Different Perspective – 20 Gold Rings of Yesteryear Equal to One Today!

[LawrencetheMDer]

If you have been detecting for a while, say since the 1970s, or if you’ve read a lot about old time metal detecting, you know of or have heard stories about MDers going out and finding 10, 20 even 30 gold rings in a single outing. I recall one post of a frame with 56 (?) gold rings found by an MDer in a single day. Truly depressing when compared to the finds today where we celebrate finding, say, three gold rings in a day. Heck, I’m absolutely thrilled to find a gold ring once a week or month.

For nothing else then perhaps mental health reasons, another perspective is in order. For example, if you found, say, 20 gold rings in the early 1970s they would have be worth a total of $32.00/oz for gold content. A reasonable estimate would be that the 20 gold rings (14k, 6g each) would be worth about $74.00. But wait, that is in 1970s (say 1972) dollars. Adjusted for inflation, that $74.00 in 1972 would be worth about $574.00 today (assuming the gold rings were scraped).

If you find a 14k 6g gold ring today, gold scrap value (gold spot = $5,000) would be about $560.00! So in this example, one 14k 6g gold ring found today is as valuable as almost 20 gold rings found 55 yrs ago! Boy, that sure makes Me feel better.

Of course, there is always a caveat: If the MDer had kept his/her 20 gold rings of yesteryear and scraped them today, they’d be worth a cool $10,000+. Let’s not go there…

Happy Hunting

 

[ronaldj2]

Because I dont get to beaches or parks that much ... Two or three gold rings in one year would be my norm.... I love old homesteads , cellar holes out in the wilderness / woods or forests. Carriage roads.. Mostly colonial or victorian aged stuff. My wife and I get out to the ocean beaches two or three times a year, mostly off season. We will be headed out in March , Anniversary / Birthday celebration. Cape Cod. I might cash in some of my gold to buy a small pickup truck.. Its crazy how high the prices are , won der when they will crash. Hmmm. RJL

 

[Nauti]

Yes,certainly slim pickings these days,even coins are getting harder to come by.

 

[Sand Sifter]

If you have been detecting for a while, say since the 1970s, or if you’ve read a lot about old time metal detecting, you know of or have heard stories about MDers going out and finding 10, 20 even 30 gold rings in a single outing. I recall one post of a frame with 56 (?) gold rings found by an MDer in a single day. Truly depressing when compared to the finds today where we celebrate finding, say, three gold rings in a day. Heck, I’m absolutely thrilled to find a gold ring once a week or month.

For nothing else then perhaps mental health reasons, another perspective is in order. For example, if you found, say, 20 gold rings in the early 1970s they would have be worth a total of $32.00/oz for gold content. A reasonable estimate would be that the 20 gold rings (14k, 6g each) would be worth about $74.00. But wait, that is in 1970s (say 1972) dollars. Adjusted for inflation, that $74.00 in 1972 would be worth about $574.00 today (assuming the gold rings were scraped).

If you find a 14k 6g gold ring today, gold scrap value (gold spot = $5,000) would be about $560.00! So in this example, one 14k 6g gold ring found today is as valuable as almost 20 gold rings found 55 yrs ago! Boy, that sure makes Me feel better.

Of course, there is always a caveat: If the MDer had kept his/her 20 gold rings of yesteryear and scraped them today, they’d be worth a cool $10,000+. Let’s not go there…

Happy Hunting

Ahh yes, those were definitely the good ole' days! And there's another BIG difference to consider as well, Technology. I started detecting as a kid back in the 68/69 timeframe. My mom bought me a Heathkit BFO detector that we had to build, not just assemble, but actually build as in soldering components to the pcb, soldering coil wires, etc. Around 71', we upgraded to an all-metal White's Coinmaster IV, which was TR technology and before detectors with discrimination came onto the market, so a jump up from a BFO. But back then with the TR Coinmaster IV, if I found a target down 5" or 6", that was considered DEEP, lol. I don't remember exactly when VLF technology came out but I ran that Coinmaster IV for years, and I'll never forget taking it to the beach one time. I dug an old looking, dark coin that looked to my young eyes to be a doubloon, so I was jumping up and down screaming "I got a doubloon". But alas, turned out it was just a crusty quarter, but for those few seconds, I thought I really hit the jackpot with some real Spanish treasure, lol.

Back in those days, the beaches, land, and just about any place you'd want to search was pretty much virgin territory, and the number of detectorists was just a tiny fraction compared to the numbers of hunters today. We of course didn't have the internet or YouTube, so to learn about detecting, you first had to know that the hobby existed, then you'd buy some treasure magazines to research the hobby and then join a treasure hunting club to see what other hunters were using and to learn from their experience. Metal Detecting back then was much more of a word-of-mouth type hobby; you had to be aware of the hobby, then seek out information or people involved in the hobby to learn more. It wasn't anywhere near as widely known as it is today. For instance, back then, people would come up and ask us what we were doing, where today, people come up and ask us if we found anything. Most people today know what we're doing, but back then, not so much.

It was an interesting paradigm. Not a lot of people were in the hobby compared to today. Most sites were pretty virgin and wide open for hunting, not a lot of hunters cleaning areas out, so we had virgin sites probably holding tons of goodies. BUT the technology of the detectors we were using wasn't even in the same universe as the technology of today's detectors. So, if you were finding gold rings on a beach back then using a BFO or TR detector, or even early VLF, just think what you would have found back then if you were swinging a modern SMF, or even previous BBS technology, ala Sovereigns and Excals. I don't remember if we had PI's back then? I was just a kid and an all-metal TR Coinmaster IV was all I knew at the time, lol. I know at some point, Whites had a PI 1000, then 2000, but don't remember when they came out, maybe the 80's? So, we had all these great areas to hunt, loaded with goodies, really no competition to speak of, but detection depth was much more limited compared to today, due to the technology we had available at the time.

 

[sube]

I started in 69 bought a $19.99 BFO which was a fortune lot's of papers delivered to own it . It was in the back page of a comic book had one button on and off was a tuning button also . You turn it on had to keep your finger on it was your auto tune constant adjustment all day depth was pushing 2 1/2 inches but there were coins everywhere .
No pull-tabs lot's of bottle caps those caps are almost rotten and gone now replaced by pull-tabs .sube