Member Memorial

IN MEMORIAM - DON LIEURANCE

Don passed away on August 20, 2024 at age 85. I believe it was from heart trouble. He was a longtime member of the OBCA, joining shortly after it reformed in 1992. His membership had lapsed sometime before Covid.

Don was one of those great people that a book could be written about. He was the proprietor of the End of the Trail antique shop, which I consider to be Portland’s most successful antique shop ever. That is where I first met Don in January 1986, which is a whole another story. His shop was a meeting place for collectors and every time I went there, I’d run into one or more other collectors that I knew. His shop had something for everybody. Don wasn’t just a bottle guy. He started as a coin dealer in the 1960’s and expanded from there. He knew a lot about many different collecting fields.

Don purchased the old Pay ‘n Pak store building and for many years ran a very fun collector’s flea market there. His son Don Jr. (Donny) continues the tradition, running a weekly flea market at the Eagle’s Lodge in St. Johns and a monthly collectors’ show at the Armory on 33rd. Don’s daughter Donna often runs the concessions at their shows.

Don was one of the original five founding members in 1982 of the Oregon Treasure Trail Society, Portland’s metal detecting club. In 2008, Don won the Detectorist of the Year award based on his finds, edging out a detectorist who eventually won eleven times. I think one of Don’s favorite finds was an Indian head $10 gold coin that he found at a ghost town in Nevada. He made many trips to Nevada to dig in the Tonopah dump. He also made many annual trips to England to metal detect. His best find there was a Celtic gold coin. I have many fond memories of metal detecting with Don. One time he was detecting right next to me at Timberline Lodge, and he found in the snow a huge man’s lion head gold ring with ruby eyes.

I’ll miss and always remember my good friend, now that he’s reached the “End of the Trail”.

- Bill Bogynska

Note: This obituary was originally published in The Stumptown Report, the monthly newsletter of the Oregon Bottle Collectors Association (OBCA).

Member Memorial

The Ledgendary Timothy Bogynska

Tim had a sensational run during his six-year membership in the Oregon Treasure Trail Society. He seemed like an average young guy, but he became an absolute fiend with a metal detector in his hand. He made spectacular finds that most of us will never come close to finding in a lifetime of detecting.

Tim joined OTTS at age 18. His first year, he came in at ninth place in the Find of the Month rankings. His second year, he placed second to eleven-time champion Dick Gaboury. The next four years in a row, he was Detectorist of the Year, dominating the find results. That kept his father Bill in second place for those four years. In 2018, he set the club record for most points in a year with 393, and the second highest in 2019 with 341. One unbelievable record he set was that he got 39 points in one month, winning nine categories and taking second place in foreign coin.

He won many club hunts. On one, he found all ten Find of the Month categories. But he didn’t find gold that day, digging up a platinum ring instead.

Tim had a knack for finding silver coins. Once, he found twelve in one day. Two other times he found eight in one day. And these were at a school and a park that had been very well hunted and considered hunted out by many.

Tim just seemed to always be lucky (highly skilled). One time he and Bill went to Mt. Tabor. Tim turned on his detector and his first target was a Walking Liberty half dollar. They avoided the picnic area there for years, because Bill considered it hunted out as detectorist have pounded that area for over fifty years. Tim eventually wanted to give it a try, and he found a Barber dime and two Mercury dimes there, which seemed impossible.

As Bill always used to say, "he wasn't very fun to hunt with." Anybody who hunted with him knew the feeling.

Tim was published three times in Western & Eastern Treasures magazine's Annual "Best Finds" issues for his Barber coin hoard, his 1855 $2.50 gold coin Oddfellow's love token and his sterling box of old coins.

Tim's list of best coin finds seem unbelievable in the Portland-Vancouver metro area and make quite a type set: 1857 Flying eagle cent, 1864 2¢ piece, 1853 3¢ silver, 1857 Seated half dime, two shield nickels, V nickels, 1885 Seated dime, Barber dimes, 1853-O Seated quarter, at least four Barber quarters, around ten Standing Liberty quarters, 1825 & 1826 Bust half dollars, three Barber halves, 1876-S Trade dollar, 1891 Morgan dollar (about uncirculated) and the above mentioned 1855 $2.50 gold coin. More common coins to him included Indian head pennies, Buffalo nickels and pre-1965 silver coins.

Notable foreign coin finds include a 1316-35 Islamic States hammered silver dirham, a 1641-56 Portugal half tostao hammered silver coin found on a club hunt, an 1846 Guatemala silver ¼ real, an 1862 India silver two anna and an 1890-1908 Kwang-Tung Province silver dime.

Memorable gold rings include a large 10K 1938 University of Pittsburgh Panthers class ring, which was returned to the former owner’s son, a gold in quartz ring found on a club hunt, a gold Marine Corps ring and a gold Montana agate ring found together with a sterling one. Silver items and artifacts include too many great finds to list.

The above picture shows Tim on his 21st birthday when he got his White’s V3i detector. It would be an understatement to say that he did very well with it.

In December 2019, Tim married Rebekah, the love of his life, and hung up his detector. In 2021, they moved to NW Arkansas, buying a house there.

Tim passed away Nov. 14, 2022 at age 27 after a yearlong battle with brain cancer.