Newspaper Story About Lucky Beach Detectorists..

[Gerry in Idaho]

Back in the mid 90's one of my buddies went to Australia to hunt gold nuggets.  He had a few days to site see and decided to swing the local beaches in Perth.  He was amazed at the amount of silver coins, including 3 pence.  No he didn't get any at 2 feet depths, but he did quite well.  It seemed back then everyone was more interested in the gold nuggets and not many people had caught onto the silver and gold at the beaches.  Now, it's a pretty well known thing though.

Yes I do agree a good cut into the sand and old swimming holes will produce.  I think timing is most important as I have done pretty well in Cancun after a storm and or even Lake Tahoe.

Not trying to steal the post, but the pics.. my buddy/I hunt at Lake Tahoe after some serious water movement.

The best coin, we didn't even know at the time was an 1870's US 2 cent piece that my buddy thought was a crusty quarter.  Besides that, a V-nickel, a few Buffaloes, some silvers and a few gold rings.

I always said if I go back to Australia again, I'll take my water detector and try to get some of the gold jewelry and old coins.  I still feel the majority of people there are not as focused on the beaches as the gold fiends.

 

Living in Idaho, I've learned to study old maps and finding the occasional lost or forgotten swimming holes, can be quite productive.

Thanks for the interesting share of the article Erik.

 

[Erik Oostra]

15 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

I've learned to study old maps and finding the occasional lost or forgotten swimming holes

Yes, swimming holes are often overlooked.. I try to work out where the locals swim when I'm in the Tablelands or the hills behind Cairns.. Some of these holes are really popular and overtime a huge amount of coins and jewellery gets dropped.. I've never seen any other detectorists at these spots.. Trick is to get in there before the wet season starts because most get flooded and the good stuff gets washed away.. Magnetic Island has a few little holes, one of which is really productive.. I think it's because it has a water fall and when people stand underneath their rings wash off.. 

There's two spots on the island where I find a lot of pre-decimal coins.. One I've called the 'Silver Mine' (although it's fast turning into a copper mine) and the other is along a beach where an old ice cream van used to stand in the 1940-50s.. The silver mine is at a spot where the island's first guest house was build during the early 1870s.. At this spot the coins date from the 1870s to the 1930s, which was around the time when other bays on the island build their own jetties.. 

Like you say Gerry, a bit of research can make a lot of difference in how successful you'll be..   

[Erik Oostra]

16 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

I just wonder what might happen if I would take one of my detectors with me.

Just do it Mr. Legacy.. You'll never have to wonder no more.. Might turn out good, might turn out bad.. But at least you'll know.. You won't be laying on your death bed wondering if you could've made your fortune from detecting all those gold coins buried along the coast of the Mexican Gulf.. You'll truly 'rest in peace'.. 😁  

[blackjack]

4 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

Back in the mid 90's one of my buddies went to Australia to hunt gold nuggets.  He had a few days to site see and decided to swing the local beaches in Perth.  He was amazed at the amount of silver coins, including 3 pence.  No he didn't get any at 2 feet depths, but he did quite well.  It seemed back then everyone was more interested in the gold nuggets and not many people had caught onto the silver and gold at the beaches.  Now, it's a pretty well known thing though.

Yes I do agree a good cut into the sand and old swimming holes will produce.  I think timing is most important as I have done pretty well in Cancun after a storm and or even Lake Tahoe.

Not trying to steal the post, but the pics.. my buddy/I hunt at Lake Tahoe after some serious water movement.

The best coin, we didn't even know at the time was an 1870's US 2 cent piece that my buddy thought was a crusty quarter.  Besides that, a V-nickel, a few Buffaloes, some silvers and a few gold rings.

I always said if I go back to Australia again, I'll take my water detector and try to get some of the gold jewelry and old coins.  I still feel the majority of people there are not as focused on the beaches as the gold fiends.

 

Living in Idaho, I've learned to study old maps and finding the occasional lost or forgotten swimming holes, can be quite productive.

Thanks for the interesting share of the article Erik.

 

As a surfer I know that sandy beaches change after storms, the sand gets washed off the beach and into the water to create banks, the best time to surf. But as pointed out by others on this site, also the best time to beach detect. Tides, low swells and the wind gradually move that sand back onto the beach, given time. I grew up in Perth so I know it well, after moving to Tasmania in the mid 90's, I've made regular visits, always driving to get in a bit of detecting in the Eastern goldfields on the way. On one visit in 2012 my nephew and myself hit City beach in Perth, a well frequented beach by some of the many well healed locals that live in the mansions on that particular piece of coast. We had my Ex-Terra 705 and my Excalibur II so we did a bit of water hunting as well. I had high hopes and we gave it a good crack, spending most of the day, but we found nothing except a few ring pulls and some pieces of wire. I must have been 20 years too late, but probably and more importantly, there was a lot of sand on the beach so all heavies may have been too deep.

[Valens Legacy]

10 hours ago, Erik Oostra said:

Just do it Mr. Legacy.. You'll never have to wonder no more.

Sad part about when I am working there, I work to many hours to do anything else. I only wish there were more hours in the day to get things done now as it is.

I am hoping to be able to detect down there this year, as I am hiring a couple of people to help on the jobs that we have coming up. I am thinking that if I can find the right people I will be able to take off at least 2 days a week.

Then we will find out what the Nox will find down there.

[phrunt]

I took my detector for a spin on a lake beach yesterday, remote, at least an hours boat ride from the nearest human inhabitants, found $21 in gold coins and 3 silver coins, place had been likely used for decades as a stopping spot for boats I guess for a bit of a swim and look around, certainly not a high traffic area but decent for finds none the less.

The beach on the left

Nice spot to detect, surprisingly I did reasonably well, certainly the first detector to ever go there I would think.   That's just my daughter and her cousins in the background.

I think the key to finding good finds when it comes to coins is going where nobody else has detected, it's worked well for me, this seemed a very unlikely spot for finds seeing the only way you can get there is boat and with many hundreds of miles of beaches along the lake and a small population the likelihood was probably small yet it did well, paid for dinner at least and 3 more silvers to my pile 🙂   I didn't take any photos, only the wife did and she didn't care about detecting stuff.

I always aim for spots I think nobody has detected before, it's worked well for me, I guess I'm lucky in a way detecting isn't at all popular here.

[Valens Legacy]

2 hours ago, phrunt said:

I took my detector for a spin on a lake beach yesterday, remote, at least an hours boat ride from the nearest human inhabitants,

Thank you and your wife for the beautiful pictures as it looks like a nice beach and a nice boat.

Congrats on the finds and you never know what out of the way areas are going to produce.

Good luck on your next outing and stay safe.

[Gerry in Idaho]

7 hours ago, phrunt said:

I took my detector for a spin on a lake beach yesterday, remote, at least an hours boat ride from the nearest human inhabitants, found $21 in gold coins and 3 silver coins

 

I'm hoping you actually did find $21 in gold coins, but think a spelling error and it was $21 in old coins?  Either way, those off the beaten path sites, can be honey holes.  Nice quiet beaches in the pics as well.

[strick]

That last pic...New Zealand is looking better and better...looks almost tropical!

strick

[phrunt]

3 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

I'm hoping you actually did find $21 in gold coins, but think a spelling error and it was $21 in old coins?  Either way, those off the beaten path sites, can be honey holes.  Nice quiet beaches in the pics as well.

Ahhh, not real gold coins, gold coins in NZ are $1 and $2 coins that are gold in colour 🙂 Same as Australia.

It was 27 degrees C, 81F so was quite warm, I only detected for about an hour and a half before going to plonk in the water to cool down, I should have detected in the water too but didn't think about it at the time.