LawrencetheMDer
Active member
Hit the beach on Dec 26th and it was early morning; 6:15am, about an hour before sun rise. I planned to hit the wet sand and water. As I worked my way toward the water, I got a very deep hit along the blanket line. The signal was weak, but the 2-D plot on my Manticore was centered on the middle line. My first scoop of sand from my gigantic Stealth 920i scoop yielded nothing. I plunged the scoop deeper into the hole. As I shook out the sand, I noticed the bracelet hanging half way through a hole in the scoop. I grabbed it and pulled it out much like pulling a night crawler out of the ground. I could see it was white metal w clear stones, but because of darkness could see little else. I placed the bracelet in my neck pouch, where I place valuable finds, but fully expected the bracelet to be junk, like many tennis bracelets that have come before.
I hit the wet sand and water for 4 hrs and except for a Tungsten wedding band and a few coins nothing else surfaced. Met a fellow Detectorist and we chatted about the bracelet that I found and we both agreed that it was probably junk. I didn’t even bother to take it out of my neck pouch (although I also never show and tell). I hit the sand on my way out and found a very nice silver and Cz ear ring.
Driving home, I decided to look at the bracelet at a traffic light. At first I could see no marking, about to conclude it was probably junk. Then, I saw “AU 750” on the clasp; 18k White GOLD!!! If it is white gold (still skeptical), I figured, it also must have real diamonds. When I got home I told the wife that I found her a Christmas present but first had to clean it up. I checked to see if the stones were real – Bingo! To make matters even better, I measured the diamonds and they’re close to 1/4ct each! Seven ct total weight!!!
A quick search on Google soon revealed that the price range for a similar bracelet was $10 – 15,000 with several retail establishments offering a similar bracelet for $11-12,000. If I am not mistaken, the 18k white gold tennis bracelet with 7 ct of diamonds is the most expensive target that I have found at least in the past 15 yrs of hunting Florida beaches.
Given the depth of the target, I’d guess about 12”, and that it was on the blanket line on one of the most hunted beaches in the World, I figured that the bracelet was probably buried by the owner for safe keeping and lost. Data from an Insurance group reports that 4% of lost jewelry on the beach is the result of people burying the valuable in the sand. Another 14% of people place valuables under the blanket or towel or even a rock. A final contribution to the Find is that I was running the Manticore with a 15” coil – maximizing the probability of discovering a DEEP target that is notoriously hard to detect with other metal detectors.
My wife loves the bracelet and didn’t mind the late Christmas present.
Happy Hunting
I hit the wet sand and water for 4 hrs and except for a Tungsten wedding band and a few coins nothing else surfaced. Met a fellow Detectorist and we chatted about the bracelet that I found and we both agreed that it was probably junk. I didn’t even bother to take it out of my neck pouch (although I also never show and tell). I hit the sand on my way out and found a very nice silver and Cz ear ring.
Driving home, I decided to look at the bracelet at a traffic light. At first I could see no marking, about to conclude it was probably junk. Then, I saw “AU 750” on the clasp; 18k White GOLD!!! If it is white gold (still skeptical), I figured, it also must have real diamonds. When I got home I told the wife that I found her a Christmas present but first had to clean it up. I checked to see if the stones were real – Bingo! To make matters even better, I measured the diamonds and they’re close to 1/4ct each! Seven ct total weight!!!
A quick search on Google soon revealed that the price range for a similar bracelet was $10 – 15,000 with several retail establishments offering a similar bracelet for $11-12,000. If I am not mistaken, the 18k white gold tennis bracelet with 7 ct of diamonds is the most expensive target that I have found at least in the past 15 yrs of hunting Florida beaches.
Given the depth of the target, I’d guess about 12”, and that it was on the blanket line on one of the most hunted beaches in the World, I figured that the bracelet was probably buried by the owner for safe keeping and lost. Data from an Insurance group reports that 4% of lost jewelry on the beach is the result of people burying the valuable in the sand. Another 14% of people place valuables under the blanket or towel or even a rock. A final contribution to the Find is that I was running the Manticore with a 15” coil – maximizing the probability of discovering a DEEP target that is notoriously hard to detect with other metal detectors.
My wife loves the bracelet and didn’t mind the late Christmas present.
Happy Hunting
