Silver at Gold Numbers??

[unearth]

Short hour and fifteen minute hunt this afternoon. Not much in finds. $2.18 in clad and a nice 14k, tested, earring with really nice fake, I think, diamonds. Too bad I only found one. I looked really hard for the second earring. One thing that puzzles me is, the earring backing is marked 925, but the earring tests 14k. And the CTX numbers were 12-09 which is right in the gold wheel house. Not sure what the red stones are. Any ideas why the CTX would register gold if it's silver or what the red stones may be? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jason in Enid]

the detector isn't performing metallurgical testing and doesnt have a clue what under the coil. It sends out a radio signal, and looks for anything coming back. size changes that signal, composition changes that signal, shape and orientation change that signal. It is completely believable that what you showed would give a very unusual response. TID responses work great for solid, coin sized targets. beyond that and bets are off.

 

[Larry (IL)]

If the earring tested 14K, it probably is and the backing is from another earring would be my guess. The red stones look reddish brown to me which suggest maybe garnets.

Good find.

 

[unearth]

Thanks for the info.

 

[Champ Ferguson]

Agree that the odds point to garnet.
If you want to rule out/in ruby, subject the stone to UV(black)light. Rubies, even synthetics, strongly fluoresce.

 

[RichW]

Very small and/or unusual shaped silver items can read much further down on the TID scale than something like a silver coin or ring. Size does matter.

 

[pasttom]

Check the post for micro printing as many gold earrings have 14k (or whatever) stamped there so small you need a glass to see it. Never trust backings they get switched very frequently in my experience.

 

[dewcon4414]

If its not marked on the stem...... then it would likely be from another country since the U.S. has a marking requirement.

 

[sube]

I have found tiny silver metals about a 1/4 inch by a 1/4 inch read 12.15 also a small silver ring that was broke also read 12.15 in ground and out of the ground .sube

 

[laplander]

I regularly dig hammered silver coin in England that don't id like silver
medieval silver farthings {1/4 of a penny} read 12-04
medieval silver pennies 12-12 range
In my opinion it has to do with size ie a dime reads lower numbers than a half dollar.
Hope this helps

 

[Jason in Enid]

I regularly dig hammered silver coin in England that don't id like silver
medieval silver farthings {1/4 of a penny} read 12-04
medieval silver pennies 12-12 range
In my opinion it has to do with size ie a dime reads lower numbers than a half dollar.
Hope this helps

It also has to do with the mass of the objects. An American silver coin, and a hammy of the same diameter will give vastly different numbers because on is much thicker than the other. This effect can also be seen with a stack of silver coins verses a since silver coin.