Your Best Non Nugget find?

[AzNuggetBob 1,343]

Can't figure out the gallery so I'll post these pics her-Down N' the Dumps-literally in French Gulch. Cool condo-John

Cool and the condo was born, with deck. I like the kitchen extension too.

and the privy is close by. what more could you ask for.

John I used to hang out up there in French Gulch when I lived in Redding.That's were I first got into gold.

used to fish Whiskeytown lake too, Big Bass. loved it.

AzNuggetBob

Edited October 7, 2014 by AzNuggetBob

[ssweat 117]

When not prospecting I hunt parks around the valley and wherever I may roam. I found this 1876 trade token in a small park in Scottsdale AZ all the way from Philadelphia. One of my favorite finds. I found my 20th gold ring this year a class ring weighing in at 7.8 grams.

The coin

Info I found on it

Front

and the back side

Edited October 18, 2014 by ssweat

[Patrick in Havasu 339]

Just in time..........

[ArcticDave 1,395]

Just in time..........

Wth? A restroom token? Thats rough! You can pee...but only if you pay!!!

[mineralcreekmike 1]

OK OK, now I see this is supposed to be your best NON NUGGET find. Oh well, this is my best find & I'm sticking to it......lol My best find ever was three, half ounce gold nuggets in one hole......on a hillside. Was following an ancient channel up the hill from the present creek with my detector, fighting mosquitoes all the way and inhaling a few, when I got a faint signal. After digging through moss and 10 inches of half frozen dirt, I found a small pothole in the bedrock about 8 inches across. Carefully scraping away more dirt I uncovered a half oz. nugget, well worn. Running the detector back over the hole again I received another signal. I continued to carefully scrape the dirt away and uncovered 2 more half oz. nuggets as well as about 50 smaller piece in the 10 grain range in this small pothole. This was in Alaska at my favorite creeks where a 55 oz. nugget was recovered as well as lots of em in the 10 - 25 oz. range. My goal is to find one over 1 oz.

Mineralcreekmike

Edited December 19, 2014 by mineralcreekmike

[weaver hillbille 484]

from the AZ pegmatite belt

.. FOund it face up

[mn90403 743]

I have many non-nugget finds. Many more than nuggets. When you live in a city near one of the best beaches then that can happen but:

I found a pot boat. It was filled with suitcases and was abandoned on a beach near LAX. The boat and motor were new but I didn't know what was inside the cases until later. I was told it was worth over a million as it was near 1 ton.

Later I inquired about getting the boat and motor which was a Mexican panga but they never gave it to me as a reward. They also told me that if I had done anything other than call 911 they would have taken my metal detector and me to jail.

It makes for a nice story remembering a bunch of police crawling all over it taking their pictures.

[Lone Lobo 16]

My very best non nugget find is my wife of over 50 years. Having said that, let me proceed. In 2006 while prospecting in south west Arizona

I popped out a single military dog tag belonging to Elvin Browning. I continued beeping and several hours later, in a separate hole, distant

from the first one, out came the matching dog tag. What are the odds of that happening? After returning to Ohio I thought I would try and return Elvin's tags to his next of kin. At first I had little success. Finally a member of this form provided me with a phone number to call in

Oklahoma. To my surprise Elvin Browning himself answered the phone. He was then 90 years old. I was able to return Elvin's dog tags

back into his possession after being buried in the Arizona desert for over 60 years. I have had my share of good fortune in the field but this

has been one of my most rewarding finds. God bless these old vets and all that serve both past and present. Lobo

[Rimshot 176]

Pretty cool story Lobo!

I think my best find was a gold pendant. Must have been an ounce of gold in it. It had what i think was pearl inlay with gold going around it and a figure 8 raised up in gold.

My guess it was owned by an 8 ball player.

Edited February 18, 2015 by Rimshot

[AZMark 123]

I just watched Gold Trails with Kevin Hoagland, and the "newbie" found his first hot rock. I have my first hot rock in my back yard. I'm guessing it weighs 40 or 50 lbs and is green. The fun part was lugging it back through the sandy wash and up the hill. all the while imagining the gold trapped inside. Thus began the lesson of hot rocks.

[Nugget Shooter 3,656]

Indeed and a lesson learned by all of us here at one time or another and I will still drag them home sometimes

[Swampstomper Al 1,120]

Drag it home for sure..!

I don't know about out y'all's way, but here in the east greenstone can contain Au..

I have no idea if it's even the same kind of rock though.. I've never seen pieces

larger than about a third of a protien Power Bar; about the same thickness too..

They sorta look like 3rd tier 'skippers'..

Ergo I have a hard time imagining what we know as greenstone being pieces broken

away from what you are describing..

If someone would explain the difference between the two it would be appreciated..

In the meantime I'd crush a piece, just to see if anything taps to the upper edge of a pan..

SA

[DolanDave 443]

Nice finds everyone, like reading these types of posts. 5 Years ago, I found a huge womens gold and diamond wedding ring outside the women's bathroom at a gpaa show in Las Vegas, I turned it into the main booth, and asked them if no one claims it in 6 months could I claim it, the lady behind the booth said they don't have a lost and found, but call the main office. So I called, and they have no record of it, and I didn't get the ladies name, darn it.... next time if there ever is one, Ill just give them my phone number. Over the years found numerous old silver coins, multi pounder meteorites....

[LowPoint 811]

Have you ever had one of those: "HOW IN THE @!#@ DID THIS GET HERE FINDS???"  Many moons ago I was detecting down in a tributary-wash between Bumble Bee and Cleator Arizona.  I was working up the wash on a steep-grade-area of exposed bedrock when I got a very strong signal.  When I finally worked the target out of a semi-deep crevice (crack), I was "shocked" to see the rusted-lower-hook-part (remnant) of a fish hook???  After taking a "Double-Take-Look" ( a couple of times) I tried to rationalize what I had just found, but began to get a headache. ....Have you ever had one of those moments when you just stop, look around, and ask yourself:  "What in the @!#@ is this doing here???  This was one of mine.  ...For those of you who are "Not" familiar with this area: ...The nearest lake of any size is at least 50 (or so) miles away; ...All of the washes and their supplying tributaries are always bone-dry, where the only water running down them is during the monsoon season; ...There where no stock tanks anywhere even close to the area; ...Black Canyon, (the major wash that runs thru the area from the north) is at least 2-miles away, has "no fish" in it, and is normally dry (other than during the winter, and monsoon season).  On top of all of the above, I was about half way up on the side of a mountain, (not just a hill) a rugged, rocky mountain.  I am still baffled by it to this day???  What did I do with the fish hook remnant???  I thought that I might share my experience, so I put it back in the crevice with hopes that someone else will detect over it eventually and consider it to be an interesting and "baffling" find as I did.  Gary 

[chrisski 536]

I was in the Agua Fria River at Black Canyon and some of the deep huge puddles that never dry out have fish in them.  I was prospecting, but a hiker walked by and told me he had seen people fishing those puddles before.  I did also walk on dead fish bones where the puddles had dried up.

 

What surprises me about the agua fria just south of Black Canyon city is it is always running, although it's mostly under the gravel.  There's a couple of points where it surfaces along the bedrock just south of the ghost town, but even though the water still flows, it seems like just less than a trickle.

 

Another thing that surprsied me was that some of these big puddles are about 30' by 20' and when I walk up on them, I started to sink into the mud.I put a large rock to stand on, but I kept sinking.  It was like quicksand.

 

Black Canton city is a bit south of Cleator, but I remember looking at photos of Turkey creek, and it had puddles in it, although a bit smaller than the ones I talked about, so I suppose there is potential for fish to live there.

[Uncle Ron 1,145]

8 hours ago, chrisski said:

Another thing that surprsied me was that some of these big puddles are about 30' by 20' and when I walk up on them, I started to sink into the mud.I put a large rock to stand on, but I kept sinking.  It was like quicksand.

 

I have been surprised to encounter quicksand here in the big AZ ... I got stuck in some in Turtle Wash in Wickenburg ... At first I thought it was funny, but quickly realized this was the real deal and was able, with effort, to pull myself out!  Cheers, Unc

[SanDomingoJim 452]

5 minutes ago, Uncle Ron said:

8 hours ago, chrisski said:

Another thing that surprsied me was that some of these big puddles are about 30' by 20' and when I walk up on them, I started to sink into the mud.I put a large rock to stand on, but I kept sinking.  It was like quicksand.

 

Reminds me of a patch of quick sand that I run into north of Lake Pleasant. Pretty scary stuff especially if you are not prepared for it. 

 

[chrisski 536]

One other thing about the quick sand, if I'm in the desert and I'm at a waterhole and there's no animal tracks, I suspect quicksand right off.

I never expected to find quicksand in the desert.

[weaver hillbille 484]

 My latest piece of baublite is made up of  several skeletonized quartz pockets surrounding an 80 pound albite rock "matrix" .

     It has a 3-fluted MACHINIST TAP( appears to be a machinist tap, anyway) sticking out of one side... the tapered end, definitely, and there's an entry hole on the other side about 10 inches away.

 WTF  ...

Someone needed a hold down and just happened to pick a nice quartz pocket  to drill in? I am no miner, but am baffled by the use of this tap and why it's in the rock.

Edited December 31, 2016 by weaver hillbille

[ArcticDave 1,395]

That is odd.

Most rock bolts are wedge style anchors and just need a hole to secure them. I'm sure there was a reason...maybe it's an old practical joke.

Imagine returning from your lunch break to finishing drilling that hole and some smart guy had pounded that hardened tool steel in your drill hole. I imagine it would be frustrating when your hole wouldn't get any deeper....

[weaver hillbille 484]

18 hours ago, ArcticDave said:

That is odd.

Most rock bolts are wedge style anchors and just need a hole to secure them. I'm sure there was a reason...maybe it's an old practical joke.

Imagine returning from your lunch break to finishing drilling that hole and some smart guy had pounded that hardened tool steel in your drill hole. I imagine it would be frustrating when your hole wouldn't get any deeper....

  Dave, I thought so, too.  THere's no trace of iron/any equipment around, and I noticed a similar hole adjacent, only the metal ( call it a "bolt remnant") is flush to the surface of the boulder.  What's even more odd is that theboulder was easily pulled out of the ground surface "puzzle" of other rocks, by hand..

     YOur silver/lead ore sounds  similar to what we found  up the hill on the old  Jack of Diamonds prospect near Kirkland.

 Bryan

[ArcticDave 1,395]

I'm assuming old miners were just as bad at playing jokes on one another as they are today. 

I don't think my little stringer will  amount to much. As was stated in the thread, with no facility to process the ore, it's just a pretty rock. Bill might get upset with a smelter on his property

 

Edited January 1, 2017 by ArcticDave

[weaver hillbille 484]

On 12/31/2016 at 0:23 PM, ArcticDave said:

That is odd.

Most rock bolts are wedge style anchors

 WEll, I was totally off in my asssumption it was some sort of machine tap. Upon further inspect, I saw another that looked like  a couple  of  beefy spiral ,nails twisted together, poking out nearby with another remnant close to the major triangular 1/2" dia tower of something -nonferrous -at least all my  real machine taps are attracted to a rareearthmagnet- but not what I thought was sticking out of this rock.

 NOw I'm really scratching my head and googling, "triangular minerals"

[ArcticDave 1,395]

Weird! No idea

[AzNuggetBob 1,343]

On 12/31/2016 at 0:55 PM, weaver hillbille said:

 My latest piece of baublite is made up of  several skeletonized quartz pockets surrounding an 80 pound albite rock "matrix" .

     It has a 3-fluted MACHINIST TAP( appears to be a machinist tap, anyway) sticking out of one side... the tapered end, definitely, and there's an entry hole on the other side about 10 inches away.

 WTF  ...

Someone needed a hold down and just happened to pick a nice quartz pocket  to drill in? I am no miner, but am baffled by the use of this tap and why it's in the rock.

Can we get a photo here? before the alien theories start popping up.

Sounds like sheered off drill steel to me?

AzNuggetBob