Skippy SH13
Bronze Member
- Feb 18, 2015
- 1,131
- 2,376
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
Why Gold Doesn't Ring up as Gold: AKA - Why you should dig more "trash."
All,
While replying to a "Today's Finds" poster, I realized this is good information to share with others.
The question I'm posting (and answering) here is this, "Why does the gold I dig up not register as gold?!"
Simply put, unless the jewelry is 24K, or ".999," it's NOT PURE.
22K = 91.67%
18K = 75%
14K = 58.33%
12K = 505
10K = 41.7%
9K = 37.5%
If it's not 24K gold, it's an ALLOY. This is the reason gold will bounce on your readouts.
Take for example, a 10K gold ring. 10K is just 41.7% gold. This of course, means that 58.3% of the weight of the ring is made from other metals. For a typical 10K ring (such as a class ring), the other metals vary, but the primary alloy is likely copper. It's not uncommon to have some silver, and very likely some nickel or zinc is included, which adds hardness. The result of such an alloy is a ring that bounces ALL OVER the metals detected readout.
In short, such a ring will bounce between foil, nickel, gold, and copper, making it look like a piece of trash!
The purer the gold, the more likely the ring will stabilize in the gold readout range. White gold, which contains a lot of nickel, rings the most solid for me in the gold range (in which nickel is smack in!) Personally, I've found that 14K bands bounce only a little, 10K bounces a lot for me, and the one 9K ring I pulled out, I swore was just going to be trash. Only one 8.6 gram 14K mens ring rang solid... and it was at the nickel range with zero bounce. I believe this was largely due to the orientation of the ring in the ground (flat with hole parallel, making for a great target), and the size of the ring. It rang up just like any nickel would.
With all that bouncing, I've personally given up trying to only "Find gold," and I simply dig it all. I've been rewarded with 6 gold rings this year. To be sure, I'm also rewarded with thousands of bits of trash and pulltabs!
My best find was 4.5 inches deep, and I know this area has been hit repeatedly by detectorists over the years... that particular ring bounced between the nickel and copper range, and totally looked like a piece of trash. The thing is, I know many detectorists won't dig up what looks like trash on the read out. Given the depth, and the personal knowledge that this area is hit regularly by detectorists, I'm certain every other detectorist thought it was trash... Heck, I thought it was trash! Even when I pulled it out, I was still thinking "costume jewelry." That ring came out to be valued at over $4K. Once I found it, I went back and cleaned 100% of the trash out of the area, and was even rewarded with a second gold ring... 14K yellow gold plain band. Also bounced like trash...
The point here is, with alloys, you never can tell, and it's worth digging a little bit extra.
EDIT: this should NOT be construed as "if you dig 1000 pull-tabs you're guaranteed a gold ring.." In fact, a lot of this comes down to location! If there's no jewelry to be found, digging a million pull-tabs doesn't do you any good. But if you're in the area where jewelry is likely to be, don't be afraid to dig erratic signals! The most erratic signal I ever dug turned out to be a silver cross with 14K Black hills gold, with a silver chain... That thing was ALL OVER the map...
Cheers!
Skippy
All,
While replying to a "Today's Finds" poster, I realized this is good information to share with others.
The question I'm posting (and answering) here is this, "Why does the gold I dig up not register as gold?!"
Simply put, unless the jewelry is 24K, or ".999," it's NOT PURE.
22K = 91.67%
18K = 75%
14K = 58.33%
12K = 505
10K = 41.7%
9K = 37.5%
If it's not 24K gold, it's an ALLOY. This is the reason gold will bounce on your readouts.
Take for example, a 10K gold ring. 10K is just 41.7% gold. This of course, means that 58.3% of the weight of the ring is made from other metals. For a typical 10K ring (such as a class ring), the other metals vary, but the primary alloy is likely copper. It's not uncommon to have some silver, and very likely some nickel or zinc is included, which adds hardness. The result of such an alloy is a ring that bounces ALL OVER the metals detected readout.
In short, such a ring will bounce between foil, nickel, gold, and copper, making it look like a piece of trash!
The purer the gold, the more likely the ring will stabilize in the gold readout range. White gold, which contains a lot of nickel, rings the most solid for me in the gold range (in which nickel is smack in!) Personally, I've found that 14K bands bounce only a little, 10K bounces a lot for me, and the one 9K ring I pulled out, I swore was just going to be trash. Only one 8.6 gram 14K mens ring rang solid... and it was at the nickel range with zero bounce. I believe this was largely due to the orientation of the ring in the ground (flat with hole parallel, making for a great target), and the size of the ring. It rang up just like any nickel would.
With all that bouncing, I've personally given up trying to only "Find gold," and I simply dig it all. I've been rewarded with 6 gold rings this year. To be sure, I'm also rewarded with thousands of bits of trash and pulltabs!
My best find was 4.5 inches deep, and I know this area has been hit repeatedly by detectorists over the years... that particular ring bounced between the nickel and copper range, and totally looked like a piece of trash. The thing is, I know many detectorists won't dig up what looks like trash on the read out. Given the depth, and the personal knowledge that this area is hit regularly by detectorists, I'm certain every other detectorist thought it was trash... Heck, I thought it was trash! Even when I pulled it out, I was still thinking "costume jewelry." That ring came out to be valued at over $4K. Once I found it, I went back and cleaned 100% of the trash out of the area, and was even rewarded with a second gold ring... 14K yellow gold plain band. Also bounced like trash...
The point here is, with alloys, you never can tell, and it's worth digging a little bit extra.
EDIT: this should NOT be construed as "if you dig 1000 pull-tabs you're guaranteed a gold ring.." In fact, a lot of this comes down to location! If there's no jewelry to be found, digging a million pull-tabs doesn't do you any good. But if you're in the area where jewelry is likely to be, don't be afraid to dig erratic signals! The most erratic signal I ever dug turned out to be a silver cross with 14K Black hills gold, with a silver chain... That thing was ALL OVER the map...
Cheers!
Skippy
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), back in 1970 when I started as a teenager, minimum wage was $1.60hr. I was making a whopping $1.85 and hour, but, I could make more metal detecting! Add to that the fact that half my finds were silver and wheats. More than once I was asking myself why I was working in the first place! These days, we're lucky to find gas money to get us there and back.
