Shipwreck and Treasure From the East River!

UnderMiner

Silver Member
Jul 27, 2014
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New York City
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Detector(s) used
Minelab Excalibur II, Ace 250
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Got up early today to take advantage of the extra-low tide and use it to do some coastal exploring. I found an area on the map that I had never visited before and figured I'd give it a shot. What I found was what we all dream of - shipwrecks and not to far from them - an algae covered sack full of glistening treasure! Best part is I had my camera and documented everything!

A wrecked ship, possibly a fishing vessel. The hull is fiberglass while most of the deck and pilot house is made of wood clad in thick copper paneling:
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Not to far away was this huge chunk of metal:
Anyone recognize it? It's a steam ship boiler! Piece of technology from a bygone era!
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A wrecked sailboat. It was named "Tranquility". Still had alot of junk inside it:
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I was just looking for wrecked ships today, not really looking for treasure. But guess I have a curse that just forces to me to find treasure even if I'm not really looking for it.
Not too far from the two wrecks a shiny glint in the sand catches my eye. I investigate and this is what I find. A disintegrating red bag beginning to spill its contents into the surf.
Judging from the algae I estimated it to have been in the water for at least 3 months:
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After I opened the bag I discovered it was choked completely full of jewelry! Talk about a childhood fantasy come true!
(those are my sunglasses on he rock behind the loot bag, I was so shocked that I almost forgot them there):
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Video of the find as it unfolded:


Video of me sorting through the treasure and finding the sterling silver locket:


At home I sorted more thoroughly and this was the result, 5 pieces of precious jewelry. Note the sterling stamp on locket and the hoop earring:
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Marked .925, these matching earnings are of a very high quality. Update: Just confirmed the stones are diamonds and amethysts:
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The unfinished ring still in its raw form, unpolished, and still retaining its casting sprue. It has places for three stones.
(Update: Just confirmed the ring is 3.0 grams of 18K gold!):
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Some of the higher quality jewelry including a Bulova watch and some yet-to-be-tested silver necklaces:
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Some of the more junky jewelry:
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In the end I discovered three sterling silver earrings, a sterling locket, and an unfinished engagement ring, still in the rough, likely some type of gold (Update: Just confirmed it is 3.0 grams of 18K gold! Now I just need to polish it to bring out its true golden luster!). Preliminary acid tests confirm it is neither base metal nor silver. The fact that along with the sterling items it was one of the only other things that did not rust or corrode supports my theory that it's either a gold or platinum alloy. Most other things in the hoard were of little value having corroded and disintegrated from being in the salt water for so long.

After returning home from the shore I visited the dump for a few minutes to see if I could find anymore treasures, but it appears my luck ran out for the day. :laughing7:
 

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Upvote 22
That's very cool. (somebody's cat burglar bag)
 

wow!, I don't know how you do it but man you always manage some cool stuff!!!
 

That's very cool. (somebody's cat burglar bag)

Not necessarily. There's a community of Hindus that live in this area who believe throwing trinkets and offerings into the river is good fortune.
It's certainly good fortune for me, so I have nothing against it. :D
 

I'd have to dial 911 a minute or two after I found that treasure. I know my wife might be a little more motivated to let me hunt more if I brought that home. Congrats on that haul :notworthy:
 

MINER , MINER THE JEWELRY FINDER.THIS IS AN OVER THE TOP COLLECTION .
 

I'd have to dial 911 a minute or two after I found that treasure. I know my wife might be a little more motivated to let me hunt more if I brought that home. Congrats on that haul :notworthy:

The one time I did sort of contact the authorities over something I found was way back in the year 1999. I was about 8 1/2 years old when I found a fireman's wallet complete with badge, all his I.D. cards, and interestingly a laminated four leaf clover (found on the shore at low tide of course). I showed the wallet to my dad and told him we had to find the fireman so we could return it. Long story short we contacted the firehouse and I got to return the wallet to the fireman in person. I became good friends with that fireman and he let me explore the firehouse and climb all over the trucks (every little kid's dream I guess). The fireman told me it must have been the luck of the clover that allowed me to find the wallet and return it to him. I like to think that a little bit of that luck rubbed off on me. :D
 

After seeing all the curbside treasures you find and the dump treasure , I think your name should be Urban Miner ! You just
continue to amaze me man .
 

Oh man that was a very cool find. I would be pumped up seeing that on the shore. You did good and got some great treasure out of it.
I like the eye ball find!
HH
 

Wow! :o Amazing jewelry finds bud and without a detector too! :notworthy:

Sometimes all it takes is going for a walk and keeping your eyes on the ground! :thumbsup:

Dave
 

Underminer...

You kill me man.
I am now actually waiting for your threads.

heh
 

Whats the odds a fisherman did not find it .

Fisherman usually go out on the high tide. Even at super low tide this bag of treasure was just barely exposed. So unless someone went digging for clams specifically on a super low tide day nobody would have found this for a long time. And if the bag had disintegrated for just another few days the treasure may have become scattered by the waves and lost forever. A very lucky find indeed. :4leafclover::icon_pirat:
 

What beautiful pics and a wonderful save, Congrats! Now for my real reaction..... HOLY SH>> Why not just become an explorer.
 

Wow...now that looks like loads of fun and something I dreamed about as a kid (the big kid now too!lol) Now you can say you found some real shipwrecks and some of their booty. Who needs detectors with finds like that? ;)
 

If the tide was still low i would go back with a detector and give it a few good sweeps to see what or if anything else was there. Awesome finds.
 

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