No gold but found this

No luck around Castlemaine , but found this old coin. Now in Daylesford and hope to get lucky here.

well done teatree, that's a start.
The coin could be modern as the image looks like it's got a bit of lip filler


cheers moredeep

A coin is the next best thing to gold. At least it is precious metal. As far as Daylesford is concerned I don't know how you will go there, I would have stayed around Castlemaine as I think you have more chance of finding something there. It is difficult to find but it is there.

Regards Axtyr.

Looks like a George 3. Pretty old. 1760 to 1820 reign.

Teatree, if you haven't been to Ballarat yet then the first thing you need to do is visit the Gold Museum opposite Sovereign Hill. They have (or had) a display there of the surrounding areas and gold panned from the creeks in those areas. That gold was found many years ago but there will still be something there. With the SDC2300 you would detect the bedrock crevices on the side of the creeks and in the creek if you have a pan with you.

If you get desperate you could pay to get into Sovereign Hill and they have a made up creek from which you can pan for gold. You will get specks of gold in there with your pan. A safer and cheaper bet if you haven't found any gold before you have to go, is to visit Coiltek in Maryborough and buy a small piece of gold from them.
Coiltek have also set up a test site not far from their shop and you can test your detector there. If you haven't had the machine long and are struggling to use it properly then you can test it at this spot. They will give you a map to get there.

I am assuming that you are not very experienced but that may not be the case. You should have found something with the 2300 by now. I have a friend that bought one but sold it within the year because he wasn't finding anything. His problem was a lack of confidence. He started with a 4500 and was always changing coils, then bought the 2300, then back to another 4500. After 4 years of detecting he finally found his first piece after I stopped him and watched him and made him change his technique, and about an hour later he found his first piece.

The 2300 is a good machine but it only has an 8" coil and doesn't cover much ground. There is nothing wrong with that. When I bought my SD2000 in 2014 I rarely used anything other than an 8" coil but I was on private property. I found a lot of small gold with that coil and some larger deep targets as well.

Whatever you do, DON'T GO TO TARNAGULLA. I have never found any gold there, it is my nemesis. I still hold hope of some gold there.

I will make one more comment about Daylesford, and it is my opinion only.

I consider it a gold panning area only. I am sure many will disagree with me and I am sure many have found good nuggets there. However, if I was to go to Daylesford I would be taking a pan. That is not to say that the 2300 will not find gold there, it excels at finding small gold.

Keep looking and don't lose heart. Make sure you are in a gold bearing area and take your time. As for the 8" coil, it is not a "low and slow", but don't swing it too fast as well.

Good luck, regards Axtyr.

moredeep wrote:well done teatree, that's a start.
The coin could be modern as the image looks like it's got a bit of lip filler


cheers   moredeep

Lip filler, you say? A nd the ribbon in the hair is a bit of a worry too! But the adams apple/goitre gives him away.

Axtyr wrote:
Whatever you do, DON'T GO TO TARNAGULLA. I have never found any gold there, it is my nemesis. I still hold hope of some gold there.

Funny about that we have found gold there each time we visited(with a little help).Just maybe you were a little unlucky Axtyr try again.
Steve

Yes Deutran I will certainly be trying again even if it kills me. I hate being beaten.

Regards Axtyr.