High drama sunset a couple of weeks ago at Arkles Bay.

I was paused at that particular spot on the beach because I was digging up a bazillion five-cent coins I’d discovered with the metal detector. In a small area I’ve now found 50’ish of them. They’re all around, not in any one hole. And they’ve all been shallow, a few right on the surface, the rest no more than a couple of inches in the sand.

It’s as if someone had a whole roll of the coins, maybe more than a roll, and flung them out over the beach the way you might throw corn to the chickens.

The 5 cent coin was introduced in 1967 when NZ switched from pounds and shillings to a decimal currency. As inflation happened, the smaller coins became less and less valuable. The 1 and 2 cent coins were taken out of circulation in 1990, and the 5s were retired in 2006. Today the smallest circulating coin is the 10 cent piece, which happens to be the same general size as a US penny.

So, I still can’t guess why so many 5 cent coins ended up on that little bit of beach. Maybe years after the demonetization someone found Grandpa’s old stash and decided to put them out there so a metal detectorist could come along 10 years later and find them…

I have all these “worthless” coins in a jar in the garage. It’s possible to send them in to the Reserve Bank, where they will give me credit for them. Maybe someday I’ll accumulate enough to make that worthwhile.