questions on gold with the v3

[cheesehead2]

I am trying to find info out on finding Gold with my V3 and possibly why each item below comes up different on the readings.
1st of all the ring in the pic was found very deep and was totally weathered bad when I found it. Came up a 54 VDI with 7.5 with the hard hitting freq. at about 9 inches down. This ring states 18K with no maker or anything else inscribed on it. I read on a website The U.S. made it mandatory to have the Jewelery makers markings on the ring after 1906. I had figured the location I found this and how it looked had put it easily before 1906. It's solid 18K.
The button or whatever it was came up a solid 19 with 22.5 as the hard hitting one. This button was also very deep but was totally clean when I dug it other than the backside looked like solder or something in the middle. I ground the solder down to find it was also gold and just a slight solder film from the attached back piece that I also recovered. I scraped part of the back a little and dug into it to see if it was just plated and it is not. It is solid as well.
If there are experienced people out there that can kind of let me know why the button would be 22.5 as the good signal if it looks to be solid gold and seems pretty soft.
And if the ring is worth more than melt price with it being so old. But anyway I am very pleased with this detector. The more I read on here the more I find.
I had just reads magic's latest finds and replies of people wanting to dig the low iffy signals. Thought I'd give it a try and Found Two V nickles 1900 and 1891. Along with the gold button that weighs 6 grams today during a 1 hr. hunt at a persons house that gave me permission. The ring I actually found Two weeks ago at a park that has a bronze sign that states it is the location of the 1st house for that town in 1849. Thanks, Todd.

 

[Larry (IL)]

If you check the VDI now on the ring it will probably read in the low teens to high 20's. A target in the ground, especially deep, you will often get a VDI that is not "true" due to several reasons. There might have been something else near the ring that could have made the VDI average the ring with something else and although less likely, there is a phenomenon called a "halo effect" that makes a deep, old target read higher that it does when out of the ground. A jump from the teens to a VDI of 54 is quite a jump though for the halo effect, it will usually just be slightly higher to 10, maybe 15 VDI#'s higher. Lots has been written on the halo effect if you want to do a search on the subject on all forums. If you did not have a good ground balance, the V could have been averaging the minerals in the ground with the ring to give you and average as well which makes the most sense to me. I think your ring does not have any extra value due to the age, it is still worth bullion value. I am surprised that the 18K ring was weathered........if the VDI is still higher than the low 20's, it might not really be 18K, just stamped that way. The VDI on the button is more in line with what you would normally expect with a gold ring/button target. The gold purity stamp was made mandatory in 1906, many manufactures stamped their jewelry earlier than that, especially when they had quality jewelry.

I sounds like you have a great place to hunt Todd.

 

[Larry (IL)]

After looking at your "18K'" ring closer, it looks like it might have been 18 K gold filled once upon a time, looks like white metal as the base. That is why it is VDI'ing so high.

 

[Rob (IL)]

I've got to agree with Larry on the ring. Gold shouldn't deteriorate like that. Larry found an old gold ring last year that was old enough it had no marks. It looks like new. Have it checked. Rob

 

[cheesehead2]

Please don't take anything below wrong or think I am saying anyone that has replied is wrong. Any info is good and am trying to learn as much as I can on reading Gold and will hopefully help others the same.
The ring still hits in at 54 VDI Even cleaned up. Keep in mind I only soaked it a little and buffed it somewhat. I scratched a tiny area on it and tried to take a picture to show what it looks like. Where I scratched show nice brite yellow gold coloring. Very vivid. The one pic is when I found it, and yes was very odd that it was so discolored. But the more I clean it the more it shows pure gold.
I am sure the ring is 75% gold but what I am not sure of is the button and why that read so low on the VDI.
I have tested other gold items and came up with the below.
$20 gold coin (24K)= 84 VDI Green. Pure gold for the most part.
18K gold class ring= 56 VDI Red
14K necklace= 16 VDI Blue
10K gold ring= 14 VDI Blue
This ring= 54 VDI Red
This button= 19 VDI Blue.
I will have to take both to a jeweler and see what they say. Too hard to see in the pics

As far as the US requiring makers to stamp the K or grade amount on jewelry after 1906 goes. It wasn't for the Stamp of grade. It was for that they were required to have their initials or company identified on the ring if they stamped it with the grade. Below is pasted from the website I got this info from.

"Use marks references to learn all you can about the marks you find on the ring. Marks references are simply books or other reference guides that offer explanations and examples of trademarks, quality or quantity stamps and area-of-origin identifiers. The National Stamping Act of 1906 requires all jewelry made in the United States to be stamped with the maker's trademark if it is also stamped with a gold-quantity hallmark. This means if a ring is stamped "14K" and has no other marks, it was either made before 1906 or outside the U.S".

 

[cheesehead2]

VDS on this website also has had the same results the way it looks. There is the topic a few below mine that says "dig them zinc pennies".
My guess the button is not high grade gold after studying all this. "Bummer"
VDS is quoted as saying
" I got a few good rings and the best was a nice 16.2 gram 18K gold band (one big ring) and its VDI was right there around the zinc penny or a bottle cap VDI's of 50's. Also the predominant frequency was 7.5 the red color if you're running stock colors. Dig the pennies and bottle caps that polar plots (if you have the V3i) and shows three nice lines.

 

[bfodnes]

I think that ring is a plated 18K.

What is there now looks like the weathering you can expect on brass/aluminium.

 

[thebeatmachine]

It sounds to me that on the ring the ground conditions combined with the smaller surface area of the ring made a more pronounced signal in the 7khz frequency. Plus the alloy in the ring may have copper in it. Lower frequencies handle the ground better. The set of variables for this targwet: I.E.: alloy, ground, depth, position, other targets in proximinity all effect the detectors response. The great thing is is that the V3i had something in its bag of tricks to "see" both of these targets. Where other detectors probably would have fallen short.

 

[cheesehead2]

I'll have to take the ring to a pro and see. The site that this was found on produced old Wheaties and Indians about 4-6 inches down constantly. Very old undisturbed site as far as dirtwise but has been hunted hard. The ring was close to 9 inches deep. Been there for quite sometime. Only give away was risking digging a deep faint zinc signal. Will post once I found out more about it from a jeweler.

 

[gilfordberry]

Five metals commonly alloyed with gold are 1) silver 2) nickel 3) platinum 4) copper and 5) rhodium. (Rhodium and platinum, being more valuable than gold, much less often that the other three.) If a ring of approximately the same dimensions was alloyed with silver it would ring a much higher VDI than one alloyed with nickel, with copper being in the middle - and most likely predominant frequencies would be 2.5 for the silver-alloy, 7.5 for the copper alloy, and 22.5 for the nickel alloy. Regardless of VDI, though, gold usually gives a VERY SMOOTH, even tone, not sharp or biting (fewer overtones than most other targets). I have found small white gold targets that VDI'd as low as 9, an 18k solid gold watch VDI'd at 65 - I thought it was a spill of pennies. The best VDIs for gold, though, seem to be between 14 and 20 for the smaller rings (like a woman's engagement ring!), in the 20's to 40's for middle size rings (like many class rings) and 50 to 60 or so for a larger man's ring.

Like others here, I have doubts about your "18K ring". But, being in the ground a long time, and possibly exposed to only God knows what chemical agents, it is possible the ring's surface alloyed itself with ground minerals. This would be very rare, however. Gold pieces of eight recovered from shipwrecks hundreds of years old often look exactly like they did on the day they were lost. Have it checked.

 

[Ray-Mo.]

Some were less worn and most were worse.

 

[cheesehead2]

Wouldn't the gold plating be on the Surface of the metal?
This was dark worn on the surface then once that was buffed off it turned solid Gold.
18K is 75%% gold and rest some other metal. I do believe this other metal is what was discolored.
The area I scraped with a blade is shiny gold underneath the weathered Gold.
Pics do not show very well what it looks like. For my sake I hope my suspicion is correct and it is 18K solid.
The other part I forgot to mention is it is heavy for it's size.
Tomorrow I will take it to a jeweler and see.

 

[TheMarshall]

Here is a gold plated on copper wedding ring (What's left of it). 70 years in the ground, roughly dated by other associated finds.....

VDI - 56 approx.

Red 7.5 kHz peak

Green and blue equal.

In air

TheMarshall

[attachment 167371 PlatedRing.jpg]

 

[Rob (IL)]

This is what they look like out of the ground. I've never found one deteriorated. ..........[attachment 167375 firstring.jpg] Rob

 

[BHNugget]

Looks like a very old gold ring that had quite a bit of wear before it was lost to me.Possibly some wear to whatever metal was used to alloy it.

 

[cheesehead2]

I am in no means trying to make this a pain to anyone. I have done allot of investigating today. And really hope other learn from the leg work and opinions from other on here.
before reading further, remember Gold with Alloy under the right conditions and age under the soil will weather and corrode the alloy that is mixed with the Gold.

I took both the ring and the button to a reputable dealer in jewelery in a decent sized town in our area due to it was just really starting to bug me about the materials in the ring and also why the button rang so low on the VDI scale.
The Jeweler had good and bad news.
Good news he did test the ring with acid. HE came up somewhere between 14K and 18K solid gold. He told me he would give a receipt for 14K in case I wanted to sell it. He stated the alloy corrosion could alter the acid test a bit and it could very well be 18K but would have to test it electronically.
The Button came up as just under 10K. That would be why it rang up 19 on the VDI. Low amount of gold.
The Jeweler helped me identify the content and rough value and also explained that due to the gold being roughly 58 % of gold and that it most likely sat for 100 years in possibly acidic soil the other alloy deteriorated enough to cause the ring to look like this. He has seen this. He did polish it and verified it being Solid gold. Not plated or anything else. Just plain very old and weathered due to the other alloy. The ring looks much better polished.
After cleaning it up the ring went from 3.0 grams down to 2.3 grams. Very small ring. Would say under size 6.
The Button weighed in at 3.0 Grams
14K/24= .583% Gold x 2.3 = 1.34 grams of gold. Gold is $1200 an ounce and 31 grams in a troy ounce of gold. So $1200/ 31 Grams= $38.70 per gram x 1.34 grams give this rings gold content $51.87. (Not much)
The button came up as .416% gold x the above formula = $48.37 in gold melt value
So between the Two I might get close to a hundred bucks.
The Dealer also let me take my detector into the store and scan many different types of gold and chains.
To put it mild
The higher the content of Gold the Higher the VDI.
Chains do react differently slightly
Pure 24K gold is a solid 74 with 2.5 as the dominant freq.
All the 18K gold was running around mid 50's vdi's with 7.5 and I tested allot of them in the store
I'm sure there will be some that will question what I have found out but as far as I am concerned I have learned something today. Alloys will and can corrode in Gold.

 

[BHNugget]

Alloys will and can corrode in Gold.

Yes they can and do.And with some of the alloy out of that ring,I would think it would raise the karat value rather than lower it.Gold can be alloyed,but nothing truely bonds with gold,except gold.

 

[cheesehead2]

He cleaned it up after testing it. I was scared to clean it thinking it may be worth more corroded. He stated it basically was only worth melt value. Should of probably had him retest it. But I doubt I'll ever get rid of it. Worth allot to me knowing a little of it's history and where found. may make a display and mount it to pass on along with some other cool finds and their locations to my kids.

 

[burlbark]

The higher the content of Gold the Higher the VDI.
Chains do react differently slightly
Pure 24K gold is a solid 74 with 2.5 as the dominant freq.

My 22k ring and gold nuggets come in from +6 to +17 on the vdi and 22.5 makes the steepest climb in analyze even if 2.5 is reading higher.

 

[rsarge1]

still a very nice find wtg