OH YEAH! Diamonds, baby! Finally found one with real diamonds... and its a doozy!

Skippy SH13

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Feb 18, 2015
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OH YEAH! Diamonds, baby! Finally found one with real diamonds... and it's a doozy!

FINALLY... I FINALLY found a ring with diamonds. Hunting with the ACE 350 in a park. Ring was about 4 inches down, and rang up pull tab/gold, but wasn't the "solid" tone I'm used to with rings. I figure it was because it was deeper, and not really a "solid" band (had three bands that were connected).

It's my 6th gold ring this year, and when it showed up in the ground, when I lifted the flap, I immediately thought "Costume jewelry" for sure. It was just too blingy to be real, right?

My son was hunting with me this morning, though, and there were lots of folks watching at the park, so I simply said, "look at this." And he said, "cool" (all calm and non-chalant, just like we practiced... He's the perfect kid. LOL), and I pocketed it and we both kept hunting. A few minutes later we met again at the next row, and I pulled it out and we looked at it. He blew out some of the dirt, and said, "Hey, this is hollow." At that point, my brain piqued. Initially, when I pulled it out of the ground, it looked like a black and silver ring (that rang up as a pull tab). I figured it was just costume... When he said that, and handed over the ring, I noted there was ZERO corrosion on it, and I wiped the inside band. Immediately, I saw 585 UJDC. BOOYAH! At that point, I simply said out loud, "I guess it's time to hit that other site," and we we metal detected a bit more as we walked to the car.

Once in the car, we were SOO excited together (It's so much fun sharing that with someone, especially my son!)... we cleaned it up a bit and noted it had a TON of diamonds on it. My son was asking "are they real?" I told him I thought so, since it was 14K white gold, and they looked very well placed.

Long story shortened... we ended up NOT going to the other site (we really were planning on another location!), but rather ended up at a superstore jewelry counter, where they cleaned it a bit (with brush and light solvent first), then tested. First diamond tested positive, but the other large ones couldn't get a read. The manager was called over, and he looked under the microscope. He noted they were all prong attachments, not glued in, then took it in the back to steam it clean. We had a nice talk about the find, and they were very excited, references to "American Digger" were thrown about. LOL

The manager came back, and noted that they all tested positive, definitely real, and decent stones, to boot! He noted the reason for the hard time getting positive readings was the shape of the cut (They had peaks on the large three center diamonds), noting they were quite unique cuts, that he'd not seen before.. instead of having a flat top, these had an additional 6 facets.

I'm so stoked! Bucket list checked off, in a BIG way! Woot!

This video is only 6 seconds long... and simply shows the ring in the sunlight after being cleaned up.

-Skippy
 

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releventchair

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Excellent detecting day. Congrats on the team you have and the recovery!
 

Loco-Digger

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You're stoked, Heck I'm stoked for you. :headbang: Awesome score. Gonna be hard to top that one. :hello:
 

Ogre1190

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VERY well done! 🙌
 

huntsman53

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Congrats on a super nice and very valuable find Skippy! I would suspect that the ring was European made and the cuts on the Diamonds were done in Europe as well and if such cuts are rare and highly sought after, the value of the ring could be beyond the 4 figures range. I would advise taking the ring to a very reputable and high-end Jewelry Store to get an appraisal on it.


Frank
 

mlayers

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That is one sweet looking ring. WTG
 

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Skippy SH13

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That's what I figured as well. The story gets pretty fun, though, as my mother saw the ring (phone image), and came over last night begging it. She loves larger banded rings like that, and the diamonds are stunning. Long story short, we're all going on a vacation together in January, and my mother is wearing the ring. Barter system still works. :)

It's been a full day now, and I'm still on cloud nine over it. I can hardly wait to get back to that park and dig all those other pop-top signals (it's an area where people lay out blankets, and have for about a decade). Given the fact the ring was there, and the volume of change I pulled out on day 1 (change only), I don't think it's ever been hit by metal detectorists. Looking forward to a fun next week!

Thanks for the information, though. I found the Jeweler's mark (UJDC). They're a Hong Kong based company, with shops in Europe and the US. Been around since 1949, though, making it really hard to date this one. The fact it reads 585, and the cut style both were indicators of at least being MADE out of country, but that's as far as I could get. Most of their rings go for between $4K-$6K, though I couldn't find this specific one. They do custom jobs, though, up to $1M. This is NOT that ring, but the color of the diamonds was definitely white (D range?), and the occlusions I could see were pinpoints (no major blemishes), adn were only visible under high magnification. I'd guess the clarity is about SI1 on the smaller ones (they're just so small, trying to see occlusions is really hard, so I'm estimating low), possibly VS1-VS2 on the larger three diamonds. Definitely a nice piece. The largest of the three diamonds in the center looked to be a bit more than a quarter carat. Given the peaked cut, it could be slightly more. I estimate the TCW to be right around 1.5-1.8. I didn't get a chance to look under the ring much to see if the small diamonds were full cuts or shallow. If they're full, obviously the carat weight goes up (and the price). Definitely one of the brightest rings I've ever seen though. Quite a stunner!

I'll find out more about it in the next week or so, as my father intends to take it into his Jeweler, and have all the settings double checked, and the piece appraised so he can have it insured.

Part of me wishes to have sold it, but my mother's face was priceless when she put it on. Can't charge for that. :) Besides, that, I get a week of worth of fun memories with my parents and wife in January, and I'll be able to see the ring anytime I want! That's one heck of a deal!

Skippy

Congrats on a super nice and very valuable find Skippy! I would suspect that the ring was European made and the cuts on the Diamonds were done in Europe as well and if such cuts are rare and highly sought after, the value of the ring could be beyond the 4 figures range. I would advise taking the ring to a very reputable and high-end Jewelry Store to get an appraisal on it.


Frank
 

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Skippy SH13

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My thoughts as well!
Frank

I've considered it, but I only hunt parks, and my ACE 350 has been killer on them. Everything around here seems to be 6" or less (not a very old area), and I'm doing so well... I can't really justify an upgrade!

Skippy
 

basque-man

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WOW. That has some "heft" to it!! Congrats!:occasion14:
 

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Skippy SH13

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Good on you, Skippy!! Nice things happen to nice people!!:headbang:

Thanks, TC. I took another set of pictures of it today. Here's the latest. This is actually a not too bad shot using an iPhone on a paper table napkin! I had my parents each use their phones to light up the different sides. I love this shot. :)

I wish though, I'd taken the time to wipe down the diamonds. They have a bit of smudge (probably hand lotion). It's still a stunner of a shot! In this one, you can see the 6 facets on top of what would normally be the table of the diamond. Makes for a very interesting diamond (each of the three large ones is like this). You'll have to click the photo to see the detail of course.

Edit: Photo Removed.
 

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Z.K.

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Jun 16, 2015
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I'm speechless. That is absolutely stunning! So neat that you included your connection with your son as part of the find story.
 

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Skippy SH13

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I LOVE it when mynson comes hunting with me. Best times!
 

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