Whats better than silver..........?

More gold!
Tried a few different spots today, skunked at the first 2 so we headed out of town to an old favorite park on the banks of a river. There is a swimming hole at the river, and here we have previously dug a couple of silver rings, a few pennys and plenty of old decimal. Instinct said to try it again as we had ignored jumpy pull tab type signals here in the past, and with the gold rings we have found of late coming into that catorgory............who knows. A couple of old decimal coin spills later, got a jumpy 58-61 on the F4, dug it thinking it was a beaver tail and out popped this nice little 3g,  9ct gold and saphire ring. WOO HOO!

Of course Carol had it on her little finger as quick as a flash!

 I think I am now more tuned in to when to dig what might be gold. For those using the F4, or any other Fisher machine here is my experience for what its worth.
Below 20.......Iron based
Below 30.......Junk
30-40............Pull tab (varing soil conditions will change the reading along with depth, orientation etc)
40-55............Copper nickel (mostly old decimal coins)
55-61............Possibly GOLD! DIG! DIG! DIG!!!!!!
60-70............Bouncy signal that drops off below 40 at the edge, Beaver tail pull tabs
60-62............$1 & $2 coins (also anything aluminium!)
63-68............Aluminium screw caps such as from V or wine bottles
70-80............Copper coins, 1/2 pennys at the lower end of the scale, pennys have a much larger profile than 1 or 2c pieces, small silver coins and of course flattened ali cans, but they have such a large profile you can tell what they are, unless of course it turnes out to be a silver bangle!
80-100...........Difficult range to interpret, all higher conductivity metal is here, larger silver coins, medals, bangles, etc along with bottle caps, large rusted iron horseshoes and other larger iron based stuff. Usually if its deeper than a few inches and has a small profile I'll dig it.
Having said all that, things like the rings from beaver tails, mowered canslaw and die cast metal pieces will sitll trip you up, just remember that the brain in the machine has to work in conjunction with the brain of the operator. Simple rule I now follow...........If you are in anyway unsure dig it! Cheers and HH everyone.

Another "Honking" great gold ring from the Goldmine!

Not much to report in the last couple of weeks, we have been going back to the goldmine most days after work weather permitting and consistantly pulling out around $20 a time. Now up over the $600.00 mark for this site this year although they are getting harder to find amongst the pull tabs and bottle caps. It was just too cold to get out yesterday with a max of around 8 and a nasty southerly wind to boot. Around lunchtime today we decided to head back to the "goldmine" to top up the spendies............ Well the first find was the 3d, then the  penny, then the silver ring, albiet a bit squashed............how could the day get any better? As you can see it did, amongst the goldies on a bank we had done before popped out this 12gram 9ct ring, well that certainly made our day!

Bloody freezing this morning!

We couldn't decide where to go for a hunt today, it was bitterely cold this morning with a temp of close to 0. Around linchtime when it had warmed up to about 8 we decided to repeat last weekends venture. First hunt in the next town for some oldies............ the pennys and 6d from that park, than on the way home we hit the goldmine again. Very happy with the resulting 44 coins. The oldest an 1879 penny, nearly $20 in spending and a nice silver as well.

A mixed bag today.........

The results of 2 hunts today, the first at a park out of town looking for the older stuff. The pennys and most of the old decimal from there. The cut penny is a 1951 Aussie, 2 of the others are British and only 1 Kiwi. On the way home we stopped at the "Goldmine" and picked up the goldies and the (junk) jewellery. All in all a most satisfying day hunting.

Goldmine totals to date........

Bloody awful weather here this weekend, we did, however manage a couple of hours this afternoon at the "Goldmine". Not dissapointed, 61 coins in total with $43 in spending. Just did a tally for the last months hunting this park.............$407 in goldies alone, not to mention the 8g 18ct ring, several pieces of silver jewellery, a dozen or so pre decimals and 1/2 a kilo of old decimal for the retirement fund. It just keeps giving and giving.
Here are todays finds.

Honking Great GOLD Ring!

This is why "The Goldmine" is called just that. I knew that sooner or later it would give up more than just gold coloured coins. The ring is 18ct, weighs in at 8 grams and was only about 2" deep. It registered 51 both ways on the F4. Boy oh boy, am I doing the happy dance right now! As it is engraved inside with a first name and a date I will, of course try to locate the owner. Made my day! Got some spending and pre decimals too boot............What more could you ask for a 1 1/2 hr hunt.

Quick hunt before dark this evening........

Managed to liberate another $28 in goldies from the goldmine tonight along with a nice silver ring and what looks like a Lamborghini. Not sure what the brass object is, and the mag light was a bonus.

4 Silvers Today

Hit the same park we hunted last weekend, after a slow start with what seemed like a ton of 1 & 2c pieces we finally hit some goodies. The silver fob watch bezel was a bonus, I thought it was a bit of junk when it came out but it is indeed marked Stg 925. As you can see, plenty of old decimal and only a couple of other pre decimal coins. The '47 3d was lying on top of one of the shillings, came up as a pull tab bouncing to a penny signal.........nearly didn't dig that one! Anyway a most productive hunt with 50 coins all up and a nice bit of silver to boot.

Another park........more silver!

No rain today, so this afternoon we headed to a park out of town that we have been to a few times before and had some luck. We have had a few pennys and the odd silver out of here on past visits, so I thought it was worth another try, as I seem to be able to "home in" on those smaller signals amongst the trash now I have more experience. As it turns out, it was worth the drive, 36 coins, 6 silvers and the most mower cut pieces of coin from one spot in one hunt. Included were the 1920 Aussie penny, a nice button and the cut penny is a young head Vicky 1884.

The "Goldies" keep coming.....

Making hay while the sun shines.............the weather forecast down this way is for rain, rain and more rain over the next week or so. So that meant back to the goldmine this evening again for another goldie hunt. We are happy with the results, 48 coins in a couple of hours including $22.20 in spending. The bracelet turned out to be junk but it had us going for a while.

Full moon "Goldmining"

The promise of a few more shiney goldies lured us back to the park this evening for a quick hunt before dark. A bit of a mixed bag  as we were targeting both goldies and jewellery. This shows in the amount of old decimal we dug. The watch would have been nicer if the gold and diamonds were real, the same goes for the plated ring and butterfly charm..........Still, in all a great hunt. At least we did dig 1 pre decimal, a "61 florin.

I know I said we were done at the Field but........

We couldn't decide where to hunt today, the park is too full of curious kids on weekends so we decided to look for new gorund out of town. No luck at the place we tried, and, as we had to pass it I decided ( to Carols disgust!) to give the Field another going over. I certainly raised her interest after digging two pennys in one hole followed by the English 6d. Only 26 coins today, but the 2 silvers made it worthwhile. The little badge is an Air New Zealand Jnr Jet Club badge.......never seen one before, and the Popeye brass is cute too. The remnants of yet another penknife, some old decimal and an undatable copper nickel shilling made up the other finds. Of the pennys 2 are Kiwi and the other  4 are British with the oldest being 1896.

The "Goldmine" gives up some more.

You guessed it, back to the park again this evening before dinner for another goldie hunt. We couldn't go last night as I had to work late.......  :( We managed to rescue another $21 in lost goldies, a silver shilling, a penny and a couple of rings. The pinkish ring is enamelled on brass, the silvery ring has been made from an old EPNS teaspoon.......I like it, think it is quite unique!

A bit more from the "Goldmine"

Jeeez Chris I think you put the mokkers on me when you mentioned my $2-$1 ratio from the park........LOL I am now getting more $1 coins, gonna take me longer to save up for the Etrac this way! Anyway another quick 1 hr hunt before dinner tonight, (pasta and meatballs BTW) netted 27 coins, $13 in goldies and this nice silver and turquoise earing. Saw the "other" detectorist there again, said hello and moved on. I think he is using one of the el cheapo Chinese knock offs, similar to a bounty hunter by the looks of it. He wasn't very chatty, I got the feeling he felt we were "invading" his territory. Shame, I would have liked to compare notes.

More goldies and Silver from the park

The weather was forecast for rain this evening, but as luck would have it the sun shone so we headed back to the park for a quick goldie hunt before dinner. For the first time ever, I saw another person detecting in the park. Gave him a wave but he continued on his way swinging high and fast..............A beginner perhaps. We had picked up a couple of goldies and the other detectorist had made himself scarce so I decided to go over the same ground I saw him do. BINGO! 2 silver rings and a silver earing...........Ok they were all somewhat squashed but I managed to  form the rings back into shape. The last target of the evening, just on dark was the mother of pearl handled pocket knife. Most of these finds were in the same ground the other bod had been over. There are lots of bottle caps in here, some very new and some very old and rusty......all register in the same range as copper and silver on the F4. I have learned it is better to dig 10 bottle caps to find the 11th is a silver ring than to miss out!

More goldies from the park

We just had to go back to the park for a quick hunt after work this evening after yesterday's success. We went over the same ground just to make sure we hadn't missed anything................ Well we sure did!
Dug another 30 coins, $24.10 in spending, old decimal and another 2 florins, 1948 & 1964. Plenty of ground we havn't been over yet so hoping for lots more spendies!

And now for something completely different.....

Headed off to our local park this afternoon for a goldie hunt. This park hosts an international music festival over 3 days in March each year, we did well there last year after the festival so thought we would try again. Goldie tally $42.00, the usual old decimal, a '61 penny and '64 florin as well. The little ring is stg silver but the bangle is junk jewellery. 51 coins in total plus all this other non ferous scrap for the recycle bin. The brass dish thing is interesting, not quite sure what it is, I'd appreciate any ideas you might have. It measures 2 1/2" at the widest diameter and 3/4 of an inch high. I'm sure there are plenty more goldies to be had here, and as it's close to home we will hit it quite a bit in the comming weeks.