First Gold Ring 2009 (Long post again.)

[cwilk]

Let me begin by saying our weather man is an ass. Prediction of temps in t he 30s and rain mixed with snow had me making other plans for today. I headed out around 10 with a temp of 48 F hoping to get in a quick half hour. Still no precipitation and temps still in the upper 40s as I type this at 4:30. I headed to a new site I noticed on the way to get my pistol permit two weeks ago. In a very bad neighborhood but I didn't carry. Across the street was a pizza place that makes a great pie so I walked over, put in an order for a one o'clock pie, and asked them to keep an eye on me and shout over to me when my pizza was done. They said the gang bangers didn't come out until night so I was OK. I had quite a few young spectators one of whom watched me pull about 10 coins all of which he said he had lost. He was about 8 or 10. I gave him a buck and told him to scram which he did. One lady sat on a bench and scowled at me for around 20 minutes. I said good morning and she just growled at me.

Here is everything I dug. Dedicated to our Aussie friend who normally includes a similar photo in his posts:

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Here's the clad and a piece of a Schwinn bike. Kind of a poor neighborhood. Note how few quarters. Lots of nickels, though.

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Here are the interesting things. Cool badge. A wheat. A Namco token. Two rings (more later). Metal die. Piece of a horseshoe. Small circuit board. Check out that tiny pencil. Sharpened right up to the end. Thriftiness is a virtue.

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I got the ring on the right first. Costume but in nice shape and kind of pretty. I think that little die in the middle is cool so I put it in this photo too. The ring on the left is 10k and has 9 very small diamonds. Fits my pinkie which is usually around size 7. Weighs 4.2 grams. $50 plus bucks worth of pure gold. I have the exact figure but I don't want you guys to think I obsess over these things. Rang up on high nickel notch. Super strong signal which made me think shallow pop top. 3 inches deep. I did a happy dance, thanked God with a prayer, and as I was admiring it the pizza guy shouted to me to come pay for my pizza. I have ended a number of my hunts this year on really good keepers.

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Here are a few random thoughts. Probably only interesting to me.

I am already sick of tumbling clad in 2009. I dig so much clad I have to do a batch almost every weekend to keep up.

My rechargeable batteries are about out of recharges I think. This go around I got 12 hours. When I first got them it was 20 plus. They have saved me at least 50 bucks and I will use them until they stop performing at all. Get rechageables if you are still using other batteries.

Today I surpassed $2500 with my GTI 2500. Took 18 months.

I think that thing is a piece of a horseshoe which is my first ever of one of those.

Forecast for tomorrow is nice so I probably will be stuck inside.

Chris

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

Good story. It shows the human side of things. I'm happy on your ring find. Come to WV. and I'll show you places you can find more horse shoes. There is a big area here I don't have time to hunt if you want to try your luck for some Indian heads.

 

[cwilk]

You still have the twins? I've read how you are working long, hard, hours which is limiting your detecting time. Make hay when the sun is shining. All those old coins will still be in the ground when you get some real time off.

I sure wish I had a good IH site up here. I find very few. I've thought about taking a cross country metal detecting adventure. Gas prices and my highly diminished stock portfolio have kept me right here. You can be sure that if I do I'll take you up on your kind offer.

You're doing a very good thing, you know.

Chris

 

[Roscue2]

Nice dice!!! Diamond ring looks nice too. $2500? I've only found about $30 this year. Just started keeping track of how much money I've been pulling out of the ground.

It's a shame that kids think its okay to lie, bad neighborhood or not. He probably thought he had a shot at lieing to you about the money. Every now and then I think back to when I was younger(4-11) and shake my head at all of the stupid stuff I used to say. Most of the time I just shake my head and laugh about it. Oh well, I can't change the past. I'm not sure if I would have givin him a dollar though. Shouldn't pay kids for lying. Just makes them do it more. On the other hand, with all the stuff you found today I might have just to continue the hunt.

 

[RickIowa2009]

Great finds buddy, have a great year! P.S. Dont growl ha ha

 

[cwilk]

I was not trying to say anything bad about the kid who might have been annoying but not a bad kid. I think he was just trying to involve himself in my detecting, not lie, and he had probably lost some change on that playground. I gave him a dollar bill because I usually don't give away finds, even cents, until I've had a chance to clean and account for them. The buck seemed to make his day and I won't miss it.

Didn't you find a big gold ring? I count the melt value of gold items I find in my totals. I sometimes confuse newer posters. It took me about 3 months to accumulate my first 30 bucks.

I remember a warm summer night at a sidewalk cafe a few years back where a girlfriend asked me what I would consider a good detecting year. I thought about it and replied 1000 coins or 100 bucks. I routinely do that in two weeks now. The next year we were at the same place and I said I would like to try to earn a months living expenses in a year (roughly 1200 dollars.) I can do that in 6 months now.

My advice? Spend your loot wisely. Buy something you really want that you'll have for a while. A new detector. A car. Gold or Silver coins. Save a little for a rainy day. There is nothing like the feeling of having a little dough in the bank to fall back on. It took me 30 plus years to learn that on my own. I hope I'm confusing you with somebody else. You're a teenager, right?

Chris

 

[brulon]

congratulations on your finds today. keep up the good work.


bill

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

Your on fire with your 2500 Chris! $2500 in 18 months and no $1 or $2 coins! Impressive.
I wish I could find gold rings so that I could be accused of being fussy about the exact weigh/ price of gold involved. but don't get that lucky very often. It's a beauty!
I thought that it was ironic that you didn't take your gun with you, yet managed to find a suicide lever. ( That's what our family call those safety levers that go on the top of the brakes. If you apply them in an emergency situation, they position you perfectly to launch you strait over top of the handle bars and into the trouble that you are trying to avoid.)
Mick Evans.

 

[Oakman404]

Awesome story cwilk! Great finds. I visited my first coin shop Saturday and did some research at the local library. I learned a lot of interesting things talking to the library historian. I look forward to some fun and productive results. Oh yeah, I also started my first ever coin collection (Officially anyway). My daughter has already filled her penny book and I am still working on my 20th Century Type Coins collection. I bought a couple "Whitman Coin Folders".

 

[cwilk]

Coin collecting is a great hobby. My advice to a new collector would be to pick one coin you really like and concentrate on it. Dimes are a great place to start. You can assemble a complete set of uncirculated silver Rosies for under 100 bucks. Mercs and Liberty Head dimes are still affordable too with a few exceptions. Walking Liberty Halves are really beautiful and it's a surprisingly easy collection to complete. Franklin Halves are extremely easy and an impressive collection when complete.

Small cents are a lot of fun. It is possible to find almost all Lincoln cents in circulation or by searching rolls from your bank. Ask your friends if they have old penny jars and if they would be willing to let you pick through them. Key dates in this collection in higher grades are a great investment. A few years back I bought a roll of circulated 1931S Lincoln Cents for 800 bucks. Today I can easily get 50-100 for each of them. I'm still working on some of the tougher Indian Heads myself. I need 6 more.

There are key dates in almost every collection that are the most valuable and hardest to find. Buy a Red Book and start reading.

The only coins I don't collect are clad dimes and quarters.

A type folder would be fun to try and fill with detecting finds.

If you start buying or finding better coins don't keep them in folders. Spring for better albums, 2x2s, or flips.

Chris