new home, easy diggin, first gold and french books

[Discrimination Dave]

Been busier than a stutterin Morman at an AA convention.
Bought a new home in the foothills of Nara in October and that has been awesome for me and my family. We love our new home, Nara is chalk full of history and I have found the turf here to be soft and deep. Unlike the concrete caliche stuff that I always dealt with back in the big city of Osaka. Besides the move (packing and unpacking), I also converted my old house into the new English school. Now I don't have to pay rent on the old building. Totally renovated the interior of the old house, busy, busy, busy.
Anyhow, with the soft digging here in the "country-side", suddenly pull tabs and foil aren't quite so hated, LOATHED and dreaded. I've dug a few obviously old "whatzits" and will post those soon.

The Hunt:
Wife and I took the kids to a nearby park today. The last day of our long New Years holiday. Wife and kids ran around like snow monkeys and I detected like...well you know. The park has a Kofun ( an old tomb) dating from the 7th century.

Id found some aluminum caps and pull tabs then just inside the edge of the woods I got a good signal that didnt bounce around much. I turned over the plug and it was still in the hole. I poked around and "bing", I saw gold. It was about 5 inches down.

I was sure it was gold because it had absolutely no oxidation on it and was obviously in the ground for some time. But I saw no markings on it. I really thought it was some aboriginal nose ring or something because it wasn't marked.
When I met back up with my wife, I showed her and said I was 90 percent sure it was gold. She looked at it for less than 10 seconds and said "congratulations". She saw the tiny K18 mark on the inside.

I weighed it at 3.2 grams so I reckon it is worth about 80 bucks.
Still smiling, my first gold.

As for the French books, they fell into my hands in a really crazy way. I did some research and figure the two could be worth more than 500 dollars. Id love to share the story on how i got them but am not sure if it is ok to post that here.
Any ideas?

 

[cntrydncr1]

looks like you have a new good spot to hunt. congrats on the gold.

 

[hikeinmts]

You mentioned an English school in your home. I and my wife (Korean) are owners of an English school in S. Korea. And I hunt in the hills/mts of Korea. Never saw (in pictures or found) a ring like that. Did they wear nose rings that shape? Looks like it could be, but I don't think that the Koreans did.
Have you found any of the old holed Japanese coins? If so, have you found any Chinese holed coins? Korean holed coins?
I have found, in S. Korea, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean holed coins......plus a lot of the solid Japanese coins, beginning with the 1/2 sen up to the 2 sen.....love to find them.....they are huge pieces of metal.
Love to get together with you for a hunt.....either in Japan or here......

 

[Discrimination Dave]

You mentioned an English school in your home. I and my wife (Korean) are owners of an English school in S. Korea. And I hunt in the hills/mts of Korea. Never saw (in pictures or found) a ring like that. Did they wear nose rings that shape? Looks like it could be, but I don't think that the Koreans did.
Have you found any of the old holed Japanese coins? If so, have you found any Chinese holed coins? Korean holed coins?
I have found, in S. Korea, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean holed coins......plus a lot of the solid Japanese coins, beginning with the 1/2 sen up to the 2 sen.....love to find them.....they are huge pieces of metal.
Love to get together with you for a hunt.....either in Japan or here......

My wife did finally spot the "K18" mark on it. I doubt the original Yamato clan marked their gold in Karats!
Seriously though, its modern. I have found a one sen and a 5 sen, both late Meiji. The dirt here is really hard on them. Have not found any really old holed coins, though I have bought a few for my collection. Deep down I'm a coin shooter and am searching those silver and gold coins that I know are there and in better shape than the copper and brass.
I found a Showa 25 (1950) five yen just last monday. At first glance it seems nothing, but it does have the older style font on it that was discontinued in Showa 33 (1958). So it is comparable to the wheaties back in the States. What makes it really interesting to me is that it is almost indistinguishable from the modern 5 yen (Japanese nickle), but at that time, it was the LARGEST denomination coin in circulation! Much like the 500 yen is now. I believe the coins in circulation in 1950 were : the 10 sen, the 50 sen, the 1 yen and the 5 yen. (100 sen equal 1 yen). Sorry to babble on but I really could go on and on about Japanese coinage.
Would love to hunt with you anytime I can get away but cant see making it to Korea anytime soon. Your welcome here! Well put you up for a day or two and It would sure give me a good excuse to take off on a serious hunt!
cheers!
dave

 

[Nana40]

Congrats on the gold, Dave! That shot of the hillside is lovely!

Nana

 

[allen]

great job on that gold !!!

 

[sniffer]

you've now got yourself a nose ring, just keep it away from the kids or they'll start getting ideas. LOL

 

[tymcmurray]

Congratulations on the gold!
May you have more to come!

Ty

_________________
Tips, Techniques, and Tales at:


http://www.justgometaldetecting.com/

 

[Knightwalker]

Very sweet find. But you should never ever pick another mans nose(ring).
The wife said it looks like a belly ring to her.
HH in 2010

 

[Discrimination Dave]

looks like you have a new good spot to hunt. congrats on the gold.

Thank You cntrydncr1! There are three parks really near my house and some mountain trails. I`ll keep after it!

Congrats on the gold, Dave! That shot of the hillside is lovely!

Nana

Thank you for the nice words Nana! We like this area. I heard there are some castle ruins on a mountain top near here!

great job on that gold !!!

Thank you Allen, I`m enjoying a hot java even as I type.

you've now got yourself a nose ring, just keep it away from the kids or they'll start getting ideas. LOL

Thank you Sniffer. Good advice on the kids too.

Very sweet find. But you should never ever pick another mans nose(ring).
The wife said it looks like a belly ring to her.
HH in 2010

Thank you Knightwalker. Your wife may be right. My wife found some ear rings on the internet that looked just like it but one of the balls on the end unscrewed so that you could slide it on your ear. This piece doesnt do that. Painful to imagine somebody ripping that thing out of your belly button and slinging it across the park! Hopefully it fell out of someones pocket.
Oh! Remember KW, you can pick your friends. You can pick your nose. Heck, you can even pick your rings! But you can`t pick your friends nose rings!