Great Grandfather’s Gold Cross and a new Gold Chain both Lost in the Sand, Found and Returned Ocean Isle, NC

On Monday, Aug 1^st, I received a text message saying, “Can you help us locate a lost necklace? OIB 5 Jan Street?” I called the number attached to the text and spoke with Drew who stated a gold cross and chain had been lost but they weren’t sure where. I asked him if these could have been lost in the water, he assured me they weren’t. I told him I had another search scheduled for 3 pm and wouldn’t be able to be there until sometime between 6-7 pm. He agreed and I told him I’d call him when I was on my way. After finishing up with an unsuccessful search in the ocean for another gold chain with a pendant, I headed towards Ocean Isle. I called Drew and told him I was on my way and would be there in 35-40 minutes. On the drive I’m thinking about how difficult it is to find a Gold Chain. The last few searches for gold chains haven’t been successful and I was hoping I’d have better luck with this one.

I arrived at 6:30 and saw Drew and a young man coming down the stairs from the rental. Drew told me to park at another rental a few houses down. I had the car unloaded by the time Drew and Will walked up to the car. We introduced ourselves and I found out Will was the one who lost the cross and chain and was the boyfriend of Drew’s daughter. I asked Will to tell me the story of what happened. He said he had taken the chain off with the cross and put them in a bag so he could play in the ocean. When he was finished playing he remembered putting the cross and chain back around his neck and walked back to the house for a few minutes. At some point before returning to the beach he realized the chain and cross were gone. A quick search along his path yielded nothing. I started my search at the beach access and worked out to the beach. Luckily, Drew had the foresight to leave their tent up on the beach. I had Will lead the way from the beach stairs to where the tent was, while I followed swinging the detector. Once we got to the tent, I started a grid search from one side working forward. Within a few steps, I see a small little glimmer of gold sticking out of the sand. I ran the coil over the area and got a VDI (visual display indicator) of 1 on the Equinox 800. I reached down and pulled the chain out of the sand and handed it to Will. He was excited but his Great Grandfather’s cross wasn’t on the chain. I knew the cross couldn’t be far away. I swung the coil within 6 inches of the chain and at the same time I got a VDI of 5 I saw an edge of the cross sticking out of the sand. As I handed Will his Great Grandfather’s cross, that had been handed down to Will’s Grandfather, who handed it down to Will, he was so excited and relieved that his family heirloom had been found and returned. I did a quick test on the outstretched chain in the sand and got no indication at all; I then overlapped the ends of the chain over itself and got a VDI of 1 again. This explains why thin gold chains are so hard to detect.

Drew – thank you so much for contacting and trusting me to help find Will’s treasure.

Will – So happy your heirloom was found. Best wishes to you in your life’s journeys.

Jim