4 tiny gold, 2nd platinum bridge, St. Joan of Arc medal.

7 days at the beach produced some unknown relics, 4 small gold jewelry pieces and my 2nd platinum alloyed dental bridge.
I’m starting to wonder how these dental bridges are being lost.

A park hunt produced a Saint Joan of Arc medal, a 1920 buffalo nickel, an overlapped double silver ring, an ornate makeup container, and some other finds.




Above are the gold and silver jewelry finds. All of the gold finds are 14K; a dollar sign earring, a hinged hoop earring with stones, a teardrop pendant or earring, and a chain ring with nameplate. There is a double silver ring and an old, broken silver ring of some sort.

Air-tested with:
11 coil
Auto-sensitivity = 16
Noise Cancel #11
ID = inner diameter (in millimeters)
Rings air-tested with ring parallel to coil, unless otherwise noted

carat ID   grams depth  FE-CO  max depth description
14k   --    .25  0"     13-01     ----   Dollar sign earring (minimum of 19 auto-sensitivity).
14k   --    .51  0"     13-01     ----   Hinged hoop earring (minimum of 16 auto-sensitivity).
14k   --    .53  2"     12-01    3"      Teardrop pendant.
14k   --   1.71  1"     12-01    2"      Chain ring with nameplate.
plat  --   3.58  1"     14-01    2"      Platinum alloy dental bridge.

Above are photos of the gold jewelry before and after cleaning. The gold chain ring was attached when found, but one side of the chain came off while rinsing in the seawater. 14k gold holds up well in seawater, but the lower karat gold solder joints corrode away.




The top 3 rows are the before and after ultrasonic cleaning photos of the dental bridge. The bottom row is a photo of my 1st platinum dental bridge find, which is probably much older. It uses gold solder to attach the caps together. The newer bridge is one continuous piece. Although both are discolored, did several gold and platinum acid tests to confirm the metal is a platinum alloy.




Here’s a photo of my collection of found dental works; 2 platinum dental bridges and a 10k grill. Photos of the old, broken silver ring, and the Saint Joan of Arc medallion. Have found a similar medal on ebay, but unable to determine when and where it was made.

[www.ebay.com]





Above is a photo of an ornate makeup container, a brass fishing weight or ball joint???, a 1920 buffalo nickel with 2 beach corroded silver dimes, an aluminum star, and something???



Here is a group photo of some of the other finds.

Detecting since Feb, 2010
E-trac with 18"x15" SEF, 13" Ultimate coil, Pro coil, Minelab 8" coil, 4.5"x7" SEF, Sunray target probe
CTX3030 with 17"x13" DD coil, 11" DD coil

Nice digs, digs_alot

Wouldn't doubt the dental bridges are lost from cremations spread on the beach/water. Ever find a cremation tag in the same area your finding the bridges?

Nice haul diggs!

Once again......... your documented data chart (with rows/columns) of all the technical data........ and the photo's........ are spectacular.

Very nice.

Well done!!! Congrats!!

Dental bridge losses.
My theory, I suspect lost on oil rigs and or shrimp boat workers, might be fisherman who lost too.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2018 12:07PM by tnsharpshooter.

Digs_alot Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 7 days at the beach produced some unknown relics,
> 4 small gold jewelry pieces and my 2nd platinum al
> loyed dental bridge.

Nice haul, congrats !

> I’m starting to wonder how these dental bridges ar
> e being lost.

The original existing owners usually protest against target extraction....

Up to my ____ in Pulltabs, Grant



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2018 12:16PM by Up to my ____ in Pulltabs, Grant.

Cal_cobra Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice digs, digs_alot
>
> Wouldn't doubt the dental bridges are lost from cr
> emations spread on the beach/water. Ever find a c
> remation tag in the same area your finding the bri
> dges?

I don’t recall finding any tags with the word “crematory” or “mortuary” imprinted on it, and not too anxious to find one.

Digs_alot Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Cal_cobra Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Nice digs, digs_alot
> >
> > Wouldn't doubt the dental bridges are lost from cremations spread on the beach/water. Ever find a cremation tag in the same area your finding the bridges?
>
> I don’t recall finding any tags with the word “crematory” or “mortuary” imprinted on it, and not too anxious to find one.

I don't believe they specifically say anything like that. There's not uncommon to find at Half Moon Bay and other beaches.

NASA-Tom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Once again......... your documented data chart (wi
> th rows/columns) of all the technical data........
> and the photo's........ are spectacular.


Thanks.
I used to skip over those very low conductive targets at beaches during my first year of detecting. Curiosity digging of very low conductive targets eventually produced a piece of gold jewelry. An important learning experience.

Some of the gold jewelry that I found had been corroded by seawater over the years. 22k and 24k generally retains its gold color. 18k may turn slightly orange. 14k generally turns orange or maroon. 9k and 10k, depending on the alloyed metal type, can turn black, brown, orange, maroon, can form green globules, etc.

I’m sure that I have discarded a few corroded or discolored gold items. Eventually, I discovered that seawater and time can do this to lower carat gold items. A costly learning experience.
I’m hoping that others won’t make the same mistakes that I have by posting “before” and “after” cleaning photos, and posting the various target ID values.