Finding silver on zinc signal

[jimzz977]

I found a silver necklace on etrac the reading was 12-36/37 , I thought it was going to a zine penny but a 39.9 gram silver Italy 925 necklace came out, I was wondering why such a low reading . I did acid test and it was silver. I posted on today finds

 

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[ChampFerguson/TN]

I have read that a lot of counterfeit silver stuff is marked 925 Italy; could it be silver plated?

 

[jimzz977]

I did acid test it showed silver so I believe it's real

 

[Carolina Tom]

Chains tend to ring up oddly. I have found a couple, but it was luck, not skill. I was digging all repeatable signals, and they showed up. I believe it is because they are not "solid". The machine likes round solid metal objects. A chain by nature is made of links, which are not solid. Mine were choppy broken signals.

 

[Jason in Enid]

the small size is what is dropping the FECO response. I have found small rings and lockets (silver) that read like an indianhead because of their size/depth/orientation.

 

[jimzz977]

Ok thanks , I been passing on theses signals because got tried of finding zincLincoln , I was going to pass on this one glad I didn't, lesson learned

 

[MrMikeJackie]

Most people are used to coin vdi's. Jewelry, both gold and silver have nothing to do with coins. Shape, size, alloy matrix, how it's laying in the ground(chains balled up vs spread out) will all give you a diff reading. Heck, even a worn out barber/mercury dime will ring up like a zinc. If you want jewelry, you gotta dig it all.

 

[cudamark]

As touched on by others, a chain is not detected as a total of all it's pieces. The target I.D. is based on the largest of the individual parts.....usually the clasp. The last necklace I found had real tiny links and clasp. It read 12-10 on my E-trac, and sounded like a scratchy bit of foil. It turned out to be a nice silver necklace. Good thing I was at the beach and scooping everything non-ferrous, because, if I'd received that reading in a park, I would have ignored it.

 

[Jackalope]

Consider the difficulty of imparting large circulating eddies on tiny links - the most effective means is with a high freq xmit coil. To get a high Co values the target needs a flat area, like a coin, to drive currents.

Rings can make higher Co values if the band is wider, but if the band is broken the current cannot fully flow and the Co value drops.

Then there's orientation in the ground - a ring laying on its side or a coin on-edge may intersect the coil's more vertical field lines mostly along the edge - where surface area is minimal. But with a bit of an angle in the soil the ring or coin's surface is exposed more and will rate a higher Co value as more eddies can be induced.

If the surface is corroded or pitted, greater resistance decreases currents and a lower Co results. When metals are mixed with gold or silver, the resulting alloys can greatly decrease surface conductivity, making gold rings appear like foil (12Fe, 02Co), even though the original metals were very conductive in their own right.

Thus, it is understandable why most people hunting for jewelry simply must dig everything, unless it clearly is iron. And it is why a higher freq machine excites at depth that poorly oriented, alloyed ring, with the broken band, better by making stronger eddies than a low-freq machines.

 

[jimzz977]

One thing i did notice is while I was getting 12-36/37 signal the cursor was all the way at top and by chance there was a zinc in the same area the silver necklace was , zinc give me a 12-36/37 same signal,but cursor was mid way on the screen.

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

I did acid test it showed silver so I believe it's real

Yeah, saw that in your initial post. Wasn't clear that you had scraped enough metal away so that you had gotten below any plating.
I am always suspect of any jewelry of recent manufacture stamped Italy.

 

[jimzz977]

Yeah you're right I was suspect jewelry I'm going to the jewelry today and see what it is

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

Yeah you're right I was suspect jewelry I'm going to the jewelry today and see what it is

Good Luck!