10/2/19 Report - Markings on Gold Ring. Bottles and Plastic Crate Finds.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Date Inscribed in Recently Found Ring.

The above ring is inscribed with the date 5 - 20 - 87, presumably the wedding date.  You'll occasionally find rings that are not from the U. S. that have the day before the month and year.  For example, if you see 20 - 5 - 87, you might think something is wrong unless you realize it is probably from a country where they put the day first.  Of course if the day and month are both small numbers, such as 1 and 2, you don't know if it is January 2nd or February 1st unless you know which system is being used.

You'll also find other things that are marked different from the way we usually do it in the U. S.  This high karat ring, for example is marked 90%.

Same Ring Marked 90%

The ring acid tests to over 20k gold, and I presume the 90% is the purity, which, if true, would be about 21.6k.

Rings from some places, such as India or China, are often higher karat than we find common in the U. S.

The name inscribed in the ring is Kwong, which is a name that seems to derive from Central China, but is also common in various places in the U. S., most especially California, as well as other places, such as Korea.

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Three Found Green Bottles.

These aren't new finds.  I've posted at least one of them before.  I just like the different shapes.  I especially like the round one on the right.  The photo doesn't do it justice, but it might look good catching the light in a kitchen window.

As you know some old and rare bottles can be sold for a nice price, but these ones aren't worth much of anything.

If you collect bottles, you'll quickly discover that they take up space.  That is why I always like to find a plastic crate.  Here are a couple of the crates that I've found along with a few of the bottles.

Found Coca Cola Bottles with Found Plastic Crates.

The bottom crate contains a variety of Coca Cola bottles.  One of the nice things about the plastic crates is that you can stack them six or seven high to save space.  Another nice thing is that you can see through them, which makes it can make it easier to find what you are looking for.

Notice that the bottles are stored bottom up.  There are two reasons for that.  If your bottles are outside, you don't want water and gunk to accumulate in them, and secondly, especially with Coke bottles, the bottom provides much of the identifying information so you can quickly scan them.

I always like finding things I can use while I'm looking for coins or other metal treasures.   Here are some of the other crates and bottles I've found.

More Found Crates Containing Found Bottles.

If you buy plastic crates, you'll quickly discover that they are not cheap, so I'm always glad to find one.

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Yesterday we were supposed to have some high water.  I haven't found out what it actually did yet, but according to the predictions it looks like we'll be having a more common 3 - 5 foot surf for a few days.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

That doesn't look to exciting.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/6/12 Report - Figuring Gold Values & Conditions

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Here is a nice 14K ladies bracelet found on a Treasure Coast beach.  It weighs less than the ring I showed yesterday. 

Yesterday I discussed how gold is measured in Troy ounces rather than the Avoirdupois ounces that we use most of the time.  Also, a lot of people use grams when talking about gold.

1 troy ounce (ozt) is equal to 31.103 grams (g). 

As I write, the spot price for gold is around $1612 per Troy ounce, or close to $52 per gram.

But that is for 24 karat gold, so you have to make an adjustment to take into account the purity of your gold.

I explained yesterday that 18 kt gold is 75% gold.

Here is how to figure the percent of gold for common karat values.

10k = 10/24 = .4167

14k = 14/24 = .5833

18k = 18/24 = .750

22k = 22/24 = .9167   

So if you have .4 Troy ounces of 18 karat gold, the melt value would be figured by the following.

.4 times Spot Price (1612) times .75   =  $483.60

The other thing to take into account is that a seller probably will take some amount of commission, so will probably give you a little less than that amount.  That is something that might vary from buyer to buyer, so you might shop around or bargain.

If you are going to sell finds like this, try to sell them as jewelry.  That will generally bring a higher price than the melt value.  Only sell items for melt value when they are not in good shape or have no other type of value.  If they are nice and are collectible or something, they should be sold for more than the melt value.

Well, it's cloudy again and rainy.   That is not all bad.  I'd rather have some clouds than the hot sun burning down all day. 

Today we have Ernesto and Florence.  It looks like Ernesto is going to Mexico and Florence won't affect us for a while, if at all.   She might go north into the Atlantic.

The wind is out of the southeast, and the seas running 2 to 3 feet, with no big change for a few days.

Low tide tomorrow will be around 6 or 6:30.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net