 2 white gold 10k rings were found together in the dry sand. The 4th ring is 14k gold with 12 diamonds. Bottom ring is 14k gold with a nice sapphire and 2 diamonds.
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A collection of gold that I sent off to be refined a couple weeks ago. Had to snap a photo of it since I would never see it again.
 

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Narthoniel

Narthoniel

Bronze Member
Jul 1, 2008
1,755
6
Virginia Beach
Detector(s) used
Excal 2 and E Trac
And last but not least, this is the nicest find I have made by far this year. This ring is 18k gold with 25 diamonds. Center stone is approxamitly 2/3 of a carat and is of good quality. All 25 diamonds are beautifully matched to have an extreme amount of fire and sparkle. I had this ring appraised and the value of it was $7,450. Don't think I will be able to top this ring for a long long time, if ever.

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I hope next year to find even more, as I will have twice as much time to enjoy the hunt. I hope you enjoyed the post. May you find more treasure in the coming year than you can dream of!

Thank you for reading and Happy Hunting!
Anthony
 

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S

seger98

Guest
So when are ya gonna open your own jewlery store ??? ???

Nice finds!

Chris
 

goldencoin

Gold Member
Sep 27, 2005
5,669
446
Indiana
Detector(s) used
Whites DFX & Beach Hunter ID
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Excellent finds

HH
-GC
 

civilman1

Gold Member
Nov 29, 2005
9,386
1,685
PA-MD
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett Infinium LS,White's MXT's and Surf II Lot's-O-Coil's
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
And then some :o What a Year!!!!! :thumbsup: Beautiful jewelry.......The last one would have done me in for the year :thumbsup: Great Job!!!
 

Captn SE

Silver Member
Apr 1, 2007
2,774
13
Southern CA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer SE; X-1 Target Probe; Pro Coil, 6x8 SEF, Coiltek Platypus Elliptical, Sunray X8, Expl. 1050 coils
Wow, Anthony, does anybody beach detect in your area besides you?

That's quite a haul of jewelry and other beach items there!!

Congrats on a fabulous '08!

Good luck in '09 with your E-Trac!!

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan
 

Mona Lisa

Gold Member
Jan 13, 2005
5,112
36
Great Falls, Montana
Detector(s) used
White's DFX & a Sunray probe
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
:o MG!! Are ya married?? ::)

Beach hunting is the way to go, if you want to profit from detecting. Congrats on the great year! :thumbsup:
 

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Narthoniel

Narthoniel

Bronze Member
Jul 1, 2008
1,755
6
Virginia Beach
Detector(s) used
Excal 2 and E Trac
Mona Lisa said:
:o MG!! Are ya married?? ::)

Beach hunting is the way to go, if you want to profit from detecting. Congrats on the great year! :thumbsup:

Is that a proposal? If so, I'm flattered :). Have you wanting to marry without the wining and dining and romancing. Shame I'm already hitched. But then again, I do have a great gal to be married to.
Anthony
 

River Rat

Super Moderator
Staff member
Jan 6, 2006
20,846
2,531
SE Louisiana
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Ace 250 & Ace 400
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Most excellent finds, Anthony :thumbsup: Love the beautiful diamond ring W :o W. Wishing you all the best in finds for '09.

Good Luck & Happy Hunting!

:wink: RR
 

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Pentico

Guest
Excellent post!

Pictures are fantastic!
Congrats on a great year!

Continued success in 09

DN
 

juju

Bronze Member
Dec 8, 2007
2,015
17
Burien, Wa.
Detector(s) used
Whites MXT ALL PRO, Grey Ghost Headphones, Garrett Pro-Pointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Man thats a lot of scoop time. Bet your all shriveled up like a prune from bein in the surf so much. :tongue3: Can't wait to see what ya get in 09. WTG
:icon_pirat:
JuJu
 

kimsdad

Silver Member
Apr 17, 2008
4,692
24
Moronica, northwest of Chicago.
Detector(s) used
E-trac & Bounty Hunter Land Star
Wow, Anthony!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

What a fantastic year you've had!!! And this is your first year? And not even a full season??!!! :o

Congrats on all the great finds and having fun finding them! :wink:
 

camb1

Bronze Member
Dec 11, 2006
1,592
317
Southern Illinois
Detector(s) used
Minelab Excalibur 1000 & Explorer SE
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
WTG on a Awesome Year. Hope you have a even greater 09. :thumbsup:
 

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