Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
We don't do a good job of letting the world know how much of a service that detectorists provide. One of the ways that detectorists provide a public service is by finding and returning lost items.
I woke up last night and was thinking of some of the items that I returned over a brief period when I was doing a lot of hunting a few decades ago. Here are a few of the examples that came to mind.
There was the young girl that lost her sister's high school ring in about four feet of water. Her sister didn't know she had the ring and she was in for big trouble if she lost it. I found it in a short period of time and returned it.
A tourist from another part of the country lost his eye glasses in a few feet of water in front of one of the hotels. I found his glasses after a short hunt, and he offered to buy me a drink. Being soaking wet and dressed only for the water, I declined his offer.
There was the high school ring of a young man that was lost in about three feet of water. He promised twenty dollars to anyone who found it. I just happened to be wondering through the area shortly after it was lost and saw the people hunting. I found it and gave it to him, but he made no attempt to deliver on the reward.
There was the nice gem stone ring returned from about a foot of water near the Pompano Pier. Not so much as a thank you was offered.
The same for a nice gold gem stone ring recovered from a submerged sand bar in front of a hotel.
I've mentioned this one in this blog before. The fellow that ran the beach concessions in front of one of the major Miami hotels lost a key ring with about twenty keys on it before he opened for business early one morning. He couldn't run his business without them. He offered fifty dollars if I would find them. I found them in the dry sand in a short amount of time and he was back in business. That was the biggest reward anyone ever offered, and about the only one that I accepted.
That reminds me of the fireman from New York that lost his 20 year ring or something like that from the fire department in front of the same hotel. I hunted that one for a long time, but never found it. He gave me his address, and I hunted it a few times after he left town and wrote to tell him that I still didn't find it.
Another one I've mentioned before was on a remote beach outside of Pensacola back before cell phones. I stopped at this remote beach and an elderly couple and their grandkids were just leaving the beach when they discovered they had lost their car keys. I found them. There was no one else on that beach, and they could have been stranded a long time if I hadn't found their keys.
I don't tend to remember the ones I spent a lot of time trying to find but never found. There were a number of those.
There was the gold chain and pendant that I found for the young man that did a handstand in the shallow water. It was found relatively quickly.
Then there was the gold chain in a lake in Minneapolis that I couldn't find.
Probably the most expensive was a huge diamond engagement ring I found in the dry sand. I was walking down he beach when a frantic woman stopped me and said she lost an engagement ring and asked me to find it. I found it after a short hunt I walked off into the sunset as they celebrated.
Other than the fifty dollars, the only other reward I recieved was when I found a nice emerald ring that a nice young lady lost in a couple of feet of water. After presenting the ring to her, she ran up and got something and ran back down into the water and stuffed a twenty in my pocket and ran off again before I could give it back.
The list goes on and on. Those are just a few that came to mind last night.
If it wasn't for detectorists I dare say hundreds of thousands of cherished lost items would still be lost. From the number that I personally remember returning from that one brief period of time that I was thinking about last night, I can only assume that the total number of items returned by detectorists must run at least into the hundreds of thousands and probably more if you think of the decades that this has been going on.
We should publicize returned items more. Any park ranger or government official that is against metal detecting would quickly change his mind if his wife lost her engagement ring or family heirloom. Then it might hit home.
---
Warren D. has sent in reports of nice returned finds that he has made. I'd like to see more or that kind of thing from others.
---
There are other services that detectorists render as well. Detectorists work with archaeologists and police, uncover bombs and dangerous items on the beach, return coins to circulation as well as precious metals and other items, and remove trash.
I have no idea how much the return of coins to circulation saves the country, but I'll bet the amount is very large.
---
Warren D. alerted me to the upcoming Marx lecture.
Sir Robert Marx lecture
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM (ET)
Gleason Performing Arts Center
---
The surf today tomorrow and Friday is supposed to be up to something like 5 - 7 feet. Unfortunately the tides will be fairly flat.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
