New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

Don't Mean To Boast But...

We feel we have done pretty well over 2015, once we upgraded to the AT Pro, our detecting has gone to another level.

This year, we have found 35 grams of 9ct & 18ct gold, 82 grams of sterling silver jewellery and 236 grams of pre-decimal .925 and ".500 silver" New Zealand, English and Australian coins. We have also found $100s of dollars in spendies and $50.00 of old decimal currency. Not to mention the 100s of pieces of costume jewellery.

We managed to tick off some bucket-list items including a 1942 one-dot threepence, diamond ring, 1919 silver english half crown, hallmarked english 18ct wedding ring, George McCaul trade token and New Zealand 1850-1872 Imperial 12th regiment button.

At the beginning of the year, we started out with a Garrett Ace 350, but soon upgraded to a near-new AT Pro, only detecting the dry sand of our local beaches. Part way through the year; as the targets in the dry sand started to thin out, we decided to be adventurous and try something we had never done before: grass park detecting. With the aid of our trusty Garrett AT Pro-pointer, (which I would highly recommend). As we learnt our new machine, and researched the local area, our hunts became more fruitful and we started pulling 10+ silvers out of the ground on most hunts. As the tourist season at the mount has swung back around, we have decided to upgrade to the Rolls-Royce of metal detectors: the minelab ctx3030. For 2016, we intend to hunt parks, dry sand, wet sand and in salt water.

Last year 2014, we finished the year with a measly 4 silver coins, 2 gold rings and 0 silver jewellery, so we are very pleased with our results this year. We are all kitted out now with the new CTX a custom made "super" sand scoop, pin pointer and our pimped out home made Lesche (see other posting).

Now For The Finds:

The Gold:
we found seven gold rings this year, all being 9ct except for one: a 1920s English hallmarked, engraved 18ct wedding band. It is hallmarked M&M which I believe to be Manton & Mole. The heaviest gold ring that we dug weighs in at a massive 18.5 grams! it's a plain mens 9ct band.

The Silver Jewellery:
This year, we found over 80 grams of silver jewellery; that's 22 pieces! (not including the broken/scrap silver). This consisted of: 1 necklace, 2 bracelets, 2 belly-button piercings, 2 Pandora bracelet catches, 3 earrings, 1 toe ring and 11 finger rings.

The NZ Silvers:
3 half crowns, 10 shillings, 21 sixpences and 35 threepences including a 1942 1 dot.

The GB Silvers:
1 half crown, 3 shillings, 6 sixpences and 9 threepences.

The AU Silvers: 1 sixpence and 3 threepences.

The Exonumia:
This year, good medals, buttons, badges, pins and tokens have been hard to come by, although we have found:
1 George McCaul Trade Token, 1 "souvenir of this show" medal and 1 1850-1872 New Zealand Imperial regiments "12" button.




This year, we also found a designer belt buckle, made by Hermes Of Paris. This buckle would have come off a $1500.00 belt.

Did really well m8, good stuff and look forward to next year's display

Sorry GoldPandemic but I don't keep track of my holes and the scrap metal was sent off a few weeks ago. Out of interest, has anyone seen another one of the NZ imperial regiments button? Is it rare?

The only information I found was on this website:
http://www.nzmhs.org.nz/Gallery/19th-Century/

Thanks In Advance,
TaurangaDetector.

Can you give me more details on the junk; aluminium, lead, copper, iron, kilograms??

I keep track of my holes, so that I'm able to present a balanced view for prospective detectorists.

If you're still looking for information about your12th Regiment. Here's a snippet that made me laugh and gives a bit of insight into regiment life

http://twelfthregiment.info/wp/

""And in April 1863, the 12th also became the only Regiment, stationed in Australia and New Zealand, to have permitted the press to attend the General Court Martial of one of its Officers, Captain Saunders, who had intended to shoot his commanding officer for taking liberties with Saunders’ wife. The taking of liberties, however, was not proved. The transcript of the trial has given us a rare insight into the character of the officers and men, and the administration of a Battalion.  To improve his case, Colonel Hamilton imprisoned Private James Bevil for his “honesty” albeit as a lesson to others who might give contrary evidence to the Colonel, and persuaded the Court not to hear the evidence of Mrs Saunders.""

Edited by user Wednesday, 30 December 2015 9:41:30 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I have one button from the 58th Rutlandshire Foot Regiment found
on an Auckland city beach which you can see here:
http://metaldetectornz.b...th-regiment-of-foot.html


MK