A gold coin found on a Tauranga beach via metal detector has sold for US$31,200. Photo / Supplied
A gold coin found on a Tauranga beach via metal detector has sold for US$31,200. Photo / Supplied
Joe McGregor is not a huge fan of going for walks so to make things more interesting he takes his trusty metal detector along with him.
This week, that habit saw him strike gold as a coin he found on a Tauranga beach sold in the United States for US$31,200($46,671).
McGregor said he found the Australian 1855 Half Sovereign on February 20 and suspected it could be valuable but never dreamed it would go for as much as it did at auction.
"I was out in the mudflats in Tauranga - I hate going for walks so it gives me and the dog something to do. There was no doubt I had dug up a gold coin but I had no idea what it was. It was just a little tiny gold coin in the middle of the mudflats.
"I have a bit of a rivalry with a mate in Rotorua and I was talking to him on video chat. He looked up the coin and it was then that it hit home it was something a bit special."
He posted photos of the coin on Facebook - where it was spotted by Robbie Parkinson, a senior numismatist (coin specialist) at Heritage Auctions in the United Kingdom at the time.
Parkinson saw some low offers being made for the coin and urged McGregor to let him sell the coin for him via auction.
Tauranga's Joe McGregor hit the jackpot when he found an Australian 1855 Half Soverign coin. Photo / Supplied
Fair to say, McGregor was pleased he took the advice.
"To be honest, I still don't quite believe it, all that for a small gold coin.
"I think my wife has already spent the money," he joked. "I think we'll just hold on to it and enjoy it. I'm still rubbing it in her face a bit, she couldn't be bothered with it when I found it.
"I think I can use this for a few years."
Coin expert Robbie Parkinson says the Half Sovereign is an "amazing find" and "one of the best around". Photo / Supplied
Parkinson, who is now a senior numismatist at Sovereign Rarities, said like most things, the value of a coin came down to supply and demand.
"1855 is the first and rarest year of the Australian Half Sovereign and the fact that the found that in the Bay of Plenty is crazy. There are so few coins you can find in Australia and New Zealand that are actually worth anything.
"It's an amazing find. People can be confused by what makes a coin valuable but when it's all said and done, if there are enough people wanting to buy a coin type the value will go up.
"The Half Sovereign series is incredibly popular because they were made in Australia, South Africa, Canada, India, so you have so many different nations competing to buy the surviving coins. The one that Joe found is one of the best around."
McGregor said the coin was his most valuable discovery so far but he had found plenty of interesting objects over the years, some of which were priceless to the owners.
"Over the Christmas period, I found and returned 12 wedding rings. The last I returned was worth $8000-9000, he lost it at Mount Maunganui and I went up to Auckland and returned it to him.
"A lot of the time people reach out to me saying they've lost something, it's all that social networking. The people who got their wedding rings back were just overjoyed. The majority had given up hope on ever getting it back.
"To me, I consider that if you can find the owners, it's theirs. It's the thrill of the hunt I enjoy."
