Hello White’s!
There’s something special about a Monday morning of metal detecting, when the weekend crowds have dispersed, and one has the ocean beaches wide open for targeting coins, jewelry, and other metal targets lost in previous days. Monday the 7th of this month was no exception, as I worked my White’s DFX from one beach fire pit to the next, also taking the time to sweep along the high tide line, where weekenders like to throw down their blankets and pass the time to the cool, incoming salt air.
At one particular fire pit, there was evidence of recent activity from possibly the evening before: bbq skewers stuck in the sand, some loose newspaper scattered around, and a subtle trace of smoke still rising above the loosely placed firewood of the night before’s bonfire. Footprints were everywhere, inside the square-like perimeter of logs built around the fire site, and several plastic toys remained, indicating the kids and their sandy activities the day before, possibly.
Detecting around such a location can prove to be a challenge, as oftentimes, there exists quite a bit of junk targets that one must wade through in order to find coins, rings, and other sought-after items. This is something I appreciate so much about the DFX --- its ability to read and separate targets, with information being relayed to the screen visually, and also, audibly, through the headphones. This particular site was littered with aluminum foil, bottle caps, and a number of nails that had undoubtedly come from the wood from a previous bonfire. With 10 minutes of digging up foil, nails, and bottle caps, however, I had the area pretty well cleaned up and could now get down to the brass tacks.
After gathering $1.25 in quarters, and random pennies, nickels, and dimes, my DFX located a target lodged closely to the edge of one of the logs. Its unique tone indicated to me that this was not one of the more common targets I had been digging the past while. The sound of “gold” came through quite clearly, with a mix of another metal breaking in harmoniously with the gold tone -- possibly something next to it….?
Upon digging the 2-inches down to recover the object, to my surprise, I had recovered a beautiful man’s wedding ring. Engraved notations inside the ring identified it as an 18k gold ring (white) with tungsten carbide (a very hard metal used to line the inside of the gold band). The piece also had a small diamond, set in a 14k yellow gold circle as the ring’s focal point. A great find for this Monday morning, and after another 5 minutes of closely working the area, I was convinced this was the one lone loss of value for this gathering spot of individuals from not too long ago.
Finding a ring with gold, of any kind, and a diamond, is a thrill, and one of many I have recovered over the years. Tungsten carbide has become popularized in the past decade, due to its hardness, and the fact that it doesn’t set a person back much for investing in it. The downside, however, is that tungsten carbide is quite “smooth and slippery”, it slips off easily, whether in water or during any kind of activity, and is not a wise choice for a ring because of this characteristic.
Many thanks again to White’s and their crafting of the fine detector, the DFX.
Sincerely,
Rich M.
