Well, there is a small group of dedicated detectorist here in the Bay of Plenty NZ, known as the "The Dirty Pirates". And we've been detecting together for a number of years now and are members of the NZMDA. To say there is a strongly rivalry between us is an understatement! We are the best of mates but absolutely love rubbing great finds in each other’s faces. I live on the coast and am surrounded by some of the most difficult terrain you can detect on, as already mentioned by Gary Coker last month when he bragged about raiding one of my spots and recovered a beautiful Vesta Case. (I’m not bitter at all) but these pirates live 45mins and are constantly launching raiding missions ... Anyway I digress, so I decided one morning to hit the mudflats with the dog and my EQUINOX 800. It was a beautiful day and I was very much enjoying myself digging a multitude of musket balls, silver coins and other assorted decimal and pre-decimal coins. After 3 hours the tide had turned signalling it was time to head back to the car for lunch when I hit a target reading 13-14 on the vdi, just a side note, on this terrain that is the same vdi of 2c pieces (aka little brown buggers!) the only difference was the audio which nearly blew my ears out. I was iffy about digging it as I already had a pouch full of crap but hey, we all know how it goes; I literally did 1 scoop of the spade knelt down and saw the most beautiful GOLDEN Queen Victoria shinning back at me. OH MY GOODNESS is the most polite way I can describe what I was shouting. The first thing I did was to video call one of the Pirates Gary to gloat as after all these years not one of us Pirates had dug a gold coin. Now I need to emphasize that Gary was at work at the time, after a few minutes of colourful language and a tirade of insults both Gary and I had calmed down enough to check the date and holy cow. This coin is an 1855 Sydney Mint Half Sovereign! Not only a gold coin but one of the rarest colonial gold coins in the world! The very first gold coins minted at the Sydney Mint with only 21,000 produced and less than 50 'known' examples left. I found the coin 2 weeks ago (at the time of writing) and the other Pirates still haven't forgiven me. It’s no exaggeration to say this is the single best coin I've EVER recovered and my very first gold coin so, there is a very happy Pirate and even after 2 weeks I still have a ridiculous grin on my face!!!
Joseph – Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
