Mi$terG
Hero Member
UPDATE ON CLASS RING RETURN BELOW!
[Disclamer: this was actually on Sunday…]
It was a cold, blustery but clear morning and I set off for the beach before the sun came up. It had been two months since I’ve been able to much detecting at all with all the snow that we’ve had in Massachusetts during this historic year. I needed to scratch the itch so I got out to a local beach to at the very least, stretch my legs and get some fresh air… and hope for something good. Let’s have some nickel signals today, I was thinking as I drove through the dark morning.
I stepped onto the beach just as the orange/red ball of the sun was breaking through the ocean horizon- a beautiful sight. It was so nice that I had to stop to take off my gloves to snap some pictures. That’s treasure right there. I noticed that I was in luck- there was a big swath of the beach about 2/3 of the way out to low tide that was darker in color and was littered with rocks- a great place to find some heavier targets- who knows, maybe a ring?
I use an AT Pro- and it’s taken me a little bit to get used to it on this beach- but through tinkering and with some advice that I’ve picked up from T-Net members, I set it in Pro Zero mode, discrimination at 20 and then edged the sensitivity back until I could stand the chatter- and distinguish a good signal from bad. I walked to the furthest edge of the rocks to my left and began a zig-zag pattern, overlapping about a foot on each pass, going as slow as I could stand… listening for those nickel signals and any other signal that wanted to repeat for me. I made up my mind that I was digging everything this morning. Sixty days without detecting had made me appreciate this time and I was going to take full advantage of it.
As it frequently happens to many of us, in the first ten minutes I got a great nickel signal (I believe a 51 or 52) – strong and repeating, at only 4 inches of depth. It took a little extra effort to dig in this area due to the fact that it was rocky and icy (yes, icy, even on a salt water beach!) but when I got the shovel under the target and flipped it, I immediately saw YELLOW. GOLD! I quickly picked it up and brushed some dirt off to see a bright red stone in a women’s gold ring. Later I found that it was a 14K ruby with 12 diamonds surrounding it. I could have quit right then but I wanted to take advantage of this free time, so I put the ring in my keepers pocket, zipped it up and kept moving. Not 5 feet away from the ring I got another strong 52/53 at just 2 inches. Flipped the mud out and moved it a bit with my foot- and I couldn’t believe it- GOLD RING #2. This one appeared to have a light blue stone in the dawn light. Little did I know that it was actually a 14K solitaire one carat diamond. Had I known this I might have shut it down after about 15 minutes on the beach. Hell, I might have passed out right there!
Now I’m revved up and thinking that every nickel signal I get is going to be a gold ring. About a half hour later as I slowly canvassed the area I picked up another strong 53 on my machine- flipped the mud and there was a women’s 10K gold class ring (1981) from a local high school. (Side note: I’ve already located the rightful owner and will be reaching out to her this week to return the ring.) As I moved on I picked up about $5 in clad, and a couple of silver Washington quarters (1935 and 1942). Then as a perfect bookend to my best beach hunt ever, as I was heading toward the exit of the beach, I got a garbled high/mid tone- repeating in all directions. Some directions it sounded like a quarter (86-88) others it sounded like a piece of junk (66-68 – usually a bottle cap for me or can slaw). I decided that since I was leaving that I would want to see what this was. When I flipped the dirt over, I didn’t see it at first. Scanning the pile I could now hear the junk separate from the high tone. I picked up a small clod of mud about the size of a matchbox car and started brushing it off and began to see the arm of a cross- it turned out to be a big sterling silver men’s cross pendant with a purple stone (maybe amethyst) on a broken thin chain. I knew then that the man upstairs was with me on this hunt and I smiled. There was my cue to get home to my wife and son.
I was so excited that I had to call my wife to tell her that “I feel like a pirate coming home this morning!” What an amazing couple of hours (only 2!). You can imagine that both were very happy with my findings- my wife for obvious reasons (especially given that both rings fit her perfectly) and my boy loves to add all the clad I find to his piggy bank. It was certainly a morning that I won’t forget for a long time.
Thanks for looking and best of luck to all. And Happy Spring!
Mi$terG
[Disclamer: this was actually on Sunday…]
It was a cold, blustery but clear morning and I set off for the beach before the sun came up. It had been two months since I’ve been able to much detecting at all with all the snow that we’ve had in Massachusetts during this historic year. I needed to scratch the itch so I got out to a local beach to at the very least, stretch my legs and get some fresh air… and hope for something good. Let’s have some nickel signals today, I was thinking as I drove through the dark morning.
I stepped onto the beach just as the orange/red ball of the sun was breaking through the ocean horizon- a beautiful sight. It was so nice that I had to stop to take off my gloves to snap some pictures. That’s treasure right there. I noticed that I was in luck- there was a big swath of the beach about 2/3 of the way out to low tide that was darker in color and was littered with rocks- a great place to find some heavier targets- who knows, maybe a ring?
I use an AT Pro- and it’s taken me a little bit to get used to it on this beach- but through tinkering and with some advice that I’ve picked up from T-Net members, I set it in Pro Zero mode, discrimination at 20 and then edged the sensitivity back until I could stand the chatter- and distinguish a good signal from bad. I walked to the furthest edge of the rocks to my left and began a zig-zag pattern, overlapping about a foot on each pass, going as slow as I could stand… listening for those nickel signals and any other signal that wanted to repeat for me. I made up my mind that I was digging everything this morning. Sixty days without detecting had made me appreciate this time and I was going to take full advantage of it.
As it frequently happens to many of us, in the first ten minutes I got a great nickel signal (I believe a 51 or 52) – strong and repeating, at only 4 inches of depth. It took a little extra effort to dig in this area due to the fact that it was rocky and icy (yes, icy, even on a salt water beach!) but when I got the shovel under the target and flipped it, I immediately saw YELLOW. GOLD! I quickly picked it up and brushed some dirt off to see a bright red stone in a women’s gold ring. Later I found that it was a 14K ruby with 12 diamonds surrounding it. I could have quit right then but I wanted to take advantage of this free time, so I put the ring in my keepers pocket, zipped it up and kept moving. Not 5 feet away from the ring I got another strong 52/53 at just 2 inches. Flipped the mud out and moved it a bit with my foot- and I couldn’t believe it- GOLD RING #2. This one appeared to have a light blue stone in the dawn light. Little did I know that it was actually a 14K solitaire one carat diamond. Had I known this I might have shut it down after about 15 minutes on the beach. Hell, I might have passed out right there!
Now I’m revved up and thinking that every nickel signal I get is going to be a gold ring. About a half hour later as I slowly canvassed the area I picked up another strong 53 on my machine- flipped the mud and there was a women’s 10K gold class ring (1981) from a local high school. (Side note: I’ve already located the rightful owner and will be reaching out to her this week to return the ring.) As I moved on I picked up about $5 in clad, and a couple of silver Washington quarters (1935 and 1942). Then as a perfect bookend to my best beach hunt ever, as I was heading toward the exit of the beach, I got a garbled high/mid tone- repeating in all directions. Some directions it sounded like a quarter (86-88) others it sounded like a piece of junk (66-68 – usually a bottle cap for me or can slaw). I decided that since I was leaving that I would want to see what this was. When I flipped the dirt over, I didn’t see it at first. Scanning the pile I could now hear the junk separate from the high tone. I picked up a small clod of mud about the size of a matchbox car and started brushing it off and began to see the arm of a cross- it turned out to be a big sterling silver men’s cross pendant with a purple stone (maybe amethyst) on a broken thin chain. I knew then that the man upstairs was with me on this hunt and I smiled. There was my cue to get home to my wife and son.
I was so excited that I had to call my wife to tell her that “I feel like a pirate coming home this morning!” What an amazing couple of hours (only 2!). You can imagine that both were very happy with my findings- my wife for obvious reasons (especially given that both rings fit her perfectly) and my boy loves to add all the clad I find to his piggy bank. It was certainly a morning that I won’t forget for a long time.
Thanks for looking and best of luck to all. And Happy Spring!
Mi$terG
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