war nickel silver

[azmetaldetector]

Got out for a little over 3.5 hrs. today. Found a 1943 S war nickel The second one from this site. This is the only silver coins I've dug. Can't seem to find the 90% coins. Oh well, maybe eventually.
Also found this earring. When I first popped it out I thought it was gold, but after getting it home, it appears that it isn't.
Also found this, tree. Kind of looks like a xmas tree, but the wife thought the markings on it were a little strange for that.
Also found $1.50 in clad.

 

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[Nana40]

Looks like a Christmas tree to me too... Neat finds SK!

Nana

 

[southbound]

Was a good day at least for you. War nickle looks good. Vern

 

[goldencoin]

very nice..... my first(and only) silver was a silver nickel while coin shooting

 

[The Seeker]

Silver is Silver no matter what it is.....Nice going...!!!!

 

[The Beep Goes On]

Nice finds skane!

HH!
TBGO

 

[treasures4me2find]

Congrats of your finds Skane. Looks like a xmas tree to me also. Looks like you had a good day hunting. WTG

Ken

 

[mchamby]

Nice finds, it looks like that Christmas tree at one time might have been enameled.
Keep up the hunting.
Mchamby

 

[Southcacalaky]

Keep up the good work, HH Art...

 

[azmetaldetector]

Don't discount that ear ring, looks like it might at least be gold plated. Gold is always good to find, I sell a couple of batches of gold plate a year from various sources at huge prices...even better with these days with high gold prices.

You got gold, silver and an xmas tree. Sounds like a good day to me. That nickel is better than any I've ever found and I've been detecting since '88. I think more often than not the best way to find silver coins is to swing your coil over one. i.e. Can't find it if it ain't there :-) Sometimes maybe the answer really is, there just weren't any to find in the first place.

Keep digging, you're on the right track!

How can I tell if it's gold plated?
The nicekl looks so nice cuz I cleaned it up. It came out of the ground much uglier than that.

 

[snake35]

The war nickle is a nice find, With the price of silver up I have been searching rolls. Good luck.

 

[Burdie]

WTG on your finds. How did you clean your nickel? HH Burdie

 

[BIG61AL]

NICE SILVER NICKLE IN GREAT SHAPE!

 

[Born2Dtect]

I have found two 43 nickels. They are my oldest. They are odd looking compared to older and newer ones
Kind of white looking if you know what mean.
Ed Donovan

 

[azmetaldetector]

WTG on your finds. How did you clean your nickel? HH Burdie

It's actually quite simple.
Take a soda can, turn it upside down and fill the indentation with white vinegar. Put the silver coin in there and let sit for 30 minutes or so.
Remove it and take some baking soda and water on your thumb and finger and rub the baking soda paste between your fingers. It very gently removes the crud.
If you have a particularly valuable silver coin, rule is you shouldn't clean it at all, but for those that aren't worth all that much anyway, it makes them come out very nicely. This thing was green and black when I dug it our of the ground. Cleaned up real nicely.

 

[jon43]

keep that coil to the ground and dont ever give up and you will find the other coins (silver) good luck. hope the rain and storms have ended here were i can get out on tuesday.

 

[wooly in Illinois]

I'd be estattic to find that nickle! I also like the cleaning tip.
HH, Wooly

 

[Joe88]

Congrats on the nickel!!
Usually cannot find those too often....
HH!!

Joe

 

[azmetaldetector]

The few war nickels I've found have been hit with a lawn mower 2 or 3 or 15 times. Really screwed up stuff. Don't even bother to clean those.

Is it gold? I don't know for sure. But the fact it came out of the ground and cleaned up to deep yellow is a big clue. Gold doesn't tarnish where as most other things do. The part that goes through the ear is almost certainly GP on copper.

Quick test: get hard black flat stone, lightly rub wire, should get yellow streak. Pick another spot on the rock and rub hard, make 1/2" wide band, should get shinny red color as you grind through gold layer to copper...test against old penny, you'll see the same color. If color of wide band is yellow and doesn't match color of penny it's likely 10K or better. If color turns white or silver, it's other metal and deffinately not gold.

If an item like this cleans up nice and has no bubbles or flakes in the GP on the body, I put it box destined for a lot sale on ebay. I usually don't scratch these unless I suspect pure gold. (Or scratch end of wire, back of ear ring) Old coustume jewelry does very well. Be sure to make notes about the item, how old you think it is, the other items found with it.

If GP is starting to peal off or damaged (over time metal underneath begins to react with ground water and blister through.) I just toss it in box as plate scrap and let the refiners figure out what's what. If the wire or the body scratches all yellow, well that's a different box too. I got alotta boxes around here with little bits of this and that in them...

You could do the chemical testing, but such a small item that is likely to be plate, I do quick scratch test...if that looks real then I look at the item closely, maybe think about a chemical test if it's likely to be valuable.

Now the stone itself may be worthwhile too...I know a few jewelry repair people who buy up screwed up costume stuff just for the stones. Even fakes, paste, ceramics, glass. I'm not as experienced about this part, the variety of stuff used as "stones" in jewelry is just bewildering. Point being, keep it, you never know what you've got. Start a collection of jewelry items, I can assure there are plenty of people out there who will buy it all up.

Hope this helps...for all my long windedness on the subject...

No worries, I appreciate the effort to explain this to me

 

[River Rat]

WTG, Skane.

HH
RR