Goldnow finally strikes first Gold

goldnow · Aug 23, 2009

Too bloody hot these past few days to do anything but takes showers and eat ice cold watermellon, but today we got a break. Had to change the battery on my Tesoro for the first time, and had an hour and half to find more hotrocks, before I had to make a BBQ for the friends.

Found another 3 hotrocks, (why doesn't the pinpointer react to them?), then an aluminum coin looking thing, THEN, 4 inches down, BINGO! My first gold of any kind on land! A Ring! Within around 10-12 hours since I started dirt diving. I must have stared at it for 3 minutes before I took a breath. What a thrill runs through your heart, and dropped 10 years off my birthdays, too. Ran and got the camera, did a few pics, ran home with it cradling it like a baby. Wifey takes one look at it and says, "Those are my initials, "GH." with a plea in her eye....First, I love the incredible coincidence, then slowly reality sets in and I feel I just lost another toy. I clean it, photograph it, weighs in at 6 grams, but maybe only 4, says "750" on the inside (18k), and keep trying to convince her the "H" is an "S".. Am I right?

goldnow · Aug 24, 2009

Thank you all for your good words. I now know the magic I was looking for in this hobby. I also have overcome the frustration of digging enough iron crap without reward. We all just need a few moments of glory to drag us through those long skunk days ahead.

I really enjoy this site, read it daily multiple times, learned a lot, and feel it has paid off. I've been through many sites with many types of people, but this group is the best. I personally enjoy the opportunity to drool over other's finds, and the encouragement to express friendly envy without guilt..

GibH · Aug 24, 2009

Congrats on your first gold. I just got mine last week. Mine was ok, 14k and 6.3 grams, I like yours better

goldnow · Aug 24, 2009

Hello GibH,.... Gold jewelery around here is the proverbial needle in the haystack. Talking to my wife, I realize that around Europe, silver rings probably didn't exist until recently (1960's) as fashion. They were gold or nothing in the old days. We are in the rural mountains, so the chances of them falling off and not found are dismally low percentages. Not like on the beaches. I'd assume a gold coin might be easier to find than a gold ring around here.

The difference in coin finding between Europe and the USA on less than 200 year old coins is, for instance in Italy, any coin minted between 1860's and 2002 (before the Euro), have absolutely no value (there are exceptions, of course), and were generally made from junk metals. In the States, you can find a common, worn down Mercury dime, and still walk into a store and buy 10 cents worth of something with it, if you are stupid enough to do it. In the States, every kid had a penny even back to the 1700's, and they have some collector's value. In Europe the scrap dealers won't even buy old common coins.

So coin shooting in Europe has to be either be very old (ie: Roman) or very very young (Euro) before a coin has some value.

I find a lot of pre-1900 worthless European coins, that if they were equal dates and denomination to the States, they would be significant finds.

I have no hope of finding another gold ring for a long time to come around here. This one was just a gift from existence and Mother Earth to tease me into cleaning the ground of old rusty nails.