14K St Anthony Pendant Lost In The Atlantic Ocean Water, Found With A Metal Detector At Short Sands Beach, York, Maine

𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒

Joanne asked if I could help. I immediately checked the tide charts and saw that the tide was currently coming in. When she told me the pendant was lost around 1:00 PM, I knew that meant it went missing at mid-tide.

I explained to Joanne that our absolute best chance for a recovery would be to arrive at Short Sands at 7:00 PM. By then, the tide would be heading back out, hitting that exact same mid-tide level, allowing me to follow the water out as it receded. She told me Rob would meet us there.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐒

When Cheryl and I arrived at 7:00 PM, Rob was waiting. He brought us right down to the beach and pointed out the exact area where he had been swimming when he first noticed the pendant was gone.

I mapped out my strategy and told Rob I would grid search parallel to the shore, expanding the search area by an extra 25 feet to both the north and the south to guarantee we covered every square inch of the zone. Duty called for Rob, and he had to leave the beach shortly after to head back to Boston for work the next morning.

Cheryl and I pushed on. I grid searched the area for more than two hours, finally calling it a night after 9:00 PM as darkness completely took over. I had covered the entire designated area, but the ocean only gave up coins and the usual pull tabs and small pieces of aluminum. No gold.

𝐀 𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐄 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄

On the drive back home to Saco, Maine, I called Rob to give him the update. I told him the pendant simply wasn’t in that specific grid. I asked him if he had actually felt or seen the pendant slip off his neck, and he said no. Then I asked a crucial question:

“Had you been swimming earlier in the day?”

“Yes,” he replied. “Three or four other times.”

Right then, a lightbulb went off. It all made perfect sense! The St. Anthony pendant hadn’t come off during his 1:00 PM swim—it had likely slipped off during one of his earlier swims, and he just hadn’t noticed it was missing until later in the day.

𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 & 𝐀 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐍

Knowing he had most likely lost the pendant earlier in the day, my mind immediately went back to the tide charts. I saw that the morning low tide was set for 10:39 AM. My new plan was to get back to Short Sands Beach by 7:00 AM, matching the receding water and following it all the way down until low tide three and a half hours later. I was highly optimistic that the earlier swimming area would finally be exposed.

After a restless night with maybe three hours of sleep—because my mind just wouldn’t stop racing over that missing gold—I pulled back up to Short Sands Beach.

I wasted no time getting to work, picking up the grid search from north to south, moving parallel to the shoreline once again. For the first hour and a half, the beach was stubborn. I was only digging up the usual suspects: coins and pull-tabs. By 8:30 AM, with two hours left until low tide, I knew I just had to keep grinding.

𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍: 𝟑𝟓!

Just ten minutes later, everything changed.

My detector screamed with a LOUD, LOW TONE, locking in at a solid 35 on my Target Identification Screen (TID)! It sounded absolutely beautiful, and my adrenaline instantly spiked.

I scooped up a heavy load of sand, flipped it onto the wet, hard-packed surface, and pulled out my pinpointer. As I located the target and began brushing away the top layer of sand, there it was—a bright, unmistakable glint of SHINY GOLD!

I pulled it out, and holding it in my hand was Rob’s St. Anthony pendant! My theory had been spot on. After two separate days and four and a half total hours of searching, the puzzle was solved. The pendant was resting about 40 to 50 feet further out toward the water than where Rob originally thought he lost it, proving he had dropped it during one of those earlier swims.

𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐂𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘

I immediately captured a video of the recovery and sent it to Rob and Joanne. Within minutes, both of their phones were ringing off the hook—they were absolutely ecstatic!

Since Rob was already back at work in Boston and Joanne was also down in Massachusetts, Rob asked if I could hand the precious heirloom over to his girlfriend’s brother, Jay, who was still vacationing in York with his family. I told him, “Absolutely!”

Meeting up with Jay and handing over the pendant felt incredible. Job done. But the real icing on the cake came a short time later when I received a text from Rob that truly says it all:

𝐀 𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐒𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐈𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐋

“𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙤 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙮 𝙢𝙮 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙬𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙜𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙨. 𝙄 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙛𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩, 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙙. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙄’𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣. 𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧. 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣, 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙯𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙖𝙣. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩.”

𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐖𝐄 𝐃𝐎 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐄 𝐃𝐎

Well, if a message like that doesn’t warm your heart, absolutely nothing will. It is exactly for reasons like this that we do what we do. The jewelry we recover holds deep family bonds and irreplaceable memories that a retail store can never replicate. These items represent family history.

I truly have the best job in the world, and I love my job!

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐤𝐞𝐲𝐬, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦, 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜, 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚! 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝟐𝟎𝟕-𝟒𝟐𝟑-𝟑𝟎𝟐𝟕

Remember: “𝐈𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬.”