Gold Ring from Desert Mining Town Restored

[Cal_Cobra]

In September I found this old Victorian gold ring detecting an iron infested old mining town dump with my Nokta Impact, using the small factory coil, 20kHz and Di3 mode. It came in as a beautiful signal, and I thought for sure it was going to be a nickle, so I was very pleased to see some gold come out of the ground. It definitely survived a fire, and lost it's stone, but aside from that it wasn't broken, bent, smashed, etc., like most of the gold rings we find at these sites (not that we find many).

I got it home and when I showed my wife my finds from the trip, she immediately grabbed the ring, tried it on, and proclaimed that it fit perfectly! Well, what do you do..... I used to collect cut gemstones, so I told her she could pick one of these stones:

Just got it back from the jeweler and he did a nice job. This left for dead in the desert antique ring now has a renewed life, and the wife is happy!

Here's a little video digging the ring:

https://youtu.be/tHKCsBlRZm0

HH,
Brian

 

[Rick N. MI]

I see why your wife grabbed that up. Nice save on the old gold ring.

Rick

 

[dfmike]

She definitely chose the right stone. Beautiful find and restoration job.

 

[Tom Slick]

Great save on the ring. Looks like your wife will be letting you detect more often

 

[cjc]

Nice find--love the detail. The Impact is the best gold getter I've seen in a while--especially in 20 kHz. I showed my buddy a few things it did-- he just wrote me back about getting one--he has forty years hunting in.
cjc

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Nice find--love the detail. The Impact is the best gold getter I've seen in a while--especially in 20 kHz. I showed my buddy a few things it did-- he just wrote me back about getting one--he has forty years hunting in.
cjc

It loved the ring, just locked on in the middle of the junk, so I'd imagine it would do great at the beach

 

[Tony N (Michigan)]

n/t

 

[OregonGregg]

Brian, the ring restoration sure came out very nice

 

[xwyokid]

Looks like you scored many, many points.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Thanks gents!

I have another gold ring I sifted at this place several years ago, but it's in rough shape, cut, bent and no stones. I gave it to the same jeweler to restore, and told him I wasn't in a hurry. When I get it back, I'll post a photo of it. I'll have to look back and see if I have a before shot of it when I found it. I'm sure the restoration cost of the jeweler is likely more then the rings are worth, but there's just something special about finding a Victorian gold ring in the desert and bringing it back to life