I’ve had a lot of good metal detecting finds this month…

Among a number of silver coins, the half crown really stands out. I’ve only found three of those.

A big sinker… the surf casters use enormous fishing poles and fling these heavy weights way out far from shore. The design is intended to grab the sandy bottom so the bait stays put.

Found two old brass lighters on the same day.

This British half penny (NZ didn’t mint its own half penny until 1940) is made of copper, and that’s what it looks like in the photo, but it came out of the sand with a beautiful golden color.

I hadn’t found a gold ring in 2026, and then got two in a single session. The second one has the NZ Defence Forces “Onward” motto from WW2. Probably given to a soldier’s sweetheart before he shipped out.

I’ve had coins from all over, including this Japanese 100-yen. This one’s from the early 1970s, still legal tender and looks just the same today.

This is a great big serving spoon. I’m not enough of an expert to be absolutely sure, but maybe the hallmarks tell me it’s sterling silver from 1829, made by a London silversmith named William Chawner II. That’s remarkably early for the area I was searching, so it probably means it was lost much later… somebody brought Grandma’s serving spoon to the beach 100 years ago, and young Nigel wandered off with it to make sandcastles, then a heavy shower forced a hasty departure. Now, the old soil was dug up as part of a seawall restoration, a metal detectorist shows up, and presto.

Every time I go out, someone asks me whether I’ve ever found anything interesting. The real answer is of course oh my god yes, every week, and let me tell you about this one time… but at that moment I’d rather be detecting so usually the answer is give is yeah, I have found some old coins.