Spring of 2023 marked the start of our second metal detecting season, and we were eager to get busy digging. We were also a bit wiser and with that, a bit more discerning, dialing back the “dig everything” mantra that characterized our first hunting season. Enough pull tabs, already!
Additionally, a new weapon was added to our toolkit; a second metal detector. We had spent most of our first season taking turns using the basic, analog detector we’d gifted our son at Christmas. A member of our metal detecting club took pity on us and offered us an underused, modern model from his collection of detectors.
Although slightly used, this new-to-us metal detector was decidedly more advanced than our original one. Unsurprisingly, my son laid claim to it immediately. Fine by me, as I remain partial to our original ugly duckling. Besides, with two detectors active surely our bounty would likewise double.
The makeup of our clad haul in year two improved significantly over season one. I won’t give all the credit to the new detector, but it certainly didn’t hurt. As our club president continually remarked, “It’s a great coin finder.”
We found fewer pennies, though still plenty of them, but every other denomination of coin increased in numbers from the year before. The most dramatic of these jumps was our loonie count which went from 5 in 2022 to 44 in 2023. Add 8 toonies (0 previously) and the value of our clad accumulation more than tripled!
Sadly, we were once again shut out when it came to coins containing silver. Pre-1969 (only some 1968) Canadian dimes and quarters, as well as pre-1922 Canadian five cent coins, contain silver and are often viewed as the hallmark of a great hunt.
Noteworthy coins were likewise lacking with a 1941 Canadian penny being the oldest we found. We did, however, discover more international coins including clad from Philippines, Moldova, Japan, and New Zealand. All modern coins, mind you, but still interesting to find in our home city.
We also had the pleasure of finding our first ever coin dump (multiple coins in one spot). This was a peculiar find as we were simply biding our time waiting for relatives to return to their home. We decided to whip out the detector and scope the ditches beside the gravel road leading to their house.
Most of the signals were junk, of course. Car moldings and beer cans being the most common. But one signal led us to a penny. Then another penny. Then another. Each time a penny was found the signal refused to disappear. When it finally did stop, we had a total of 49 Canadian pennies and one gaming token in our possession.
The most logical explanation for this haul is a lost piggy bank shoved into the ditch via snow removal. But none of my relatives could remember any such occurrence. A mystery that will never be solved but a cool, unexpected find to say the least.
Lady luck continued to shine upon us when it came to jewelry in 2023. We found several rings, including two of notable quality. Nothing as valuable as the $15,000 Tiffany engagement ring a member found at one of the club beach hunts, but still nice finds.
A couple of locket necklaces were also found. These are always fun as curiosity grows to see what images lie within, the mind fabricating tales of who the people are and what drama perhaps led to the lost locket.
The find of the year, however, must be the gold bracelet my son found. Our first gold! And a nice bracelet to boot. Very similar to the one I was gifted for my confirmation many years ago.
He found it at a club hunt in a city park. It was raining and we were struggling to find much of anything that day. I suggested we split up saying I would go this way, and I pointed in the other direction telling him to try thereabouts. That is where the bracelet was found so it really is mine in a way. Yeah, he disagrees too.
The final exclamation point to a successful and rewarding 2023 metal detecting season came at a seeded hunt hosted by the metal detecting retailer in our city. They put on a great event each year with cool prizes for detectorists lucky enough to find special tokens buried amongst the otherwise non-descript clad and worn silvers.
My son, of course, found one of the four special tokens. He’s developing quite a reputation for exceptional luck with the detector. His prize? A quarter ounce gold Canadian 50 cent piece!
Now, I could mention that once again I kind of pointed him to an area and said, “you try here, I’ll go over there.” I could reveal that the spot I pointed to is kind of exactly where he found the winning token. I could suggest that this makes the gold piece kind of mine, really. But I have my doubts that you’d support this conclusion. And the fact that the gold piece has never left his room since that day tells me he doesn’t either.
Between these moments of metal detecting glory, we found plenty of the usual junk and riff raff. Toy cars, trinkets, keys, fishing weights, and ammo. A few belt buckles provided some novelty but little value. And despite the pile of metallic garbage we accumulated, we honestly were more discerning in our digging much of the time. You really have no idea how much metal is buried literally everywhere.
