Clodmaster's finds

Prospecting Australia

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Goldpick said:
Interesting handle, almost looks like a belt. I'm glad you guys have had some rain at last, I reckon the hard ground has prevented a lot of the members from getting out and about over the last few months. :D

I'll have another look Goldpick. My first thought was drawer handle. It might be a bit wide for a belt buckle but I see what you mean.
 
Went hunting to a few beach spots this weekend. I'm going to call this lot the Party Mix as there's something for everyone. Pre-decimals, modern currency, the letter 'E' off a Holden I think, bullets, a rusty old pen knife, the cone from a bong, a gold-coloured thimble that gave my heart a stutter when it came out of the ground, a tag with R.Cool written on it, some bling and ... gold. The crucifix is marked 750 so its 18k. I thought the round pendant might be gold-plated but there are no markings on it. All up, not a great volume of finds this weekend, but some variety and quality there.

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I went out last night for a beach detect and found, wait for it, 20c. That's almost 2 hours for 20c. So I've gone from gold one day to 10c p/h the next.

I blame all of the following: the tides, the beach sweeper, sand dumps, the moon, my Nox, poor technique, other detectorists who were there before me and all the various metal detecting Gods that have been so kind to me in the past but have decided to abandon me.

Excuse me while I post my Nox 600 in the 'For Sale, Hire or Swap' section of the forum.

P.S. - Will post picture of my find later
 
That's beach detecting for you, can be very hit and miss unless you actively scour the beaches on a regular basis for cuts, holes or rocks at low tide. ;)
 
Goldpick said:
That's beach detecting for you, can be very hit and miss unless you actively scour the beaches on a regular basis for cuts, holes or rocks at low tide. ;)

I'd love to be able to understand when, why and how some beaches get a build up of sand, whereas others seem to be light-on and develop cuts at low tide. I'm sure there is science behind it.
 
Luckily you didn't wrap the detector around a tree on the way back to the car after that last hunt...
Luckily the twenty cent wasn't a ring pull (whew).
:argh:
 
Clodmaster said:
Goldpick said:
That's beach detecting for you, can be very hit and miss unless you actively scour the beaches on a regular basis for cuts, holes or rocks at low tide. ;)

I'd love to be able to understand when, why and how some beaches get a build up of sand, whereas others seem to be light-on and develop cuts at low tide. I'm sure there is science behind it.

Just as one example, the beaches along the Adelaide coastline are affected by wave action which transfers the sand from the southern end of the beach to the northern sections. There are physical barriers along those beaches which contribute to the deposition/catchment of sand on the northern sections, including breakwaters and drainage/river outlets. This often leads to the starvation of sand on the southern end of the beach and dumping of sand at the northern end against such barriers, whilst immediately after the physical barrier there can be low areas created, often with rocks and/or a clayey weathered bedrock exposed which hold many of the heavier finds.

That is why after the winter storms sand is trucked from the northern beaches back to the southern beaches again to help re-deposit sand all along the coastline. The other contributing factor is the fact that most of the sand hills in Adelaide have had roads or housing built on them, so the beaches have effectively lost their natural sources of sand resupply.

Also storm activity can either strip a beach of sand creating cuts, gutters and exposing coin lines, or it can have the opposite effect and completely sand in a beach, often depends of the direction of the prevailing winds at the time. In those instances you will either see a very flat beach with little chance of hitting deeper targets, or a steeply cut beach which can have various horizons of targets exposed within effective reach of your detector.

If you do have exposed sand hills and they cop a hiding after a storm, then they can also drop out many targets within several metres of their base, just don't go digging into them. One particular beach I hit a year or so ago had a fair bit of damage done to the sand hills, and that provided over 60 coins including silvers sunbaking on the surface, with other coins being progressively deeper as you moved down the beach.

After storms I would usually go for a drive and physically have a look to see which ones had the most promise for detecting, and that often meant hitting the beach on the lowest tides in the middle of the night. Leave it too long and others will have already taken advantage of the conditions, or the beach may eventually revert back to being sanded in again.
 
Unsuccessful beach hunt in the water last night. Picked a beach that gets lots of visitors. Tide was low. Water was calm. Weather was warm. However, I spent a lot of the night digging promising TIDs that were mainly canslaw. There were lots of targets because there was so much rubbish buried beneath the sand. Too many in fact so I had to pick and choose. The problem, I think, is that there is a big storm water outlet close by, hence all the junk. Anyways, every unsuccessful dig is one dig closer to finding something excellent! I've had a few duds lately so I reckon I'm due.
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Went to a different beach today and found something I wasn't expecting. It's an 1862 5 Franc coin (Napoleon III). As far as I can tell, this is a gold coin. The weight is bang on 1.61g, which is what it's supposed to be. I'm pretty sure it's the real deal, but am happy to be proven wrong. Judging by the loop, I think it had been turned into a necklace. It was probably worn to the beach and the chain broke, which is how it ended up in the water. I also found a couple of pennies and thrips. There's also a cool looking broach that might be of a Hindu deity. Fun day out in the cold and rain. I'll definitely be heading back to the same spot - all of the good finds came in a concentrated pocket along a 500m stretch.

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Clodmaster said:
Thanks, Danny. The beach was nowhere that interesting - hardly rates mentioning. ;)
Have you got a valuation on the coin, or waiting to see if its claimed first ?, if no one comes forward to claim pm me if you want to sell it .
 
Danny13 said:
Clodmaster said:
Thanks, Danny. The beach was nowhere that interesting - hardly rates mentioning. ;)
Have you got a valuation on the coin, or waiting to see if its claimed first ?, if no one comes forward to claim pm me if you want to sell it .

I'll send you a PM, Danny.
 
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