Excalibur 800

May 28,2011 05:00pm

Winner of Find of the Month - May 2011

Who would have thought that a hobby like metal detecting would pay off with a $40,000 “Easter egg?” 
Here’s my story! 

It was Easter morning 2011 while we were on vacation in southern Florida with our youngest son and his family, when I found it. We would normally not frequent a hotel of this caliber but since we were invited to spend time with our distant family and new granddaughter we jumped at the opportunity. We figured that "babysitting" on our vacation would allow us to grow closer and bond as a family. When we arrived we got checked into our room and met our family for dinner. Everything was just as we had imagined and we looked forward to our time together. 

Next day, it was beautiful Easter morning. I remember the splendor of the sunrise over the calm ocean waves as they reflected the first light of day. I sat on the hotel balcony and enjoyed a cup of coffee while I read my bible and prayed before going out for a couple hours to look for treasure’s that others may have lost in the sand or ocean waves. 

My Minelab Excalibur is a great water detector and I would usually spend my time in the water’s edge where I have found lots of jewelry and coins on past excursions. But this time I was limited in where I could search. I couldn't pack my long handled scoop on the flight from our home in Virginia. At the last minute I grabbed a small plastic scoop from my hobby shelf only because it fit in our luggage just fine. So this trip most of my metal detecting time was spent on the dry sand part of the beach. 

I found lots of old corroded coins just deep enough that most detectors would miss the signal but not my Excalibur. It wasn't long until I became tired of so much digging with my little plastic scoop. I felt a little embarrassed when other hobbyist came by searching and carrying their long handled scoops. I followed right behind them picking up coins that they had missed. 

After about two hours I decided I would head back and get a bite to eat with the family. That's when I got the signal; a strong clear tone that I knew would be a good target. I scooped several layers of sand before I felt it in my scoop. I didn't even have to look; I knew it was a ring from the sound of shaking out the sand. When I looked into the scoop I saw a large dull stone on top. My first thought was it looks too big to be real. And it is probably a Cubic Zirconia like most people would wear to the beach. I guess it was also a little dull from settling about ten inches down in the sand for who knows how long. I quickly estimated that the ring could be worth a few hundred and would be added to the many others I had found. Boy was I ever wrong! 

When I got back to our hotel I took a little time to clean the stone and study the characteristics of the ring and the setting. The engraving inside the band was "platinum." The more I looked, the more I realized it was a good find; no, it was an "excellent" find. 

I spent the next few days searching even harder for more treasure. I found two more rings, a gold coin, a watch, earing, and about $15 worth of change. All the time I was searching, I couldn't help but think about the big sparkling ring I found on Easter morning.

One of the other rings I found was "English" gold with a plate of arms and several numbers engraved inside. It was probably worth $400-$500 but now I'm beginning to think that the stone in the sparkling ring could be "diamond" instead of CZ. That could make it worth a couple thousand, I thought. It was big and I couldn't be sure until I got an expert to look at it. 

I checked the area hotels lost and found and went on Craigslist looking to see if anyone had reported losing a ring of this description. I figured that the depth in the sand indicated it could have been lost some time ago. Finally after exhausting my options for finding an owner, I decided I’d take it home. All the way home my wife and I talked about what to do with it. She wanted to wear it regardless. Even though she never accepted that it was a real diamond until our first stop at a jewelry store in our local mall. 

The woman behind the counter immediately blurted out "that can't be real, it's too big." I felt a real disappointment take over thinking that the value was back in the hundreds again. She placed the ring under a counter top microscope to get a better look. Both my wife and I looked at each other when the expression on her face changed. She took the ring and showed it to another woman seated at a desk. They both ran over to another counter and took out an instrument and touched it to the stone. We could see a green light glow but we had no idea what that was all about. They both came back to the microscope and took another look. 

Her next words were "it's real, and its clarity makes it worth about $30-$40 thousand dollars. My heart sank deep in my chest and I almost cried with happiness. We were both speechless for some brief time until we gathered our thoughts. I felt like I needed to get an armored car to escort us out of the mall. I was both happy and scared at the same time. 

In the days following we spent time trying to find an honest Graduate Gemologist to give us a fair appraisal and a jeweler to resize it to fit my wife's hand. We had been married for 40 years and she felt like it would make a great "Anniversary" present. 

The two+ Carat stone appraisal came back at $40,000 and we added the ring to our insurance policy. I thought of all the things we could do with the money if we sold it. I guess you can figure out who got their way because today my wife is still wearing it. Everywhere we go people comment on the "big rock" and usually the story gets around to me finding it in the sand with my Minelab metal detector. I have always enjoyed the time spent using the Minelab detectors. I’ve been using them since their introduction back in the early 1990’s. I was a dealer for a number of years and I’ve used several different models and brands of detectors. I’ve never doubted the capability of these machines and I’ll be willing to bet that if you see me on the beach, I’ll have a Minelab detector in my hand. 

What a find! Someday this story will be handed down to our grandchildren along with the precious $40,000 “Easter egg” that grandpa found on Easter morning 2011. I’ll probably hand down my detector too. I can’t see selling it, regardless of the age. I was sure glad that I took time to pray before going out that Easter morning. What a Blessing for a beautiful Blessed day. 

Gary Witt - Virginia, USA