Best Coin Battle in the Dumpdiggers ARENA

Visit the Dumpdiggers Arena to submit photos and vote in Battle #3 for the Best Coin.

Starting Nov 23rd and running all week until Saturday night Nov 29th the Best Coin battle is really heating up... which coin will win?

One member, stonebottles has posted several photos of the best coins in his collection, but he has neglected to provide viewers any information about any of them?

Now Dumpdiggers are manufacturing software and must fill in those info cards to make the battle more relevant to users... Can you hep me?

There's a thread on the Dumpdiggers discussion forum where you can write the names of any coins and ID them, and I will eagerly add any information deposited there to the individual images card to improve the 'infotainment' quality of this spectacle.

Readers, won't you please share your expertise, visit the site and help me ID these coins?

Cleaning Up after Toronto's Caribana Parade

Scavengers spend Sunday morning sorting through the remains of Toronto’s Caribana parade.

On Sunday Aug 3^rd at 9:30 am the entire west Toronto lake shore (a green space bisected by a bike path between Exhibition Stadium and Sunnyside Pavilion) was strewn with ALL MANNER of garbage! It was like the park had a 'hang over'; the desultory scene evidenced a wild party. Toronto’s Caribana revelers must have stayed late into the evening. And then in the morning an army of garbage pickers created a real mess as they overturned trash cans and combed through heaps of rubbish on a quest for recyclable beer and wine bottles.

Although the Caribana parade has struggled with its finances in the past, organizers believed this year's event would turn a profit – it must have. I know the island flavoured festival received increased funding this year because there were more sponsors – gun violence, and severe traffic jams due to critical lack of planning blemished the corporate politics of the previous Caribana parades.

Official reports are that tourists who come to Toronto for the gigantic celebration pump almost $300 million into the local economy. There sure do make a lot of unusual garbage.

Among the white shopping bags and Styrofoam containers, there were lots of crazy costume remnants and cool signage, unusual colored fabrics and sticks and broken lawn chairs. I saw an inflatable pool, a bent unicycle, and lots of single shoes and sandals - it must have been quite a party. You couldn't rent this stuff at a Toronto party rentals store... it had to come from home.

Black garbage bags filled with fried rice were split open and some of these bags looked like they’d been stepped on a thousand times – I'm sure a food tent had been erected in the vicinity.

Hundreds of green coconuts were lying open twenty feet away – this was no doubt the remains of an all natural fruit drink stand.

Farther up the path the lawn was absolutely overflowing with debris and the wind was pushing it everywhere – the nearby garbage cans had been turned on their sides. It’s quite obvious that scavengers picked through every single garbage can in their unquenchable thirst for recyclable beer and wine bottles. And I spotted a few stubbies and some questionable foreign beers that had been left behind by the experts.

Dumpdiggers would like you to imagine the Brock St. beer store, at 10:55 am on Sunday morning. That place must have been jammed with people returning thousands of beer and wine bottles.

This Toronto City Worker wouldn't stop to pose for photos. Apparently the Mayor of Toronto, David Miller specifically asked today’s clean-up crew not to allow themselves to be captured in photos or to make any comments to the media. I merely asked her about the different types of scavengers about, and I could see that see wanted to tell me something… I asked some more questions and came to learn there were indeed whole families here picking bottles a few hours earlier, and these were followed by a more degenerate sort who harvested food and other amenities.

Which brings us to Mr X.

At 9:45 am I ran into this hero – a wise old man with the metal detector.

Dumpdiggers hoped to celebrate the presence of this high tech smart guy and write about his wisdom in every detail, but that wasn’t going to happen – when he heard the words ‘Dumpdiggers’ and ‘blog’ he practically ran to his bicycle.

Here is the absolute smartest scavenger of the day, but he definitely didn’t want his picture taken or his story shared. He refused any insight into his genius.

So I can only imagine his routine. He carries a screwdriver as a simple probe and swings his coil over the chlorophyll, listening for the tell tale signs of a lost diamond earring or a gold ring. And coins; I’ll bet he finds lots of fresh nickels, dimes and quarters.

Here’s a question; would the device he’s carrying pick up the signal of a Canadian loonie? I don’t know. What are loonies made of again? I bet it would detect a toonie though as I'm sure that has nickel in it...? right? What are the exact metallurgical compositions of Canadian One and Two Dollar coins? Anybody - reply in the comment box. I wonder how much money he would make in pocket change alone? Dumpdiggers hopes this shy metal detectorist makes more money than the bottle pickers.

Found Money on Toboggan Trail

Keep your eyes peeled when the snow melts! Dumpdiggers appreciates any form of extra income that might be found lying on the ground.

Just before Christmas 07, while walking with Digger, I cut through a ravine that's park land near the Humber River in north Toronto.

It was right after the first heavy snowfall in December, and I noticed the neighbourhood children getting good exercise tobogganing down a nearby hill.

The gentle slope of this park’s north end has probably been used by generations of young people for this same activity every winter - I suspect a nearby sign that reads ‘No Tobogganing’ plants the idea.

Anyway Digger and I also happened to observe these young rascals had fashioned a ramp halfway down the hill, and they were getting good height in jumps made with those black plastic Canadian Tire brand GT Racers.

Fast forward to January 8^th, 2008 and note how the weather is unseasonably mild. Today the snow outside is melting.

This morning I happened to find myself 'off the leash' with Digger near our local ‘ski hill’ in that same ravine parkland reserve.

Much like the Wise Old Man whom I sincerely admire, I too had the presence of mind to look down at the ground as I passed through the toboggan alley. I kept a sharp eye out for coins, keys, jewelry or even those metallic bus tokens – anything that didn’t look natural.

Sure enough, to my immense satisfaction, I found a small deposit of Canadian currency totaling $1.32 twelve feet below the ramp in the melting snow of the toboggan run. Without question this discovery evidences a spectacular wipe-out in which the contents of one passenger’s pockets were violently emptied into the snow. What’s more interesting is that this same activity has no doubt occurred countless times in this very place for the last hundred years - maybe longer. The top soil in this patch of local history is probably primed with a century of spilled coins!

Note to all coin collectors and treasure hunters with metal detectors – be sure and sweep the toboggan hills in your hometown.

Broke tokens from 1814, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Dumpdiggers with metal detectors sometimes find small coins in strange places. This copper token was unearthed behind a church in Uxbridge Ontario.

The artifact is identified as Broke, Halifax, Nova Scotia 'Halfpenny' 1814. Bust of Capt Broke /Britannia seated

Over 193 years old, this copper token precedes almost all other formal currencies in the Dominion of Canada. Indeed it was minted in response to a critical lack of species in the Atlantic region. It's interesting to note that this relic was not issued by a reigning monarch, or by the British Navy, but rather a consortium of enterprising merchants who hoped to increase commerce in the Port of Halifax. Dry goods importers, leather harness makers, clothiers and ironmongeries all had a vested interest in the local economy, and the largest of these enterprises may have combined forces to commission, distribute and honour the tokens.

When the HMS Shannon sailed into Halifax harbour on June 6th 1813 with the 38 gun warship USS Chesapeake in tow, it was a proud moment for every sailor in the British Navy. History records that this American prize was sold in Halifax in 1814 to agents of the Royal Navy, and Captain Broke and his crew received handsome bonuses.

Broke copper tokens appeared later that summer at the behest of unknown merchants. The designers chose to remember proud Captain Broke on the front of the token, and used Britannia to remind every colonist of the might of the British Empire. Minted in Nova Scotia in 1814, the token had little value by 1820, and was completely worthless by 1825.

Well not completely worthless... Why do you think this token was found in a church yard? The reverend Minister himself no doubt cleaned the collection plate of all such tokens and copper halfpennies as he walked from the back door of the church toward his manor house. Broke tokens were especially worthless in Upper Canada, miles from their point of origin - their only value was to make a loud splash in the pie dish as it passed the pew.

Sir Philip Bowes Vere Broke was born on the 9^th of September, 1776 at Broke Hall, Nacton, near Ipswich, England. He enjoyed a privileged childhood as the eldest son of Philip Bowes Broke, a wealthy man from an old family with lots of good fertile land on the Suffolk coast below the River Orwell. Born in the starch of the Napoleonic age, and raised in what would soon be considered fine Victorian tradition, all sons of Phillip Bowes Broke were enrolled in military careers and groomed for greatness at an early age.

Our man Philip chose the navy, and was placed in the Royal Naval Academy in Portsmith Dockyard in 1788, at age twelve. In 1792 when Philip was sixteen, he ventured out aboard the HMS Southampton as a midshipman. This was the second ship with that name in the history of the British Navy; it seems this particular 32 gun frigate was launched in 1757 and would have been a slow leaky vessel in the year 1797 when Philip distinguished himself as a Third Lieutenant in the Battle of Cape St Vincent. The twenty two year old midshipman maintained order and ship’s discipline during the dogged actions of the day – and after superior officers boarded one French warship with a prize crew. Philip was commended for how efficiently he oversaw the repairs to the Southhampton, and how well he satisfied the many requirements of the ship’s surgeon.

Philip Bowes Vere Broke was promoted to Commander in 1799, and became a Captain in 1801; but he didn’t get his own ship until 1806 - that was the year Broke took command of the HMS Shannon, a 38 gun frigate.

Six years later, Captain Broke was stationed in Halifax when war erupted between England and the American States. Broke sailed south and blockaded Boston, wherein he could see the larger USS Chesapeake.

After issuing the captain of the American warship a formal challenge (which arrived too late), the two ships engaged in single combat. The result was spectacular - Captain Broke of the HMS Shannon captured the USS Chesapeake after less than twenty minutes of naval combat. The American frigate was struck by 362 shots, while the HMS Shannon received only 258 hits. Chesapeake suffered early in the exchange of broadsides, having its wheel shot away. Without any maneuverability the more powerful American warship was helpless to resist Captain Broke's final assault.

It was a brilliant action - single ship combats are the stuff of legends. Bad news for Captain Broke however, he was seriously injured in the battle. He received a nasty head wound while commanding the boarding party in a head on assault of the Chesapeake's forecastle- some folks say he was never the same after the engagement. His career was set however and he sailed to prominence as a rear admiral without ever setting foot on ship again.

WHAT'S IT WORTH? In today's relatively healthy collectible coin market, a Broke 1814 halfpenny in absolute mint condition might fetch $25 bucks.