Euro 20c 50c today

[johnj45586]

I probably wouldn't have gotten up this morning for an early hunt except for that gold ring that was supposedly lost yesterday morning. I just had to have another go at it. (Wedding Ring Blues... yesterday's post).
I got to the beach more than an hour before sunrise. There is a hotel next to the boardwalk steps where the ring was lost that has good outside lighting. I did a visual and saw that probably there were additional searches after I left by someone with a metal detector. There were sizable holes left around the boardwalk/stair structure next to the large nuts and bolts that hold them together. I swept the steps again, looked in the cracks of the wood, looked under the stairs then started sweeping, moving further away from the stairs.
When I was about 15 feet out I got a bell-tone hit. I swept back and forth and it repeated. I scooped before pinpointing and missed the target. I tried to calm down and pinpointed then scooped. Something rattled in the scoop and the target no longer was sounding off in the sand. I shook my scoop sifting the sand out and felt something. When enough sand was out it revealed a nickel! I'm getting too old for this much excitement!

I started my normal search and found only one dime after searching a pretty large area of the beach. I have searched this beach enough now that I rarely pick up a false target. I have hauled hundreds of bobby pins, hair clasps, paper clips, pop tabs and ketchup packages from the fast food joints to the trash cans.

So I went to a part of the beach I rarely search. This is because during high tide maxima the beach is washed and seaweed is dumped on the sand by the receding tide. The seaweed is a foil magnet. Also, because I search this beach so rarely, the targets almost always show up as 8+ inches on the screen. Every target turns into a dig in the wet sand beneath the dry sand to a depth of 12-16 inches. But on a morning like this I will go to extremes to raise my coin count.

One target showed up very near the rocks that stabilize the cliff by the beach. There are pipes underground in this area and some of the rocks are really concrete with rebar inside. But sweeping in different directions seemed to indicate a small target 8+ inches down. I tried the pinpoint and I got a weak small signal - not at all like the large area signal I get with pipes or rebar. So I dug to 15 inches, piling the sand around the top of the hole. I found a target in the removed sand, pinpointed it and scooped it up. It was a 50 cent Euro! This was turning into a good day with a foreign coin. I started moving the sand back in the hole while scanning with my metal detector. Another target sounded off which turned out to be a 20 cent Euro. That made my day!

Both coins have the Italian design on the country side. Both are prior to the 2007 design change (both are 2002). The 20 cent euro has a depiction of a futuristic sculpture titled, "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space", the artist is Umberto Boccioni. The 50 cent euro has an equistrian statue, the artist is Marcus Aurelius. Both coins are a copper alloy called, "Nordic Gold".

The rest of the finds included 7 quarters, 3 dimes, 2 nickels and 1 penny. I found a really nice ball point pen with the legend, "KiDS ARE MY BUSINESS. It has a really nice padded area for holding while writing.

None of that neat old stuff, silver or gold. But I love it none the less!
Have fun and take a metal detector for a walk! Happy hunting to all.

Nice day John, I love the mornings when everyone else is sleeping in !!!

[julieburger]

I wondered yesterday if maybe someone had got there before you. That foreign coin count is getting up there.

[JCWhite]

Good day and a fun read. Thanks John and HH.

[toye026]

Another great day!!!!!! Congrats!!

[johnj45586]

Originally Posted by julieburger

I wondered yesterday if maybe someone had got there before you. That foreign coin count is getting up there.

I usually hunt Laguna from 5 am to 8 am. That gives me 3 hours before the parking meter charges start. So, if the ring was lost @2:30 am and I showed up at 5 am (that was the end I started yesterday) there was only a 2 1/2 hour window. It is possible that someone who witnessed the sobbing drunk lives nearby and has a metal detector or had a metal detector in a parked car nearby. It's also possible that the ring was on top of the sand and was found by someone going by with a flashlight.
My plastic bag for foreign coins and tokens is bursting at the seams. I am going to have to store them another way. I will post a picture sometime soon. Finding this many foreign coins was totally unexpected. I still can't really explain it. But then I don't understand the high number of pocket spills at the beach either.
What I do understand is how to take my metal detector out for a walk and have fun.

[MinelabMan]

You have the right attitude, having fun, any finds are just a bonus!

[gordiesgirl]

as always great story and nice finds. WTG John

[EBCIII]

Those euros look brand new, must be the metal. Good finds!

I will also say you spin a very good tale. Have you ever thought of writing a book, Beale.

[Steve in PR]

You are working a foreign tourist magnetic area! I can understand finding a few foreign coins but your experience is most unusual in my book!

As for the wedding ring, I say it is somewhere you haven't searched yet. (Now there's a deep thought from my pea-brain!) If it hit something on the way down it could be farther away than you think!