Another elementary school yard find: A .925 sterling silver ring with a purple stone of some sort. Not sure what kind of stone . . . Maybe an amethyst?
This very nice, sterling silver ring with an onyx stone with a diamond and gold insert on it, was found in a local park in Gainesville Florida.
This very nice 14k gold ring with a decent size ruby was found in an elementary school yard. I never could figure out why expensive jewelry is found in elementary school yards other than the kids must be taking mom's jewelry and promptly lose it when playing there.
The pictured ring was found in the sandy area of a school yard. It is made of sterling silver and depicts a dragon eating a human being. And we wonder how children get strange ideas???
This ring was found at Crandon Park in Miami, Florida. It is a mood ring and changes colors with temperature.
I was lucky to find anything at all because of the lightening. The lifeguards kept running everyone out of the water.
One of the more valuable finds at a high school playground in Ocala, Florida, was this 10 karat gold cat ring with one of the jade eyes missing. It was almost too small to slide onto my little finger but gold is gold, right? I love it.
I was excited about finding some silver coins at Trenton, Florida High School and went back the following day. Instead of finding more silver coins, I found this nice 14 karat girl's ring instead. It was in an area where students congregate, closed in by buildings and sidewalks.
This ring reminds me of something a "biker" would wear. It showed up between some pine tree rows at Newberry, Florida High School. I was surprised to find it as I was collecting nothing but coins. It came in as a coin signal and was buried about three inches in sand.
I went to a new beach I never tried yesterday. It is just a little Florida west coast beach off from a place called Crystal River. The lifeguard said he had never seen anyone metal detect there before me, and although I did find some jewelry, none of it was gold.
Both rings are .925 silver, even the pictured blue ring. Somehow the metal has been glazed with a blue hue, yet the inside says .925 sterling. The heart ring, I found in about four feet of water just off the beach shore.
I hunted most of the day Wednesday on Main Beach, Amelia Island, Florida only to find nothing but modern clad coins--about three dollars worth. Then on Thursday I went to Peter's Point Beach, south on the Island, and at low tide found this fantastic 14 karat gold signet ring. It was right at the water's edge about six inches down in the shell-like sand.
I noticed one of the tires on my boat trailer was getting dry rot and had a split in the tread. The tires were only two years old from Sears Roebuck and Company, and because they were still under the original warrantee, I decided to take them back.
After looking at the tires, the Sears Tire Center manager decided to replace them free of charge but told me there would be a two hour wait. Sears has an air conditioned waiting room with a TV but I did not want to just sit there. I told the manager I would be back in two hours and went TH'ing at the combination school yard, public park, around the block.
I hunted the obvious places first like under the swings and monkey bars. Then I hunted around the tennis court. BINGO! Right next to the pavement was this fabulous 14k gold ring with a very generous ruby. It was only a few inches down in sand.
Thank you, Sears Roebuck & Company. I would not have gone metal detecting that day if not for the wait. Thank you for the two new, free tires, too.
I was suffering from a head cold when I found these and was reluctant to go out. As will have it, I could not stand seeing a nice, warm Sunday go by and went metal detecting anyway. I chose a place close by in case I felt too bad and needed to get back home quickly, but as it turned out this was probably the best place to go. The mini-park I hunted is called "Kids Space," and is located adjacent to a large shopping mall in Gainesville, Florida.The one to the upper left is a 14k gold ladies ring with three diamonds. The one to the right is a sterling silver man's wedding band.
The president of the historical society I have been hunting old home sites for called to tell me there was a lot cleared where there was once an old house. The county was getting ready to build a new post office on the lot. I was looking forward to hunting the property but by the time I got out of the house it was too late to trek to the town. Instead, I decided to hunt the old school yard close to home again. After all, I only had about two hours before dark. I am glad I did because my finds were surprisingly good today.
The pictured 14k gold ring with a topaz stone was 8 inches down in the old part of the school yard, which meant it came from the old, turn of the century school house. The school house is still standing but closed to the public.
The ring to the left is .925 silver with an onyx stone in the star. The ring to the right is made of "who knows what" but is metal and a child's ring for sure. Both were found in a Gainesville, Florida Elementary school yard.
I was waiting for my son to come out of the doctor's office and had a little time on my hands. As usual I found myself looking for a place to swing the detector while killing some time. Lo and behold across the highway in the corner of the shopping mall, was a kiddy corner sectioned off with swings, slides, and monkey bars. The ground was wood covered chips.
Agh, I could not stand another minute's wait and headed to the play area. After a few minutes under the swings, this is what I found. Jack pot! After an appraisal the ring proved to be 14k gold over sterling silver. The diamonds are cubic zirconia while the onyx stone, genuine. Estimated value between one-hundred fifty and two-hundred dollars.
While hunting in the rain (again) in a North Central Florida park, I came upon this very nice silver ring that had been cut in two. I do not know the story behind it but I'm sure it was a mower that did the job. This makes six weeks in a row for a ring find, if I include this one. Maybe I should say five and one-half rings in a row!
The ring to the right is not so fantastic but rather a child's gold plated dolphin ring. A little on the corroded side perhaps, yet still a good find.
This ring and a few other finds were made at Daytona Beach, Florida on an invitation from Dennis Heath, a Colorado transplant and avid treasure hunter.
This 10 karat gold ring adorned with a 2-1/2 karat garnet gem stone was recently found by one of my children, 14 year-old Keith Ivines. He asked that I post it on this web site for him. Good hunting, Keith. (Gosh, I'm jealous!) You're a chip off the old block!
I think some day he is going to out do me!
The ring to the right is quite large and is a combination of 925 sterling silver and gold. You can see the gold band extends right through the ring to the inside. I found it at low tide on the beach at Crandon Park. Crandon Park is on Key Biscayne, Florida.
The ring has not been cleaned other than a little soaking in ammonia. The ammonia tends to dull the silver, but with a little jewelers rouge and some buffing, the piece will come out looking like new.
This is a child's ring and was found in a school playground in Gainesville, Florida. It is made of copper and was under the swings about five inches down in sand. Found 11/7/97.
Obviously, the ring is home made.
There is a little bit of child in all of us and there must have been one at Cedar Key Beach in North Central Florida, because that is where I found this ring. Kewl, huh? And guess what? It is made of real metal!
As an adult, I wonder if this child will remember the loss and therefore be more careful at losing jewelry . . . Naw!
This gold plated over brass ring is just as found: never cleaned. The gold plate is peeling off so I left it alone. The stone is missing, obviously, and yes, I certainly looked for it. That's right, it is difficult to find a stone with a metal detector. Location: a North Central Florida home site six inches under the grass.
This fantastic white gold ring did not come from America. The inscription on the inside is written in Arabic. I found this while fooling around for a few minutes at Coco Beach, Florida after visiting a friend there.
This is one of my favorite finds and reminds me of Fred Flintstone. The ring is genuine fourteen karat gold and as art-carved as they come. I found it in Miami at Crandon Park Beach.
I'm not going to show all I have found but these represent the aluminum rings you often find around children's playgrounds. Right now I have a little over a dozen of them. They are still fun to find.
Someone told me this sterling silver ring was made from a spoon handle but a jeweler friend said this is not true. Apparently, in the 1930's and 1940's rings like this were actually made for the purpose of being a ring. This one was located just outside a North Central Florida high school cafeteria under a cement table a few inches down in the sand.
This is a nice little gold ring that must have been run over at one time or another. I tried straightening it but it felt as though it would break, so I left it alone. It has a blue stone, although, I do not know what kind. I dug it up from about four inches at a Jacksonville, Florida public park.
This is a gold ring with ceramic inlay inside and out and was found in about five feet of water in the Bahamas Islands at Port Lucaya Beach. If you look closely you can see where part of the ceramic material is missing.
This fourteen karat, art-carved wedding band was found in a popular public park in North Central Florida at a depth of about three inches. The ground was grass covered.
Here is an eighteen karat gold friendship ring with oak leaves embossed and raised out of the black enamel. I found it in a few inches of sand at a school playground in Rural North Central Florida.
This oversized ring was found in about five feet of water in the Bahamas Islands at Port Lucaya Beach. What is unique about this ring, is that it is 925 sterling silver with gold inlay art carvings resembling that of cord on the outside. It must have been in the salt water for a very long time because it is badly tarnished. Because the gold inlay is so fine, I did not want to clean it. This picture does not actually do it justice.