On March 13 I took some time to peruse my favourite detecting sites just to see what was going on. It was an early evening “drive by” of the beach that I have scoured for years. The waves were crashing and the tide was high from the recent full moon. I thought I’d use my “Friday the 13th Luck” and give the beach a go tomorrow. On March 14th I went to the beach to meet my Detecting buddy Rod. He and I have shared numerous great finds together. We started out in the same direction, Rod went further down the beach and I continued at my snail’s pace about 100 feet behind him using my new Gary Drayton settings on my Minelab CTX 3030 detector. Suddenly I started getting this beautiful solid signal going back and forth between 12-20 and 12-22 and I started to dig. I started thinking it was likely something I had found before, a button or a nickel... last thing I was expecting was that it was gold... but when I caught the gleam... there was no doubt. I tried to quell my excitement while I was moving away the sand, then the red clay... and Lo and behold.... there was gold looking back at me. I gasped... Oh my, could it be?! Something I have been searching for in the last 15 years of this hobby.... and I found it literally in my backyard. I extracted it from the clay and was flabbergasted by the incredible condition and I called to Rob to come see.... of course he couldn’t hear me so I dropped all my gear and ran down the beach to show him my 1810 Gold Half Guinea that was in immaculate condition. Needless to say the happy dance ensued. Then I picked up the phone to have my wife and grandkids come to the beach to see the find. Everyone was excited about the coin and it meant that much more to be able to share it with friends and family.
Dean – Nova Scotia, Canada
