Bucket Lister Find

Bucket Lister Find

On November 17^th 2023 at around 7:00 AM I had just finished a night shift on the wolf island 4. On my way home from work I texted Ryan Pugh to see if he wanted to go metal detecting that day. Ryan didn’t get back to me until about 10:00 AM when he said he would be available around noon to go detecting.

 

I met up with Ryan at lunchtime we headed out to get a couple of coffees from Tim Horton’s And headed out to Gord Downie’s pier in downtown Kingston. We spent about an hour and a half at the man made beach where Ryan frequents quite often, I didn’t find much to speak of except a modern day clad Canadian dime.

 

Ryan on the other hand ended up getting two exciting Finds, however before he got those he first dug up a child’s toy which was a pink castle, After about the first hour I had made my way up and back down the man made beach when I looked over my shoulder to see Ryan’s face to the ground deep in concentration I knew he was into or had found something of interest. It wasn’t long before Ryan made his way over and let me in on what he had come across! A nice little ornate silver looking .ring. As we both gawked over the ring we realized the beach had mostly been detected by the 2 of us already so I headed up a small grassy hill attached to the beach, and not long behind me, Ryan decided to do the same.

 

 

We searched the grassy area for about 2 minutes or so and I hit a fantastic signal on my Simplex Ultra as I bent down to meticulously uncover a rusty old bottle cap, Ryan had diverted around my work area and was starting down the south side of the grassy hill beside a building where he too ended up with a great signal.

As I watched closely to see what Ryan would uncover. I saw his eyes widen and I knew he had yet another decent find.

Yes sir once again Ryan uncovered another ring, only this time it had a gold look to it. This time the ring did not have any marking on it and was most likely a junk ring. However in the Metal detecting world, although a silver and Gold ring are very sought after items, sill a ring is a ring is a ring and we are always glad to see them pulled, regardless of the actual material.

About 5 minutes after Ryan’s second ring was unearthed. We decided to head out and try another location close by before I had to head into work. Ryan took me to a nearby public area that had a walking path and a wooded area. It only took about 5 minutes to drive there.

Once arrived we made a plan as to where to start searching, Ryan was about to start a short 5 minute truck to an old foundation he had found on a hike in the woods when I mentioned that maybe we should just start where we were. 30ft from where we parked and at the start of the hiking path was a wooded area with a thinned out Forrest that looked very detectable to me. It was close to some older houses and therefore I thought that this would have been a decent spot years ago to have some human activity. And we all know where there is human activity there it sure to be lost treasures. (At least that’s the thought anyway.

So we both agreed to give this area a quick search. I turned on my machine and took 2 steps into the Forrest and that’s when I got my first decent signal of the day. As I stuck my shovel into the earth beneath my feet O could see a shape I know I had been looking for all season. I quickly called Ryan to come over. And gave him my phone to take a video of me unearthing this item. Turned out I had forgot to press play on the screen so Ryan got the video on his GoPro but not my camera unfortunately.

Anyway, my first target at the new property was a bucket lister for me, & I finally had my first Skeleton key. Skeleton keys are mostly brass and usually from the 1940’s or earlier. This one was in decent shape but had no identifying marking on it. The best I could come up with on my research was it was most likely from a company established in the 1860’s by the name of KABA ILCO CORP, LTD still in operation to day however stopped making these keys in the 1940’s with no other markings on the key it was hard to tell exactly but it was my best guess that was where the key came from and was (what looked like ) a model from around the 1930’s.

Excited with my new bucket lister find, I put the key in my pouch and continued to swing the area.  Ryan had reminded me that he got his skeleton key at a spot I had taken him to in the spring and he had now returned the favor as I had now ended up with one at an area he had brought me to. (How fitting is that?) lol.

 

Another couple minutes went by and Ryan had found a Canadian nickel

and I had just had another screamer signal. Still excited with my skeleton key, I called Ryan over to see what I would uncover. As he came to my position I was just pulling out of my hole another stellar find. Not a bucket lister but probably should have been.

It was a lead toy from the 1960’s (63 years old today) it was a mounted police man on a horse. And still had some of the original coloring on it which made it much easier to identify.

After about another hour of digging, both Ryan and I had found some modern coins and some trash but ended up with yet another very successful day of digging for the both of us.

It wasn’t until a few days later I realized I had indeed found 2 bucket lister items when I went home to clean up the coins I had found on this outing with SEOMDC CLUB MEMBER OF THE YEAR 2023, AKA the CLUBSMAN AWARD Mr Ryan Pugh. I had found a BIG 5 cent Canadian Nickle from 1928.

Not the rarest of the BIG 5 Nickels to be found , but according to Club Members Dave Arnold, Darcy, Laframboise and Jason Corbett, still a rare coin to dig. Ryan also found one of these nickels earlier this year when on a dig with Carlos Vas.

As always, another great dig. I have found a digging partner with Ryan and we both always seem to end up with some amazing items when out with each other. He has been there to witness some of my best finds to date including my 1708 French Livre, King Louis the XIV coin out of the Napanee River earlier this year,

just as I was there to witness his 1800’s Swan Buckle found on Wolfe Island this past spring of 2023.

I look forward to 2024 as Ryan & I have already started making plans to go for a weekend dig away from home. Can’t wait for that adventure lol.