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My Best Coin-shooting Trip So Far


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This is Radical Bay, my favourite bay on the island (not just because of all the coins to be found there).. the photo shows the camping areas behind the bay and the Palm Islands in the background.. I'm going back there tomorrow on my kayak for all the silver coins i left behind last time.. will also hit the beach this time and not just the camping areas.. 

 

 

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This morning’s haul at Radical Bay, nowhere near as many silver coins as I’d expected (a total of $9.90) but I didn’t spend as much time there as on the last trip because tourists were starting to arrive and I hate being a preforming monkey (I’m just shy that way).. By far the best finds today were a ring with little diamonds all around it and some nice shells on the beach.. Some odd things were a padlock and a little pulley, just some of the weird things people take camping I guess..

I’d paddled my kayak out there as I’m not a great fan of hiking up and down steep hills.. took about twice as long but paddling around the island is no great hardship (just dodging the weekend boaties is a bit of a pain in the arse).. I’ll be back at Radical Bay next week as I’m sure there’s a lot more there, including ‘old’ coins like the few 2 cent pieces which were in the camping area.. In the meantime I'm off to my home bay (Alma Bay) early tomorrow morning to make the most of the very low tide (1:55 am), this allows me to search where people have been swimming and hopefully find a lost a ring or two.. I think the Germans call this 'schadenfreude' where you take delight in another person's misfortune, something gold detector prospectors never have to worry about..

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the coins were worth $10.20.. my maths has always been crap.. but it turns out i'm richer than i thought.. enough for a few hard-earned beers anyway..

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5 hours ago, phrunt said:

I left the stuff behind for you to find

Thanks a million mate, you've made me a wealthy man! I'm not sure what the Chinese coin is.. or even if it is a coin.. can't find anything resembling it online.. maybe some sort of medallion.. there were some rumours of a Chinese Fleet having visited Townsville in the 1420s but I'm not holding my breath on that one.. 😜 

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2 hours ago, phrunt said:

It is a coin

Crikey! this one doesn't have the same characters as the ones shown on the site.. this doesn't mean it's not an old Chinese coin.. am looking further into it.. could be my best find yet if it turns out something ancient.. thanks a lot for your help here mate!.. i thought it was a gimmicky medallion of some sort.. 

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12 minutes ago, phrunt said:

can you put up a photo of the other side?

 

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just reading what it says on that site: The most commonly encountered Chinese cash date from the Ching Dynasty and have the Manchurian "BOO" character on the reverse left hand side..

 

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5 minutes ago, phrunt said:

That's 1644 to 1911... a big range

it's gonna be a long night.. wonder how it ended up in Radical Bay.. you were spot on about concentrating on old coins.. didn't think they'd be Chinese though..

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Phrunt, you were spot on again, it is that coin! That site recons it was made during the reign of the Ch'ien-lung Emperor (AD 1736-1795).. Thanks a lot for your excellent research! You spotted it way before i did..

This is a little blurb about him that i found online: The Ch'ien-lung Emperor was the sixth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigned from 1735 to 1796. Ch'ien-lung is thought of as one of the most brilliant rulers in Chinese history. He was a patron of the arts, which reached a very high level during his reign. His is also one of the few Chinese emperors to abdicate the throne, which he did to honor K'ang Hsi (his father) by ending his reign just before it would have exceeded the length of K'ang Hsi's reign.

It boggles my mind how that coin ended up in Radical Bay of all places.. 

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Just been trying to find out what a Ch'ien-lung coin is worth, I had dreams of making my fortune but it’s only worth around $11 on eBay.. Nonetheless it’s still one of my best finds yet, if only thinking about the story behind it and how it ended up on Magnetic Island (if only it could talk).. The only thing that puzzles me is that it has a character on the top of the reverse side which none of the others on that site have, maybe it was a limited edition and might be worth a fortune after all.. 😃 It’s dated from around the time when the first fleet got to Australia in 1788 and way before this part of the country was first settled (from 1864).. It’s pretty mind boggling to say the least.. Also had another good morning at Alma Bay, found another tungsten carbine ring (they seem to be popular), gold rimmed Ray Ban sunglasses and a few dollars’ worth of coins..  

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