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WINNER #1
My favorite international find for November 2016 is the 18k Gold Ring 18 Grams, found by Steve B. from Ontario, Canada with his AT Pro International.
Steve’s story: It was a cool morning on November 27th started an early hunt at 7:00am just as the sun was coming up on a cool fall morning. I was swinging at an old school built 50 years ago which I have never searched before.
After searching and finding a couple silver dimes and lots of clad I ended up searching around the soccer nets which is my favourite spots to search as I have found lots of jewellery in the nets.
I was swinging beside the net and got a high tone around 84-86 ID signal on my AT Pro which I thought was just the metal post on the soccer net so I pin pointed the signal and dug my plug about 12" from the post. After flipping the plug I found a monster Aztec ring still in the plug around 7" deep. I took a picture of the ring in the plug wiped it off and threw it in my pouch thinking it was a junker ring.
After the 8 hour hunt I cleaned off the ring and saw that it was reddish colour and had a stamp on the back marked 18k. I gave it a salt and vinegar bath which removed the reddish colour then gave it a baking soda and water paste rub to clean it up more. This is when I noticed the colour changed to yellow goldfish tone. I posted it on the Garrett Facebook page where I had mixed reviews from other detectorists telling me it’s fake or it’s real and gold can tarnish.
I had my doubts so I went and took it to my jeweller and had it acid tested for gold and sure enough it tested positive for 18k gold! I was shocked he offered me $500 cash for the ring on the spot but I refused to sell it but instead paid $20 to get it polished up lol.
I later looked up the melt value and based on the weight of the ring at 17.4 grams it’s worth between $700-750 CDN. This is such a weird but amazing find due to the discolouration of the ring coming out of the ground which must have been there for 50-60 years to tarnish this way. 18k is 75% gold mixed with 25% copper so I’m guessing that’s why it had that colour to it. Anyways this is the biggest gold ring I have ever found in my years of metal detecting so I hope you enjoy my story and the pictures ! I am keeping the ring and getting it resized so I can wear it proudly and share my story with other detectorists I meet. Thanks for reading and happy hunting!
Steve B. WINS a Pro-Pointer AT!
Steve’s story: It was a cool morning on November 27th started an early hunt at 7:00am just as the sun was coming up on a cool fall morning. I was swinging at an old school built 50 years ago which I have never searched before.
After searching and finding a couple silver dimes and lots of clad I ended up searching around the soccer nets which is my favourite spots to search as I have found lots of jewellery in the nets.
I was swinging beside the net and got a high tone around 84-86 ID signal on my AT Pro which I thought was just the metal post on the soccer net so I pin pointed the signal and dug my plug about 12" from the post. After flipping the plug I found a monster Aztec ring still in the plug around 7" deep. I took a picture of the ring in the plug wiped it off and threw it in my pouch thinking it was a junker ring.
After the 8 hour hunt I cleaned off the ring and saw that it was reddish colour and had a stamp on the back marked 18k. I gave it a salt and vinegar bath which removed the reddish colour then gave it a baking soda and water paste rub to clean it up more. This is when I noticed the colour changed to yellow goldfish tone. I posted it on the Garrett Facebook page where I had mixed reviews from other detectorists telling me it’s fake or it’s real and gold can tarnish.
I had my doubts so I went and took it to my jeweller and had it acid tested for gold and sure enough it tested positive for 18k gold! I was shocked he offered me $500 cash for the ring on the spot but I refused to sell it but instead paid $20 to get it polished up lol.
I later looked up the melt value and based on the weight of the ring at 17.4 grams it’s worth between $700-750 CDN. This is such a weird but amazing find due to the discolouration of the ring coming out of the ground which must have been there for 50-60 years to tarnish this way. 18k is 75% gold mixed with 25% copper so I’m guessing that’s why it had that colour to it. Anyways this is the biggest gold ring I have ever found in my years of metal detecting so I hope you enjoy my story and the pictures ! I am keeping the ring and getting it resized so I can wear it proudly and share my story with other detectorists I meet. Thanks for reading and happy hunting!
Steve B. WINS a Pro-Pointer AT!
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WINNER #2
My second international favorite find is the Celtic Gold Stater, found by Gary B. from the U.K. with his AT&Gold.
Gary’s story: At the beginning of the November me and a friend were on some permission we have had for a few years. The fields had gone very quiet, but this year the farmer decided to deep plough one of them, so when the time was ready we were out there. The rain was coming down very heavy. We had been in the field about a hour and thinking of calling it a day when suddenly pinged a lovely sweet tone of around 70. I dug down 4 or 5 inches, AT Pro-Pointer ready, and in a piece of hard orange subsoil there it was. At first I thought it was a button. What a lovely surprise when I realized it was a Celtic gold stater! First gold I have had. From a tribe local to me over 2000 years old. Amazing. Been working with the Garrett AT Gold for about 3 years, had some really lovely finds. What a great machine. Happy hunting out there folks. Gary
Gary B. WINS a Pro-Pointer AT!
Gary’s story: At the beginning of the November me and a friend were on some permission we have had for a few years. The fields had gone very quiet, but this year the farmer decided to deep plough one of them, so when the time was ready we were out there. The rain was coming down very heavy. We had been in the field about a hour and thinking of calling it a day when suddenly pinged a lovely sweet tone of around 70. I dug down 4 or 5 inches, AT Pro-Pointer ready, and in a piece of hard orange subsoil there it was. At first I thought it was a button. What a lovely surprise when I realized it was a Celtic gold stater! First gold I have had. From a tribe local to me over 2000 years old. Amazing. Been working with the Garrett AT Gold for about 3 years, had some really lovely finds. What a great machine. Happy hunting out there folks. Gary
Gary B. WINS a Pro-Pointer AT!
