Finding gold in Nha Trang, Vietnam

perdidogringo

Sr. Member
Apr 21, 2011
411
927
El Dorado
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Equinox 900, Fisher CZ-21, Garrett Pro-Pointer AT
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Hi all,

I recently traveled down to the Vietnamese resort (and former U.S. military base) of Nha Trang, Vietnam for a little bit of relaxation and metal detecting on the beach. The highlight was finding my first gold ring in Vietnam! It's a pretty interesting ring as you can see in the photos. I believe there are little stones imbedded within it? The inscription reads, I believe, "RR 670." I'm not sure what that is in reference to, whether it denotes the carat, the maker, or perhaps the owner of the ring? Any ideas?

I also found a whole lot of coins from various countries, and a couple of unidentified pins (if anyone has any idea about the pins, I'd appreciate if you would reach out). I'm hoping one of them is military but after searching the internet, couldn't find a match. The water was rough this time of year so I could only search the wet and dry sand, unfortunately. I hope to get back to this area in the summer when the water is more calm- there has to be a lot of lost jewelry and relics from the G.I.'s stationed there in the 1960s and 70s. I've attached some photos of my finds as well as a link to a video I made of the hunts. Happy hunting!

 

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perdidogringo

perdidogringo

Sr. Member
Apr 21, 2011
411
927
El Dorado
Detector(s) used
Equinox 900, Fisher CZ-21, Garrett Pro-Pointer AT
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Congratulations on a great find. I think A giant thrill for me would be to finds rings there and then be ABLE to hand them back to the people that lost them and thank them for there service !!!
Yep, that is my biggest motivation for detecting these old American G.I. beaches. To find an old class ring, dogtag, or old zippo lighter with a name on it to reunite with its owner (or the owner's family) would be unforgettable.
 

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perdidogringo

perdidogringo

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Apr 21, 2011
411
927
El Dorado
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I think your red circle is very close.This pix. is about all I could find that MIGHT help you locate the end of the runway.
***** See the Mt. range In the background (as a reference point) as to its location **** I think its called (per your map) "Hon Tre".....
The runway ended at the far right of this pix. You can just make out the tail of a F-100 (the rest of the Fighter is in the sand), after an emergency -no power- landing it crossed Highway one.killing 3, and came to rest on the beach.
Now, that beach has GOT to have a lot of rings,etc. AS Nha Trang was a "in country R & R. location for decades w/a lot of G.I.s swimming at that beach.Good luck :)
I just found this other map with the old Nha Trang Airforce Base denoted (on the right). Looks like I detected the beach just North of it. This gives me another reason to return. 8-)
 

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RTR

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Nov 21, 2017
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I just found this other map with the old Nha Trang Airforce Base denoted (on the right). Looks like I detected the beach just North of it. This gives me another reason to return. 8-)
Yep thats it,in your 2nd map !:)
 

RTR

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Nov 21, 2017
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Great job on the video ,and the ring,and that pin at 13:00 it looks somewhat familiar :icon_scratch:
 

Digger RJ

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Aug 24, 2017
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SW Missouri/Oklahoma
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Hi all,

I recently traveled down to the Vietnamese resort (and former U.S. military base) of Nha Trang, Vietnam for a little bit of relaxation and metal detecting on the beach. The highlight was finding my first gold ring in Vietnam! It's a pretty interesting ring as you can see in the photos. I believe there are little stones imbedded within it? The inscription reads, I believe, "RR 670." I'm not sure what that is in reference to, whether it denotes the carat, the maker, or perhaps the owner of the ring? Any ideas?

I also found a whole lot of coins from various countries, and a couple of unidentified pins (if anyone has any idea about the pins, I'd appreciate if you would reach out). I'm hoping one of them is military but after searching the internet, couldn't find a match. The water was rough this time of year so I could only search the wet and dry sand, unfortunately. I hope to get back to this area in the summer when the water is more calm- there has to be a lot of lost jewelry and relics from the G.I.'s stationed there in the 1960s and 70s. I've attached some photos of my finds as well as a link to a video I made of the hunts. Happy hunting!


Very Nice!!!! Congrats!!!!
 

Gare

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Dec 30, 2012
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RTR thanks for your postings :)
 

crashbandicoot

Gold Member
Sep 27, 2020
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Dumas,AR
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Also, the French Military used that base for many years before the U.S. got involved :)
Beat me to it! The French had a lot of soldiers of various Nationalities serving in their Army.Could explain the many different coins.
 

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Gare

Gold Member
Dec 30, 2012
7,456
14,028
Canton Ohio Area
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Presently using Deus 2's & have Minelabs, Nokta's Tesoro's DEus's Have them all . Have WAY to many need to get rid of some
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Yep, that is my biggest motivation for detecting these old American G.I. beaches. To find an old class ring, dogtag, or old zippo lighter with a name on it to reunite with its owner (or the owner's family) would be unforgettable.
Please keep us posted . If we can be of ANY HELP LET US KNOW !!!
 

Hunk-a-lead

Bronze Member
Dec 20, 2020
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3,311
Kansas City
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Hi all,

I recently traveled down to the Vietnamese resort (and former U.S. military base) of Nha Trang, Vietnam for a little bit of relaxation and metal detecting on the beach. The highlight was finding my first gold ring in Vietnam! It's a pretty interesting ring as you can see in the photos. I believe there are little stones imbedded within it? The inscription reads, I believe, "RR 670." I'm not sure what that is in reference to, whether it denotes the carat, the maker, or perhaps the owner of the ring? Any ideas?

I also found a whole lot of coins from various countries, and a couple of unidentified pins (if anyone has any idea about the pins, I'd appreciate if you would reach out). I'm hoping one of them is military but after searching the internet, couldn't find a match. The water was rough this time of year so I could only search the wet and dry sand, unfortunately. I hope to get back to this area in the summer when the water is more calm- there has to be a lot of lost jewelry and relics from the G.I.'s stationed there in the 1960s and 70s. I've attached some photos of my finds as well as a link to a video I made of the hunts. Happy hunting!


great finds and very cool ring, interesting design. wtg
 

WG2020

Sr. Member
Oct 9, 2018
470
686
SW Ohio
Detector(s) used
CTX 3030 and Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Hi all,

I recently traveled down to the Vietnamese resort (and former U.S. military base) of Nha Trang, Vietnam for a little bit of relaxation and metal detecting on the beach. The highlight was finding my first gold ring in Vietnam! It's a pretty interesting ring as you can see in the photos. I believe there are little stones imbedded within it? The inscription reads, I believe, "RR 670." I'm not sure what that is in reference to, whether it denotes the carat, the maker, or perhaps the owner of the ring? Any ideas?

I also found a whole lot of coins from various countries, and a couple of unidentified pins (if anyone has any idea about the pins, I'd appreciate if you would reach out). I'm hoping one of them is military but after searching the internet, couldn't find a match. The water was rough this time of year so I could only search the wet and dry sand, unfortunately. I hope to get back to this area in the summer when the water is more calm- there has to be a lot of lost jewelry and relics from the G.I.'s stationed there in the 1960s and 70s. I've attached some photos of my finds as well as a link to a video I made of the hunts. Happy hunting!


Hi all,

I recently traveled down to the Vietnamese resort (and former U.S. military base) of Nha Trang, Vietnam for a little bit of relaxation and metal detecting on the beach. The highlight was finding my first gold ring in Vietnam! It's a pretty interesting ring as you can see in the photos. I believe there are little stones imbedded within it? The inscription reads, I believe, "RR 670." I'm not sure what that is in reference to, whether it denotes the carat, the maker, or perhaps the owner of the ring? Any ideas?

I also found a whole lot of coins from various countries, and a couple of unidentified pins (if anyone has any idea about the pins, I'd appreciate if you would reach out). I'm hoping one of them is military but after searching the internet, couldn't find a match. The water was rough this time of year so I could only search the wet and dry sand, unfortunately. I hope to get back to this area in the summer when the water is more calm- there has to be a lot of lost jewelry and relics from the G.I.'s stationed there in the 1960s and 70s. I've attached some photos of my finds as well as a link to a video I made of the hunts. Happy hunting!


Perdidogringo,

Very nice find. As others have highlighted, Nha Trang hosted some interesting US military and CIA elements. The Army Security Agency (ASA) had Radio Research (RR) Companies and Battalions throughout Vietnam. I wasn’t able to find a RR 670 unit that served in Vietnam or elsewhere but that doesn’t necessarily mean that there wasn’t one as the ASA is a spook intelligence outfit. Below are a couple of web sites with information about the ASA and their units.



Good luck with your hunts. Walt

PS Be careful with you detecting in Vietnam as there is a lot of unexploded ordnance over there. Wouldn’t be a bad idea to use a hard plastic shovel (no metal) and to dig slow and carefully.
 

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