I found some gold today also!

[Helix]

Went out for and hour and a half this afternoon. Warmed up into the 40's and ground was thawed but 4" of snow. I figured wouldn't get any deep signals with the snow in my way. Decided to hunt a small area on the side of a hill in the woods facing the sun. Less snow. Only dug about 10 targets mostly shotgun backs and this small gold ring. It was heavily incrusted with something. I figured it was plated till I got it home and figured I would just soak it in hydrogen peroxide for a while and if its junk oh well. I got most of the crust off and looked for markings 10k or something and I an not seeing anything. First Gold for 2014. I am 99% sure it is gold.

 

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[mlayers]

test it with a magnet gold won't stick to it but gold plated will

 

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[Helix]

OK, OK.. Well I let the ring soak in lemon juice for 24 hours and I was wrong it is plated. I did get a bit over excited yesterday night,, I truly thought it was solid. I found a very crude gold band at this old picnic site a few years ago the wasn't marked. That I had tested and was solid. I tried the magnet yesterday and it didn't stick. There was no pitting except in one very very small spot I thought was crust. I believe what looks like pitting in he photos are small dents in the platting, gold is soft right? I am no expert on gold but this has to be the heaviest plated ring I have ever found. Anyway looked at it a bit a go and stated picking at the very small spot. The lemon juice must of gotten through and started eating away at the base metal because the plating just pealed away in that area. So I was wrong. Thanks for to the lemon juice idea now I don't have to waste my time getting it tested just to find out its plated. I mean wow? I have found ring once marked 18k and barley had a trace of gold plate left on it. I guess one never knows for sure if its gold or not till its tested right. You can see the small spot at the top were the platting pealed away.

 

[treblehunter]

Very nice ring, no matter how you grade it, was a exciting find for you and that makes it fun. Rings are my favorite kind of finds, especially when they have stones in them that look like diamonds. I love running to the jeweler to find out about them, I have not been lucky yet in finding gold, diamonds and such. I have found a few silver bands, just a matter of time is how I look at it.