✅ SOLVED GOLD!!?? Could it be??

[perdidogringo]

Hi All,

I returned to my gold rush '49er camp over the weekend. My girlfriend found an 1847 large American cent (see in the photos below), a small, cast-iron crotal bell (currently soaking to attempt an ID), and a small round ball.

I was having my worst day ever there. I was using my stock AT Pro coil (8.5" x 11'), which is a big mistake in a jungle environment and wasn't getting any decent, repeatable signals. Mostly "iffy" signals with numbers that were "jumping around." After my better half found her items, I was getting desperate. Finally, I found a decent signal that still jumped around from the 30s to the 70s but was a little more consistent on the high end. I dug it and about 8 inches down, the yellow piece of metal pictured below popped out. I thought it was going to be silver by the number and I wasn't sure what it was. I put it in my pocket for inspection later. Later, after cleaning it up, my buddies are convinced it is gold. It weighs .29 oz and passed some preliminary gold tests (magnet, scraping a plate, etc.).

Can anyone tell me if it's real gold by the photos (or suggest another test I can try at home?)? I plan to take it to a jeweler this week. Any feedback would be appreciated!

 

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[tamrock]

Eureka!

 

[nsdq]

I see gold

 

[Icewing]

Man I'm jealous, not of the gold but that your wife swings too.
I keep asking my wife if she wants to swing but she just keeps giving more time to go by myself.

 

[nsdq]

Icewing in your location swing = barn dance

Man I'm jealous, not of the gold but that your wife swings too.
I keep asking my wife if she wants to swing but she just keeps giving more time to go by myself.

 

[jadocs]

Wow is it still ringing up in the 70's out of the ground?

 

[perdidogringo]

Out of the ground, the numbers are jumping around on my AT PRO with the stock coil. It goes from the 30s to the 60s to the 70s.

Wow is it still ringing up in the 70's out of the ground?

 

[Icewing]

Icewing in your location swing = barn dance

Still better than what they're doing at Penn State.

 

[jadocs]

Out of the ground, the numbers are jumping around on my AT PRO with the stock coil. It goes from the 30s to the 60s to the 70s.

Something wrong with the machine or just EMI?

 

[perdidogringo]

Something wrong with the machine or just EMI?

No idea. But it was a similar signal at the site (one I usually ignore) but because it was topping out into the 70s, I decided to dig it. The coil was working fine a month ago when I found 3 silver cobs so I'm not sure if it's the soil conditions or whatever. It was pouring rain in the middle of the jungle so I'm also not sure if the wet ground had anything to do with it.

 

[smokeythecat]

Do a specific gravity test: weight in air versus weight in water.

 

[galenrog]

It does appear to be gold. The fact that you have erratic readings on your detector sounds normal. The irregular shape of the nugget, plus the possibility of silver, copper, and other metals in the mix can easily result in erratic readings on any detector.

 

[vvolok]

To do this, gently drip 1 drop of iodine on the back of jewelry and leave it for 3 minutes. Once it can be easily removed with a handkerchief. If he did not leave their mark on gold, which means that the reaction does not occur in front of you and a real precious metal. In the case of low-quality alloy - the color of the iodine can be different from a light milky color to black.But this is the Express method at home more than just give the answer Lombard))): Icon_thumright:

 

[perdidogringo]

Hi All,

Quick update- I took it to 2 independent jewelers today and it was confirmed by both to be 24k gold!!

Many thanks to everyone who provided feedback. Much appreciated. Now I'm plotting my return to that site to hopefully find more gold rush '49er gold!

 

[CoinFetcher]

Oh yeah, you gotta go back!! I like how unsure you were of that amazing find.

 

[jadocs]

Heck yeah...now that you know it's there I would invest in a gold machine.

 

[Reed Lukens]

24k? Naw, You don't find 24k nuggets in natural form. Usually 22k or less but that doesn't change the fact that you found a beautiful gold nugget. If it was pure 24k, you wouldn't see any of the different colors that you do in your pics. In the first pic you can see a small area that has a distinct orangish tint when compared to the rest. The different colors tell you that there are other minerals mixed in with it. It's nothing bad, in fact the colors give it more character. The different gold districts all have different percentages of gold content - You can read more about the area that you found it here - http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0610/report.pdf

and there are plenty of well known gold miners here on the gold prospecting forum Gold Prospecting

 

[perdidogringo]

Thanks for the information, Reed! I am just learning about gold and this is the first time I have even seen a nugget. I called one of the jewelers from yesterday and you're right, I misunderstood the guy (Spanish isn't my first language). He said it's definitely gold by whatever acid he used on it but to determine the exact carat, I believe he said he'd have to heat the thing or melt it down in some way? Does that sound right? He said it would dramatically change the shape of the nugget so I'm not sure if I want to do that since I'm considering making it into a pendant.

Since this piece of gold was found on a Gold Rush 49er camp site, I am wondering about how miners transported their gold back then when they returned home from the gold fields. Was it pretty much all in nugget form before being sold back out east? Was any refined before leaving?

 

[perdidogringo]

Small Crotal Bell

For those of you interested, here are some photos of the crotal bell my girlfriend found at the same place as the gold and the large cent. In the 2nd photo, I thought I could see an "R" just above the opening and a "W" (upside down- so it would be an "M" in the photo) just below the opening. So I became a bit excited thinking it was a Robert Wells crotal bell out of England (see the very last photo for an example of Robert Wells crotal bell in good condition- although bronze and not iron like the one found). But now I think my eyes were playing tricks on me- difficult to make out since it's iron and has been in the ground for many years.

 

[Reed Lukens]

Thanks for the information, Reed! I am just learning about gold and this is the first time I have even seen a nugget. I called one of the jewelers from yesterday and you're right, I misunderstood the guy (Spanish isn't my first language). He said it's definitely gold by whatever acid he used on it but to determine the exact carat, I believe he said he'd have to heat the thing or melt it down in some way? Does that sound right? He said it would dramatically change the shape of the nugget so I'm not sure if I want to do that since I'm considering making it into a pendant.

Since this piece of gold was found on a Gold Rush 49er camp site, I am wondering about how miners transported their gold back then when they returned home from the gold fields. Was it pretty much all in nugget form before being sold back out east? Was any refined before leaving?

You don't want to melt it down at all. It's worth more as a natural nugget and being that it's ¼ozt, as is in its natural state it's worth at least 1½ x the spot price. Where for melted, you will get spot price or less. The miners carry nuggets and melt the fines into small miners buttons that can be traded or sold -