Weekly World Coin Post: HONG KONG

Having never been to any country in the Orient other than Singapore, I have no clue what ANY of the traditional scripture marks mean or say. But I do know that this once English ruled territory, now back in the hands of the Chinese, uses the HKD, or Hong Kong Dollar. I also believe that much like many other markets in the general area of the world, the USD can also be spent all over. For more info on the Hong Kong Dollar, please click HERE.

100 Cents = 1 Dollar. $1 USD = 7.75 HKD.

LEFT TO RIGHT, BOTH PICS:

1960 10 Cents Nickel-Brass 20.5mm | Elizabeth II
1951 50 Cents Copper-Nickel 23.5mm | George VI
1980 Dollar Copper-Nickel 25.5mm

I was not able to track down the significance of the seated, crowned lion holding a small "orb". If you have any info on it, please comment!

Father's Day Loot

What a great day for a hunt! Temperature in the 80's, nice cool breeze, overcast... perfect!

As many of you who read my blog know by now, on most holidays that I'm not on the boat, I spend at the g/f's parent's... today being no different. And every time I go over, the metal detector comes along. The last time out was two weeks ago to the day, I scored 9 wheats. I always find something neat here, be it rings, old coins, buttons... something.

Today, we arrive and the first thing I do before the cookout is crank up the XLT with my self made coin program and start working an area of the yard I've never touched. That was the smartest thing I did all day. Within the next thirty minutes I pulled a 10K ring and 2 rosies! My first of each The ring is marked UNCAS 10K G.F. which I know is "gold filled"... but still gold right? A little research hints to the makers mark as being a vintage jeweler from the 50's. So perhaps this ring has been buried for some time, as it was as deep as the length of the Lesche blade.

After eating the great food I grilled (burgers, dogs, and chicken), and the sweet pasta salad, I headed back out front just to go over all the area I've hit time and time again. And what do you know, I landed 9 more wheats and another rosie that I called from the signal. Our friend John had just come over when I got the signal and I told him, "I'm betting it's a silver dime." Sure enough, 5" down there she was glimmering back. He was pretty amazed at how I knew it before I dug it.

After pulling 20+ wheats from this yard over 4 or 5 hunts I knew there had to be some silver somewhere. Glad I finally tracked it down! Nearly all of the wheats and definitely all the rosies today were 5+" down.

Another great holiday spent digging. Ended up with 32 coins @ $1.34. The Rosie's are '50-D, '53-D, and a '56.

Taco Bell + Stratford Chase Park

So last night after leaving a private party at Croc's down at the beach, the g/f was craving a Volcano Burrito from Taco Bell. Well I didn't indulge her. This morning, craving was still there. So about 2pm this afternoon I took her and the lil one to Taco Bell. And what do you know, as we are walking in, I spy something glimmering on the ground... it's a bracelet, looks gold!

Both the clasp and one of the little hearts is stamped "925 PCDA China." So then maybe plated silver?

This adds with my eye-spy finds... found at least one coin per day for the past two weeks... pretty amazing.

Later this afternoon after going grocery shopping, I spied a tot lot at the very back of Stratford Chase Park off of Kempsville. I knew the park gets plenty of activity for soccer and other sports activities, but had never noticed the tot lot before. I decided at about 530p I was gonna hit it up for an hour, in about 92 degree heat.

Luckily the place didn't disappoint. I hit the tot lot hot, and really didn't find all that much. It even looked like someone had hit it in the past few days as ther were some slppy holes in the chips. Anyway, I got off the chips and starting hitting up the grass surrounding. I also wondered through the field and over by the basketball courts.

Not too bad overall, 42 total coins (6 memorials not in the following picture) coming in at $1.90, well above my quota for an outting.

I actually headed over to an Elementary School tot lot right after, but my machine was so unstable there. There was a constant wrap around +95 to -95 that was just messing up everything and making it impossible to locate anything. I'll try another machine there and see if it can handle the situation better.

FCHS Graduation 2009

Just thought I'd give a nod to all the graduations of the 2009 class at First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach. My mom graduated from here in 1969, and now 40 years later, my cousin Sarah graduates, yay! Enjoy the pics from the night at the convention center and then at Croc's down the street.

An hour behind 5721

With the family here and all the rain we've been having I've been slacking on getting out at night. Wayyyy too many early mornings lately. But anyhow, I was tinkering with my XLT earlier in the day, trying to make a "better" coin program that what is already factory preset. So, using the factory program as a template, I adjusted a few things and changed up the discrimination scales. I knew what I wanted by taking coins I have, from as small as half dimes, right up through dollars, and waiving them in front of the coil. I made myself a coin chart to see what VDI they all come up as. The ONLY coin that would not register with my new settings was a Flying Eagle Cent. I don't plan on finding any right around here so no big deal.

Anyhow, at about 9p, right after TrueBLOOD on HBO, I headed out behind my building, 5721 to see what I could find. My new settings were very stable and really seemed to lock on targets well... though none were any deeper than 3" by my estimate.

I did land a little trash, but with the signals twist caps, beer tops, and aluminum trash items give off, I was bound to.

So here's the haul, 42 coins @ $1.58, a set of very small keys, and an Imperial Play Money Quarter, which is plastic. Found it on top.

Williamsburg & Yorktown

I had caught word Monday morning that come Tuesday, everyone was headed out to visit Williamsburg. I hadn't been there in years and decided I wanted to go too. The only crappy part was that I had to get up and drive an hour to my sisters to be there by 9am.

We loaded up and headed out. Turning down S. Henry we parked at the corner of Duke of Gloucester and started our stroll. In tow was Bravo, Shannon's dog. Our first stop was Bruton Parish, an Episcopal Church in the heart of Williamsburg that has been there for over 300 years. Our main reason for stopping is that my Great Grandmother, Coral Sophia Blodgett Rogers has her ashes buried on the grounds and a plaque with her name on it. For more on Bruton Parish, click HERE.

After that it was just a walk wherever, see whatever type thing going on. They had some sort of event in the part of town known as "Revolutionary City" and it was blocked off to all without "passes." But we had a great time seeing everything else around.

After Williamsburg we headed out to Yorktown's Riverwalk Landing for lunch at the Yorktown Pub. Small place, busy as hell, and yummy. It sits right on the beach and across from the Schooner Alliance which offers river tours.