Found Gold today but not nuggets! KINDA SPOOKY!

[Duraflap]

I was detecting today with my AT Pro on the Rogue River here in Oregon and was finding quite a few clad coins when I got a nice solid repeatable signal at the waters edge. Depth reading was 6 inches and I was working the pin pointer with every trowel full of dirt for the recovery. Wow! Gold! What a surprise! When I was cleaning the gold and could see exactly what it was I was pretty surprised. It was a solid gold tooth crown. After I finished checking out everything for several yards around I ended up with two crowns and a lead looking partial with three teeth impressions. As the situation sank in I kinda got spooked as one crown could have been a jet ski face plant but two and a partial. How weird a find is that? I ended up calling the state police once I got back home and they talked it all over amongst themselves and decided I could keep the gold as they felt that there was no way of knowing where to start to investigate the origin of this find. They did admit this is the strangest call they have ever received and from a detectorist at that.

 

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[Back-of-the-boat]

I agree spooky for all to be so close together I am surprised they didn't want to check open unsolved cases, the dental records?

 

[Duraflap]

I called the State Police thinking that I should report such a strange situation. It took them quite a while to talk it over. Well I've done my civic duty I think. It was a real rush when I first saw the gold though. It always is when I find a nugget or a gold ring. I love this hobby!

 

[BurntBear]

Nice finds! Definitely strange but cool!

 

[Pointman]

That is real spooky. I get spooked when I find newer shot bullets in some of the neighborhoods where I have detected. You don't know if they were fired during a crime, or even if they struck someone. I would almost not want to melt them down if I had found something like that in case it is a missing person that is found later.

 

[Duraflap]

I agree. The officer took my information and asked that I keep the finds for a week to allow the day shift to review the report. I keep all my gold and rings for now anyways. I think I will take my TDI back and research as it has a lot more depth and see if I left anything. I guess for the time being the story goes on. From my point of view I would have been interested in the story behind the find. Metal detecting has made me much more interested in the history of any area that I search. I envy those of you that can search the Civil War sites for artifacts. For me as well as many of you folks, it's all about finding stuff than the actual value of the find. That being said I would add that it would be nice to find a jar of gold dollars but the allure of hopefully finding will probably out last those gold dollars. But that's what I love about this hobby. Every day a new adventure. Today just happen to be my most interesting todate.

 

[JackalopeZL1]

Well since lead and Gold a very Heavy(sinks in the sand), I would be willing to bet since at the rivers edge there is about zero chance that any other evidence would be found, It would have washed down the river by now.. And Frankly I am Jealous of you. I used to live in Williams on the applegate when I was a kid. Wish I still lived up there. Love the area. Go up every year and ride the Hellgate Jet boats!

 

[Gold Maven]

I wonder if it could have been someone's ashes?

I have never been involved with any, not sure if pieces like that could stay intact.....

 

[JackalopeZL1]

That is a good point.. would think it would be burnt or melted though.. I could indeed see someone wanting their ashes spread they.. Beautiful country! !

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Great find, strange but great! Congrats!

 

[park pirate]

Very spooky ..

 

[huntsman53]

Very spooky indeed! If it were me, I would press the State Police to look into it more and would probably take the tooth crowns to them or the Medical Examiner that does the autopsies for them or the County. Also, you could look for information on missing persons in the area as well as upstream from there.


Frank

 

[leviathanrick]

Love finding gold. Hope I never find someone's gold teeth! Lol

 

[dirtlooter]

as long as you don't find the rest of teeth or a body, great finds!

 

[kingskid1611]

I am surprised they didn't take them as evidence. Of course then you would have never got them back.

 

[UnderMiner]

I'm sure there was a skull and all the other teeth down there too, you just couldn't locate them with just an AT-Pro for guidance. Probably a 19th century murder or accident. The guy had to have had some money to afford gold teeth so I'm betting he was a victim of a robbery. Murdered - his body was dumped in the Rogue River. His body then disintegrated over the years until you found his teeth just now. I would look into the public record to see if there were any reports of missing people or murders in the area 100+ years ago. This is all speculation of course, I have a very big imagination. Also look out at night if you keep those teeth in your house - they might be haunted

 

[trdking]

Dental gold alloy is as follows Gold 75% silver 10% copper 10% palladium 3% zinc 2% pure gold melts at 1948 degrees F and alloyed gold would have a higher melting point. Cremation ovens run between 1400 and 1800 degrees so it is very likely that dental gold would survive cremation in tact. Teeth however absolutely would not survive this temp. Teeth in a crime would not likely dissolve out of the gold even over 10's of years. The fact that you found the crowns only would leave me to believing the cremation story or simply, someone had there teeth reworked and kept the gold. My Dad was kind of macabre that way and had dental gold from his mouth in his drawer for years.
I would not bother yourself with anything dark here. Great story though!

 

[trdking]

I'm sure there was a skull and all the other teeth down there too, you just couldn't locate them with just an AT-Pro for guidance. Probably a 19th century murder or accident. The guy had to have had some money to afford gold teeth so I'm betting he was a victim of a robbery. Murdered - his body was dumped in the Rogue River. His body then disintegrated over the years until you found his teeth just now. I would look into the public record to see if there were any reports of missing people or murders in the area 100+ years ago. This is all speculation of course, I have a very big imagination. Also look out at night if you keep those teeth in your house - they might be haunted

Yes Yes Yes! That is it for sure!

 

[Peyton Manning]

d b cooper

 

[DCMetal]

OOOO....MMMMM.....GGGGGG!!!!!!
I think I'm going to have nightmares tonight!