Beginners luck? Newbie finds gold!

bdhoward · May 8, 2011

Hey guys. I'm pretty new to this forum and this wonderful hobby. In fact I just purchased my first detector last week (Garret GTI 1500). I went out for a few of hours to test out my machine and get some practice twice last week and I finally had a full NICE day to detect today. The day started off slow (1 clad dime) in 5 hours and 4 different locations (tons of junk!). I gotta admit, I was feeling pretty defeated, but I stuck with it. I hit my last spot of the day around 4:00pm and within 30 mins I was starting to collect alot of Lincoln cents and some clad. Then my very FIRST SILVER ever. A 1947 rosie! I kept going and within 5 mins I collected my FIRST EVER 1944 silver war nickle! I kept my nose to the grindstone and was starting to learn my machine even better and was finding myself getting more and more proficient with every signal. I kept pulling more pennies, a regular nickle, 2 clad quarters, 4 more clad dimes, 2 wheaties, a small coin from the caymen islands, and ANOTHER silver rosie. I must admit, I was feeling more confident and excited at this point. Then it happened... I got a fairly strong signal that registered as a pulltab at about 5 inches. Although I dug ALOT of junk today I figured "what the hell, you never know". I dug my plug and scanned over the surface to pinpoint my target. BEEEEEEP, It was close. I quickly sifted through the dirt and was expecting to find that silver toned beer tab, but to my surprise I saw a golden horse head with 2 rubies for eyes staring back at me! Could it be?? I quickly cleaned of the dirt from the inside of the ring and there it was! 14K stamped! WOOO. This was only my 3rd time out using a detector! I'm guessing I was really lucky. The ring is pretty heavy. Approximately 6-7 grams! I just thought I would share my first ever awesome experience with everyone. I'm hooked! Bryan H.

P.S. Does anyone have any tips on how to clean these finds with houshold cleaners? What methods/products work best??

Hasse · May 11, 2011

A pretty good gold! :hello2:

Very good find!
Congratulations! :icon_thumright:

ihavetone · May 11, 2011

Welcome and wow... hope you stay hot...

MKnTenn · May 12, 2011

WTG, it took me a couple of years to find my first gold. Hope it's just the start of years of good luck. Keep all your junk metal, it may add up to gas money some day.

PROSPECTORMIKEL · May 12, 2011

WOW!
THAT IS A GREAT FIND. BEGINNER'S LUCK OR NOT.
I GOTTA ASK... DID YOU FEEL THE HOOK SET WHEN YOU SAW GOLD OR DID YOU GET HOOKED
ON THE FIRST COIN? AND HOW DID YOU DRAG YOURSELF AWAY AFTER CATCHIN' THAT
BIG OLE HORSE ?!?
I'VE BEEN AT IT FOR ABOUT TEN YEARS AND HAVEN'T FOUND ENOUGH TO PAY FOR THE BATTERIES IN MY DETECTOR YET, LET ALONE HALF OF THE DETECTOR!

I DID FIND A CLASS RING THAT ONE OF MY LOCAL FOOTBALL PLAYERS LOST WHILE HELPING
AT SCHOOL SPREADING STRAW FOR A LANDSCAPE PROJECT. HE HAD SEARCHED 2 ACRES JUST EYEBALLING FOR IT. I HEARD ABOUT HIS LOSS AND SPENT FOUR HOURS BEFORE FINDING IT.
IT FELT GREAT, BUT I KNEW THAT HE HAD EARNED AND PAYED FOR IT AND I HAD NO INTENTIONS OF KEEPING IT. MY WIFE CALLED THE SCHOOL AND LEFT A MSG. HE CAME TO GET IT AND I WAS AT WORK, SO I DIDN'T GET TO SEE HOW HAPPY HE WAS TO GET IT.
THAT WOULD HAVE MADE ALL THAT SWINGIN' WORTH IT... I WAS BUMBED OUT.

BUT I'M HAPPY TO KNOW WE HAVE A NEW BORN ADDICT.

HH
PROSPECTORMIKEL
:hello2:

cyberborikua · May 12, 2011

Great story and incredible valuable ring. It already paid off for your machine, pinponter, phone, and perhaps some other future upgrade machines. Ya right. You need to master your machine as much as possible. It will let you discriminate the goodies from the trash. Now, finding gold on land is more the exception than the rule. You'll find a lot more silver and coins than gold. But never stop digging those low tones for more gold will come.

I clean my clad in a tumbler with aquarium pebbles and soapy water for 10 to 12 hours. That's the most effective way to clean it. I would not try any abrasive liquids on jewelry or silver coins. You may have found a key date on any of your silver coins and would not like it ruined by those liquids. A tumbler is about $100, but you will soon find a lot more than that in clad in a few months. I own the one in the picture and here is a link:
http://www.google.com/products/cata...mH0QGxrcX0Bg&ved=0CH0Q8gIwAw&biw=802&bih=397#

Keep trying and HH