There’s really no words that adequately describe how it feels to find a bucket list coin. One of the most amazing things about this hobby is its ability to create these moments that you will never forget. A July Friday morning with my cousin is now one of those. Kyle is the one who got me into detecting and the bummer is he lives 2.5 hours away. So when we get together it’s usually full pedal to the metal as much as possible. Thursday evening when debating on a possible location to detect I said I wanted to revisit a site that two years prior we had pulled some amazing stuff, but in the follow up trips over the last few years had been getting thinner and thinner. But I just bought a Manticore and had used it only a handful of times and Kyle was trying new tactics with his Equinox 800, so we thought why not? There’s always a chance when you’re on old ground, and maybe we could coax out a tiny silver coin or old nickel. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we’d missed two big silver coins. About 3 hours in the only coin I’d found was a zinc penny but I was having a blast. Digging lots of iron and deep stuff, I’d already emptied my pouch once and re-applied sunscreen. As chance would have it I was working an area with ring pulls everywhere near the surface, so I was methodically pulling them all out. I heard a deep signal that sounded interesting but I had trouble pinpointing it I figured it was more iron. About two scoops down my pinpointer locked on to whatever it was and a third scoop popped in into the bottom of the sandy hole and there was a shiny silver reeded edge staring back at me. Surprised, I thought oh wow a silver coin, but old silver is typically black and dark, so this must be something like a Washington quarter. As I pulled it out of the sand the immense size immediately unveiled this find to not be a quarter but a half dollar! And keeping with my newer silver theory I thought it was going to be my first Ben Franklin half dollar. As I laid it flat in my palm I was confused, where I expected to see Franklins face there was a lady with a flag. Immediately I started repeating “No wayyyy” which caught the attention of Kyle and I flashed him a look of get the hell over here now. He pulled out his phone and recorded our dumbfounded reaction to a large seated type coin being found where it had laid hidden right under our noses for so long! There’s really no way to describe the feeling that washes over you when you realize you’ve found a dream item. The world becomes really tiny as raw, unfiltered, emotion pours out and legs and hands shake. Laughing, hugs, and phone calls take place. Whiskey is toasted. Then the dopamine wave subsides and real thought returns. Your day is shot, concentration is a lost cause as you replay what just happened over and over again. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced! About an hour later Kyle calls me over for his big find of the day, a silver dollar, his third! After a few tense moments without knowing what type we discover it is a 1923 Peace Dollar. More toasting and more bewilderment that two giant coins have escaped us during all the previous trips where the largest silver coins we’d found were dimes. A bucket list for a detectorist is just a very personal way to catalogue what we dream of finding. It differs from other bucket lists in that you can’t just say this year I think I’ll check off a few bucket listers. You can’t pay money to check one off, you can’t cut corners to check one off. There’s never any expectation or guarantees you’ll ever find a bucketlister. All you can do is sit back and enjoy the journey. That’s what makes this a truly magical experience. Thanks Kyle for getting me into detecting and most of all being there for this amazing moment.
