scaupus
Hero Member
i was thinking this would be a chance for all of us to review the year so far, halfway through now, and think about where to go from here. So, anything you think about how you've done and what you want to accomplish by year's end would be fair game.
For myself, well, on New Year's i resolved to switch from primarily hunting coins and silver, to hunting gold by digging the low signals primarily. I hoped to find, on average, one gold item per month this year. I had not found any gold up to that time, except for one fragment of an earring that just happened to be in a hole while I was digging for a coin.
6 months later, its gone pretty well. I have 4 gold rings, slightly less than the 1 a month I had been shooting for, but not bad, and I have time to bring up the average. I have put in, on average, maybe 3-4 hours a week - there were some weeks I did not hunt. Also, my coin shooting did not shut down completely. I found it therapeutic to turn off the "gold machine" sometimes and find some old ground and look for older coins again. And I did find a few, in fact most of them were "firsts" for me.
First Franklin half, first Barber quarter, first silver war nickel, and first 2 Indian head pennies.
The really remarkable find was the huge Mexican Biker ring I found in a parking strip. No precious metal, and not that old (1930s-1950s) but a hot collectible. I sold it for $250, and was told I could have gotten more.
The best gold so far, is that "M" initial ring. 18k, 7.45dwt. It's a bit of a heavyweight for a gold ring, and i'm real happy with it.
In the upper right are silver items that I found this year and already sold, either individually or as scrap with other items.
The sterling Italian bracelet with floral pattern is antique.
Interesting items that don't necessarily have much value are in the lower left corner. One is a lead, or possibly pewter charm painted with gilt. With the help of treasurenet users, I found out that its a "Temple Block", an Oriental percussion instrument used in temple ceremonies. There are Chinese pictographs carved into it, so I think it was used as an amulet.
Another interesting item is a Lone Ranger Victory Corps 1942 pin. When you purchased boxes of Cheerios and Kix in 1942, you could send away for this neat pin and a membership card and an official letter of acceptance into the Victory Corps. It told you how to help bring victory - saving scrap metal, etc. Included here is an image of another pin in good condition so you could see better what they looked like.
My plans for the rest of the year are to get into beach hunting. I bought a Tesoro Sand Shark (and some other detectors) at very reasonable prices on Craigslist. I now have pretty much everything I need for beach hunting in the water and am ready to give it a test run this week. Hopefully, beach hunting will add to my gold finds.
Another, probably really bad idea I had, was to post a google map with the location of all my finds. Each location would have pictures of the finds and the date. And I would invite others to do the same. In fact, I think that would make a pretty cool website in and of itself, possibly a subscription site. It would depend on everybody honestly posting their finds. Obviously, I wouldn't post a spot I was currently working, but the fact is, I get tired of spots and want to go to new locations, or I decide I've gotten all I can out of them. Someone else may be able to find good stuff I missed.
There were some other interesting things this year. I found some old stuff, like a harness ring, in an old hammock island site in the Everglades. Some fake jewelry, one ring was pretty good-looking. I salvaged brass and bronze and lead and made some money there, also about $60 in clad.
I had one outstanding Yard Sale find. A boy scout knife that I bought for $10 and sold for over $470, I forget the exact dollar amount.
For myself, well, on New Year's i resolved to switch from primarily hunting coins and silver, to hunting gold by digging the low signals primarily. I hoped to find, on average, one gold item per month this year. I had not found any gold up to that time, except for one fragment of an earring that just happened to be in a hole while I was digging for a coin.
6 months later, its gone pretty well. I have 4 gold rings, slightly less than the 1 a month I had been shooting for, but not bad, and I have time to bring up the average. I have put in, on average, maybe 3-4 hours a week - there were some weeks I did not hunt. Also, my coin shooting did not shut down completely. I found it therapeutic to turn off the "gold machine" sometimes and find some old ground and look for older coins again. And I did find a few, in fact most of them were "firsts" for me.
First Franklin half, first Barber quarter, first silver war nickel, and first 2 Indian head pennies.
The really remarkable find was the huge Mexican Biker ring I found in a parking strip. No precious metal, and not that old (1930s-1950s) but a hot collectible. I sold it for $250, and was told I could have gotten more.
The best gold so far, is that "M" initial ring. 18k, 7.45dwt. It's a bit of a heavyweight for a gold ring, and i'm real happy with it.
In the upper right are silver items that I found this year and already sold, either individually or as scrap with other items.
The sterling Italian bracelet with floral pattern is antique.
Interesting items that don't necessarily have much value are in the lower left corner. One is a lead, or possibly pewter charm painted with gilt. With the help of treasurenet users, I found out that its a "Temple Block", an Oriental percussion instrument used in temple ceremonies. There are Chinese pictographs carved into it, so I think it was used as an amulet.
Another interesting item is a Lone Ranger Victory Corps 1942 pin. When you purchased boxes of Cheerios and Kix in 1942, you could send away for this neat pin and a membership card and an official letter of acceptance into the Victory Corps. It told you how to help bring victory - saving scrap metal, etc. Included here is an image of another pin in good condition so you could see better what they looked like.
My plans for the rest of the year are to get into beach hunting. I bought a Tesoro Sand Shark (and some other detectors) at very reasonable prices on Craigslist. I now have pretty much everything I need for beach hunting in the water and am ready to give it a test run this week. Hopefully, beach hunting will add to my gold finds.
Another, probably really bad idea I had, was to post a google map with the location of all my finds. Each location would have pictures of the finds and the date. And I would invite others to do the same. In fact, I think that would make a pretty cool website in and of itself, possibly a subscription site. It would depend on everybody honestly posting their finds. Obviously, I wouldn't post a spot I was currently working, but the fact is, I get tired of spots and want to go to new locations, or I decide I've gotten all I can out of them. Someone else may be able to find good stuff I missed.
There were some other interesting things this year. I found some old stuff, like a harness ring, in an old hammock island site in the Everglades. Some fake jewelry, one ring was pretty good-looking. I salvaged brass and bronze and lead and made some money there, also about $60 in clad.
I had one outstanding Yard Sale find. A boy scout knife that I bought for $10 and sold for over $470, I forget the exact dollar amount.
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