🥇 BANNER My First US Gold Coin!

[winslow]

It took almost 40 years but I finally found a US minted gold coin.

I put my small coil on the Equinox 800 with the intention of working an area that is laden with square nails, deteriorating cans and junk. Never got there. As I was crossing a dry creek I got a solid 20 on the VDI and thought I'd be digging a lead bullet or something of that nature.

I was absolutely floored when I dug what certainly looked like gold through the dirt.

And oh man it was!

It just doesn't seem real after digging thousands of square nails, shell casings, rivets, buttons etc. etc. I've found silver coins and some cool relics but never a US minted gold coin. My life is now complete. Ha!

 

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[jewelerguy]

oh man that's awesome. I'd have probably peed my pants. Congrats!

 

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[grasshopper]

Amazing! Congratulations!

 

[Trezurehunter]

Congrats on that excellent looking gold coin. That had to be a thrill to dig.

 

[Digger RJ]

It took almost 40 years but I finally found a US minted gold coin.

I put my small coil on the Equinox 800 with the intention of working an area that is laden with square nails, deteriorating cans and junk. Never got there. As I was crossing a dry creek I got a solid 20 on the VDI and thought I'd be digging a lead bullet or something of that nature.

View attachment 1984885

I was absolutely floored when I dug what certainly looked like gold through the dirt.View attachment 1984883

And oh man it was!View attachment 1984884

It just doesn't seem real after digging thousands of square nails, shell casings, rivets, buttons etc. etc. I've found silver coins and some cool relics but never a US minted gold coin. My life is now complete. Ha!
View attachment 1984881
View attachment 1984882

Outstanding!!!! Congrats!!!

 

[oldmxrat]

That's what keeps me going out there! Thanks for sharing and giving me renewed hope and drive, congrats!

 

[park pirate]

It took almost 40 years but I finally found a US minted gold coin.

I put my small coil on the Equinox 800 with the intention of working an area that is laden with square nails, deteriorating cans and junk. Never got there. As I was crossing a dry creek I got a solid 20 on the VDI and thought I'd be digging a lead bullet or something of that nature.

View attachment 1984885

I was absolutely floored when I dug what certainly looked like gold through the dirt.View attachment 1984883

And oh man it was!View attachment 1984884

It just doesn't seem real after digging thousands of square nails, shell casings, rivets, buttons etc. etc. I've found silver coins and some cool relics but never a US minted gold coin. My life is now complete. Ha!
View attachment 1984881
View attachment 1984882

Outstanding....

 

[RatherBeDigging]

Holy cow🐄! Have to take the back of my 14k longines watch and see what gold coin sized object signal sounds like. Long time coming on that bucket lister but you did it.

 

[Silver Saver]

I think any old US gold coin is worthy of the banner. They're just so rare and at the top of most bucketlists.

I like the picture with dirt still attached. It's like when you first see the gold color and gets your heart pumping...then normally ends up being some trickster. But this one ends up being the real deal and you get to relish in the excitement of your find! Congratulations!!

That would definitely make me want to hunt that same area some more.

 

[islamoradamark]

That definitely top of the food chain hats off to you

 

[ArfieBoy]

That gold coin is in beautiful shape. Congratulations on a fantastic find! I also voted banner! Thanks for sharing and including us in your celebration!

 

[Nevada Prospector]

I would have to say this is a Banner for sure!

 

[winslow]

Love it! Congrats! Thank you for the VDI as well. Most charts have them as ringing up lower, but your find was actually "in the ground", so I think that's way more accurate. Now I know I wouldn't miss one. A 20 is ALWAYS a dig, no matter how trashy the area. Congratulations again, sounds like you earned it!

I air tested it and came in at 15. Quite a difference!

 

[BLK HOLE]

WOW!!!! Congrats!

 

[NZ49er]

I air tested it and came in at 15. Quite a difference!

I wonder why? Was there anything else in the hole with it? Wet soil?

 

[Next Generation 1]

It took almost 40 years but I finally found a US minted gold coin.

I put my small coil on the Equinox 800 with the intention of working an area that is laden with square nails, deteriorating cans and junk. Never got there. As I was crossing a dry creek I got a solid 20 on the VDI and thought I'd be digging a lead bullet or something of that nature.

View attachment 1984885

I was absolutely floored when I dug what certainly looked like gold through the dirt.View attachment 1984883

And oh man it was!View attachment 1984884

It just doesn't seem real after digging thousands of square nails, shell casings, rivets, buttons etc. etc. I've found silver coins and some cool relics but never a US minted gold coin. My life is now complete. Ha!
View attachment 1984881
View attachment 1984882

Beautiful Coin- Never found a Gold one yet but am looking in the right places. Congrats!!

 

[Blak bart]

Great looking gold....congratulations !!

 

[Jose The Goon]

I wonder why? Was there anything else in the hole with it? Wet soil?

You might be right about the wet soil.
It is mentioned in the text of the link about "The Halo Effect". " Only a small amount of dampness is expected to be necessary for this, but more has a greater effect."
Also, could the difference in the VDI in the ground & out of the ground be "The Halo Effect" itself ?
I'm not sure about gold coins, (never found one) in the ground, but I do know that copper & silver coins buried a long time do have a "halo" in the dirt around them which the old VLF detectors would pick up & sound really solid & crisp, then when you cut out a nice plug, you break the "halo effect" & you hear nothing in the plug or over the hole. That usually means the coin is deeper & you should dig some more. I don't know how the new digital machines work but maybe someone can shed some light on why winslow's gold coin registered different on the VDI when out of the ground.
Here is a good link to save that explains the "Halo Effect" & some of the controversies around that theory/science: http://www.njminerals.org/metaldetecting-haloeffect.html

Short excerpt from link:
VII. Summary of the Halo Effect
The halo effect is real, not just on iron. It can happen by (A.) classical chemical mechanisms, (B.) biological-biochemical mechanisms, or (C.) both.

Once a halo forms, it would be expected to work in one or more of the following ways:

1.) By increasing the size of the conductive area centered on the metal object. Only a small amount of dampness is expected to be necessary for this, but more has a greater effect. When the entire ground becomes conductive (as on a wet salt beach), notice how a typical VLF detector reacts.

2.) By generating an electric field due to a potential difference. This does not require moving current. Regions of potential difference (i.e., voltage) are expected wherever a metal and its alteration products exist together in the soil. Interactions can be complex due to soil chemistry (e.g., charged groups on organic molecules in soil). What's important is that a potential difference gives rise to a DC electric field. The required amount of soil moisture is probably low.

The larger the extent of an electric field, the more it's going to interact with the coil of a metal detector.

3.) By generating a magnetic field due to the movement of charge. There has to be some dampness for ions to move, though really not that much; consider a so-called "dry cell" battery. More water helps, of course, such as after a couple days of rain.

A detector works by inducing a current in a metal object. This induced current causes the object to emit its own magnetic field. This in turn causes a back-induction in the search coil. If the target is already emitting a field of its own, this is going to make it easier to detect. I have found buried plastic pipes with a metal detector, but they always had water moving through them. Moving ions = magnetic field.

 

[winslow]

I wonder why? Was there anything else in the hole with it? Wet soil?

The soil was wet but nothing else in the hole. The difference is making me question my memory! In any event, I'm digging any non-ferrous target and the bigger ferrous targets where there is a possibility of cool old stuff.

 

[Hunk-a-lead]

It took almost 40 years but I finally found a US minted gold coin.

I put my small coil on the Equinox 800 with the intention of working an area that is laden with square nails, deteriorating cans and junk. Never got there. As I was crossing a dry creek I got a solid 20 on the VDI and thought I'd be digging a lead bullet or something of that nature.

View attachment 1984885

I was absolutely floored when I dug what certainly looked like gold through the dirt.View attachment 1984883

And oh man it was!View attachment 1984884

It just doesn't seem real after digging thousands of square nails, shell casings, rivets, buttons etc. etc. I've found silver coins and some cool relics but never a US minted gold coin. My life is now complete. Ha!
View attachment 1984881
View attachment 1984882

big time gratz! great find, great save. And so beautifully preserved, well done

 

[THing4CSA]

It took almost 40 years but I finally found a US minted gold coin.

I put my small coil on the Equinox 800 with the intention of working an area that is laden with square nails, deteriorating cans and junk. Never got there. As I was crossing a dry creek I got a solid 20 on the VDI and thought I'd be digging a lead bullet or something of that nature.

View attachment 1984885

I was absolutely floored when I dug what certainly looked like gold through the dirt.View attachment 1984883

And oh man it was!View attachment 1984884

It just doesn't seem real after digging thousands of square nails, shell casings, rivets, buttons etc. etc. I've found silver coins and some cool relics but never a US minted gold coin. My life is now complete. Ha!
View attachment 1984881
View attachment 1984882

Congrats on one beautiful coin! I guess you have to wait longer for a much nicer coin! My one and only US Gold coin is a One Dollar 1854 Type I. I found it in Leesburg, Virginia using a Whites XLT with a 9 inch coil and the factory pre-set coin and jewelry program. It was 9.5 inches down in the ground under a brick and a bunch of square nails. It took me 35 years to find a 1st gold coin! I just hope that it does not take another 35 years to find my 2nd! LOL ;-)