Trip #39

Well this trip had some interesting finds but hunting this park was HORRIBLE!  Tons of canslaw everywhere all shapes and sizes which really messed with my head...  The first good thing found was a really old silver ladies ring with a blackish stone.  Another cool find was a folding knife... and then another silver 3p... I am not sure if I will go back there as the good targets to bad targets ratio was not great.  and I did find a bunch of wheel weights too.

Coins:

3x $1 coins

3x old $.10 coins

1x 1946 3p

Other:

Close up of knife & ring:

Trip # 38

Nothing that special this morning.  I went to a well hunted beach in the rain so there are not many good finds.  But non the less I did find a really mint 2004 $.20 coin.... I thought it was Australian at first cause it was in really good nick.  I also found brand new tent pegs still bound by a rubber-band... lol!

Good Finds:

Other Finds:

I will b e going back out this afternoon when the rain calms down to a new spot and I will let you all know what I find :).

Trip #36 & 37... I think :)

Well I am back! And I have some new and cool finds to show you all!  Well truth be told I have had the chance to make a few trips so that is why I am uncertain of which trip number this is... none of those trips were very long though except for my trip #36 down hwy 1...

Trip #36 

I had a stop off at a park and the 1st coin I found was sitting on top of a root... it was a 1865 penny and near it under the same tree was an 1879 penny! not only that but I found a great pocket spill with three coins a 1944 1/2 crown with a 1946 sixpence and a 1938 penny... But in my excitement and while I was running from the rain to my car about 400 metres away I dropped the 1/2 crown and sixpence! So I went back out and spent another 20 minutes searching my tracks for them... and I did manage to find the 1/2 crown. I found other coins as well as a silver 3p.

Trip #37

Ok finds

Well what better way to spend labour day than a coin hunt? First are the normal rubbish coins. I went to two different beaches an old one and a new one. Most of the newer coins were found at the newer beach and these are New decimal coins: 2 $.10; Old decimal coins: 1x $.20, 2x $.10, 2x $.05, 2x $.02, and 2x $.01.

Now for the Good finds :)

Well I found some good silver :).  I found two silver 3p (1940 & 1945)at the old spot... This spot has always yielded silver coins to me even though I hit it every few months.  I found the two sterling silver religious medallions on a string necklace... thought it was rubbish at first.  I also found a really old riffle trigger guard thing like 5cm away from the 1945 3p.  Unfortunately I lost the 1945 3p... it fell somewhere in my house or front yard but for the life of me I can not find it!!!!

Just the best finds (previous hunts)

So I know that I have not catalogued the last 10 or so trips but here are the best items of those last trips.

So the bracelet I found after a 1 hour hunt at the usual spot and lost hope... so I went to the playground and there it was :) nice ding on my Fisher F2.  The ring and the heart were found on a beach that I do not go too often but usually only for sort 30 min hunts.  And the St. Christopher pendent was found while hunting with my 4 year old son who claims all the current coins I find... so that meant one treat for me too.

It's been a while...

So just in case you all are wondering where I went... I have been very busy these last few months and really have not had much time to go hunting... but I have been getting back out there and even had a good hunt this past labour day Monday. So I will be uploading those picks some time soon and will be getting back into action as the summer season picks back up.  cheers!

Detecting Trip #27

Park area - 1 hour hunt @ 1.00pm

Well I went back to that last spot and continued my search and I did not find as many 5 cent peices... lol.  I've noticed that when I have the F2 on full sensetivity that the ID's can change a little... or is it that I am now getting familure with the ids... not sure.  But I did manage to find a non-silver sixpence in the area that I am working which makes for 7 predecimal coins found in the last two hunts!  Which means that a silver one may not be too far off! Also that 1/2 penny is a 1913 so there may be some sterling silver coins too!

All Finds

Finds of Interest

Predecimal coins

           1/2 Penny 1913                                     Penny 1952                                  Sixpence 1952

Other Finds

Funny name for a dog... Garry?  This might not be a dog tag as there are no numbers or addresses.  But it looks too cheep for a peice of custom engraved jewelry.

Some kind of strange magnet. Not sure what it was used for but I is quite strong.. probably a Neodymium magnet.

An old pair of pliers.

Detecting trip #26

Park area - 1 hour hunt @ 2:30pm

Well I had an appointment and found out that I had the wrong time! So it is a good thing that I had the detector with me!  I decided to change things up a bit and went to a nearby park.  And I was pleasantly surprised! I thought that I would find a lot of rubbish like at the beaches but the rubbish to coin ratio was really good!  I found more coins than rubbish and that is a first for me.

All Finds

Five cent pieces galore!

There must be a record for the most five cent pieces found in an hour!  I have never found so many in one hunt!  I mean, I have found quite a few one and two cent pieces but never more than 2 or 3 five cent pieces at a time.  It must have been a popular coin to drop... lol

Another almost silver...

I really hate finding non-silver predecimal coins!!!  For one thing you almost never find them in good condition so they will have almost a ZERO collector's value. And two they are not SILVER!  That means that they really have no melt value.  And three, I get a little agree at the person who dropped them because they could have dropped a silver one!

But on the other hand they do give me some hope that the area that I am working could have silver potential. So it is a love / hate relationship... lol

Some more pennies & a half...

Well, I found my first coin that has been chopped in two.  I did not find the other half oddly enough, but I suspect that it will be elsewhere at the park that I am searching... and then I will unite them once again... lol.  I always like finding pennies... cause they are always reliable, you get the same kind of signal for each one, they give you hope for finding some silver coins, and they do have a melt value ;).

Always keep your eyes open!

While I was in Napier...

with my son we stayed at a local camp which had old wooden bunks.  And while I was trying to go to sleep I looked up and noticed that there was something wedged in between the bunk frame and the side rail.  I pulled it out and there was a 1989 5 cent piece!  

Being curious as I am I looked to see if there were any more wedge up there and then i pulled out a beautiful 1962 1/2 penny in mint condition!  Now there must have been at least 100+ people who have slept in that same bed and not one of them noticed it... also I wonder if they were put there by the same person over 20 years apart.

Then Later...

While i was getting ready in the bathroom i saw an Ausie 5 cent piece on the floor!  How long it was there and how many people just passed it by i will never know.

That just goes to show you to always keep your eyes open.  Most of us detectorists are already like this... so keep up the good hunting!

Detecting trip #25 - Napier

Beach area - 10 minute hunt @ noon

Back from a week trip with my son to the Hawke's Bay and have a few finds to show for it. Now I did not get much time as my little metal detecting apprentice got bored and started to dig everywhere! So i took him to a park and had an ice cream.

All Finds

Newest old decimal $0.50

I just found the newest old decimal fifty cent piece yet!  I am used to finding them in the 80's and 90's but this is my first one from the 2000's.  It is also in great shape unlike most of my other ones.

I do not usually post about old decimal as they are not really worth much but this one is a first for me so I decided to post about it. Now I do wish that our current coins were still made out of copper-nickle as they are easier to find detecting and they do not RUST!!!!!
I mean come on why have coins that can rust?

Detecting trip #24

Beach area - 20 minute hunt @ noon

All my finds:

Well I did not find much as I was a bit rushed this time. I found out that my physio was at 2:00 not 1:30! So I went for a little detect at the local beach.

1953 Sixpence

Well I am certainly not used to seeing one of these in this mint condition!  Usually they are all covered up in grime and look like an old copper coin, but this one still has some of that new coin shine!  At first I thought that i found a silver one but I think that this one is almost as good.

1996 Ten Cent

I don't usually get excited by a ten cent piece but then again I have never found one in as good condition as this one is!  It is almost like it was just dropped yesterday.  And even is still silvery.  I do like the old decimal coinage better than our current one as the new ones rust and are magnetic!  And when I am out detecting I notch out iron so I don't pick them up!!!

18CT Gold Ring update

So I went to goldbuyers to have the ring checked... they need to train their staff better... before he weighed the ring he tested it... and when the usual test did not work he decided to gouge it with a file... BEFORE he weighed it. so instead of weighing 8 grams it weighs about 7.9 grams... so although it was a "free" test it cost me about $5! And as the price of Gold goes up so will the cost of the "free" test... lol. but it is worthless unless I can verify it's purity.

In the end he did a magnet test and it failed! I was a bit perplexed so I went to mitre 10 got some p1200 sand paper and sanded off all the built up grime and mineralization.  and it's not magnetic anymore and it looks nice and GOLDEN!!!! So I will be back tomorrow and show them the ring again and have them test it again... but not with the file as they can use the massive hole that the guy used yesterday.

Here are some pics of the cleaned version of the ring.

Pages updated

Well I've updated the Gold finds & Silver finds pages so have a look! Hope they inspire you to get out there and find yourself some Gold and Silver!

Detecting trip #23

Beach area - 45 minute hunt @ dusk.

All my finds

GOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOLD 18ct ring!

That is right the GOLD FAIRY has come my way again!!!!!!!  And boy was she generous!  I got an 18ct women's ring weighing 8g!  which beats out my 18ct men's wedding band by .7g! And all three stones where still in it(doubt that they are diamonds but you never know ;) )  I thought that it was one of those costume rings that women wear until I cleaned it up with some HCL and saw 3 stamps! 2 say 18ct and one says 750... I will have it checked by the gold buyers to make sure but I did cut into it with a hacksaw just to check and it looks to be gold all the way through!

22 caliber shell & bullet!

Found the shell deep in a hole on the beach and further away I found the bullet!  I don't think that they go together as the shell looks as if it were a blank... but I though that it was really cool to find both! Makes you wonder though.

Gold Plated broach

I found this broach in a spot that I had gone over 3 times already... don't know how I could have missed it.  I guess I should get a smaller coil next so that I can check those hard to fit spots a bit better.  But my pinpointer was the real hero as I would not have found the stone without it. It barely picked it up.  Though it is no silver or gold it sure is a nice looking broach.  I seem to have a knack at finding interesting broaches. lol.

And so it begins!

Well not actually... as my title says I have been doing this for a while but I felt that I could encourage others & myself by keeping all my finds on this blog!

I will start off by giving you a link to my forum topic which has all my previous finds while metal detecting.

You will also note that although I enjoy Gold fossicking there is not much available here in Auckland! but there are HEAPS of good detecting sites available and lost of GOLD & SILVER to be found ;)

Well here is one of my resolutions for the new year started. I hope that you enjoy my journey and that it might bring out the detector in YOU!

For past finds see the following link below:
http://forums.paydirt.co.nz/yaf_postst651_My-Detecting-page.aspx