Santa Cruz gold (?)

[SweetCorn]

Beach hunt today in Santa Cruz. This is the 3rd or 4th time I've been down there and every trip before has been somewhat disappointing. Today was better but not sure how much better as the big find is not marked. The beach definitely had less sand and the tide is out pretty good right now. The trash to treasure ratio wasn't bad, could certainly be worse.
I met a local hunter and she gave me lots of useful info. Be sure to take off the headphones and say hi to fellow MDers when you're out You never know who you might meet or what you might learn.

Now to the goods....

The overall. Still finding plenty of pennies but only 30 today, not 50. There is a beat up bracelet in there, looks copper and there is a ring with an amazing crust formation attached to it. I'm not expecting much under that crust as the ring looks like a kids ring and also appears to be copper.



Here are a couple pics of the good looking ring I found. It weighs 7.9 g and as mentioned, I cannot find a mark in it. When I found it, it was dark and my initial impression was that it was a junker. It looked tarnished and didn't seem to weigh a whole lot. When I cleaned it off and looked at it indoors, it looked much better. It is a large men's ring. It fits over my thumb! What do you think? Based upon these pics, gold or junk??



Here is another pic of the ring and I included something interesting I found. This might be relic-ish. A quick search of this name, Helena Rubenstein shows that this is a makeup company. The end of the tube says "Red Cardinal" and I think it's a lipstick tube. Based upon the quality of the construction, it's very heavy, I think it's pretty old. It's pretty cool.

 

[sjvalleyhunter]

Nice finds. The few times I've hunted the Santa Cruz beaches I haven't had much luck other than a plethora of zinc pennies. Regarding the ring, you mentioned that it was dark and looked tarnished. Typically, gold doesn't tarnish. Perhaps it's a lower karat, but to me it just doesn't quite have the right color to be gold. But then again, I've been staring at the bottom of few glasses of golden colored Crown Royal for the last couple of hours so perhaps my vision is a bit off. Regardless, congrats on the finds.

 

[vpnavy]

Ya did great SweetCorn!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Congratualtions on the GOLD and lip stick case!

 

[Joe hunter]

Sure cleaned up nice ,I would think anything but gold would look far worse.nice finds

 

[trapperart]

Congrats on some nice finds

 

[The Urban Prospector]

Boy, that's a toughie! Based solely on the looks, it appears to have the same color and "shine" as a couple of gold tone tungsten carbide I have found. As for a hallmark, be sure you look super close at the inside and outside as some companies are etching as opposed to engraving and that etching can be very light. A good scratch and acid test would let you know. Even better would be to let someone local to you that has an AuRacle gold tester test it for you. You can also tap into your chemistry side and use a specific gravity test right at home if you have a scale and a calculator.

Great hunt! Hope your gold is the real McCoy and thanks for sharing!

 

[SeabeeRon]

That is a good looking ring, hope it's the real thing!!

One thing though...you forgot to pay me the entrance fee to "my" beach!!

 

[mariposagold]

I spent a few hours at Santa Cruz beach last September. Didn't have much luck, but it was a nice beach to hunt and I hadn't been beach hunting since the 80's. Good finding Gold.

HH
Mariposa Gold.

 

[Wildcat1750]

Nice hunt, especially the ring and lipstick case!

 

[A2coins]

Nice ring hard to tell gold plated would hold up well in the ground also take to any jeweler they will know I hope its gold!!!!

 

[strick]

Nice work on the ring. Get a scratch tester off e bay they are cheap and you can test your finds when you get home. Also a nice tumbler comes in handy. Looking forward to running into you out there some day as I occasionally hunt your neck of the woods.

strick