New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

nice.. I thought she was in a wheel chair so its good to see her standing lol:)
My racecourse had been hunted before me.. apparently they did find some florins and other things but missed a lot of the small silver. I think they got all the full sovereigns because I can only find halfs:) Im done there until I get a 5x8 coil for the ATpro but I have found a lot of old silver this week at a new site.. chances of sovereigns is very high

Hi all,
Decided on a short hunt on the way home from work this afternoon. Glad I did. Ended up netting six nice NZ silvers and my first silver chain. Not sure if its a bracelet or fob chain ( bit short for a fob I think) but each link is hallmarked with the traditional English lion mark.....no maker's mark or date letter unfortunately. Was about 8-9" down, so must be fairly old.
Super stoked to have my first silver chain tho!

***Just had it confirmed by a couple of pocket watch experts, that it is a short-style fob chain***

GL & HH all.

Edited by user Friday, 11 April 2014 12:55:10 PM(UTC)  | Reason: info update

Hey PB, sorry to disappoint you but this was not in Chch. I was out of town for work today but found a spot on my way home. Check your PM for the spot.....you may get the chance too check it on your trip up or back home...; )

that's kol ! I didn't see the pictures of the hallmarks yesterday pretty awesome..

Nice bunch of silvers #8 did you deal to them with cloudy ammonia? I have tried it on a few of mine with average results maybe rushed it and need to soak for longer. Cheers Iggy

Yep, sure did. I always use cloudy ammonia on the silvers except when they will obviously clean up well with only liquid soap and water.
I generally tend to soak them for an hour max. For really dirty silvers, I have soaked ovrrnight but doesn't really make a big difference. An hour or two seems to work 99% of the time. Cheers, #8.

Hi all,
Had a bit of a scary old night hunt last night. Was by myself at midnight, in a small country domain, possums screaming from the bush all round me. Pitch black as there were no street or house lights within a mile. Senses heightened. Just me, me gear and me trusty headlamp. Righto, scene set.
Dug a few pennies, lots of wee's and poo's (1's and 2's) a couple of threepence....and this spectacular "British Transvaal War" medallion. Can't believe how much gilt it has retained considering it's been in the ground for the past 100 plus years. Unfortunately, the pics don't really do it justice as it shines like a gold sovereign...although I have yet to see what one of those looks like fresh from the soil!
GL and HH all.

hi andrew, great score there andrew not seen that one hows it rate in that book of medaletts of yours carefull how you clean it.

Cheers mate. Mmmmm...golden roundness....righto, off for another hunt!

Hey mate, really sweet find. It's in great shape too. Found it in the book. It's rated an R4 which is considered scarce. Worth around $25 in good condition.
Interestingly, there were no less than 16 different types of Rough Rider commemorative medallions issued in various parts of the country. Ones specific to the regions...ie Wellington contingent, and several different styles of "success to New Zealand" general issue ones. The rarest ones are actually the later ones stating " success to the 3rd contigent". A couple of these have only 2 or 3 examples known to exist. The "Otago" and "Southland" ones are also extremely rare.