W&ET Featured Monthly Article Vol. 35 April 2001

Feature

Vol. 35 April 2001

Two To Treasure
By Nicholas (Nicky) J. Sawka, Jr.

The author proudly displays the Memorial Ring. Shown with him is master jeweler and silversmith Roger Light, surrounded by some of the many awards received for his artistry.

It has been said that a Memorial to a person or persons is the greatest gift anyone can bestow upon them. In order to explain my motivation for this memorial, I must ramble back some 47 years. I have a picture of myself at 1 year old still in the crib, with treasure-ship wallpaper neatly surrounding my room. Maybe somehow this décor predisposed my fixation with treasure. My father and mother were very supportive parents, and my first experience with treasure came in the form of fossil hunting the strip mines of Braidwood, Illinois. As I became old enough to join the Cub Scouts, I soon saw the ads for makeshift metal detectors and read stories of found treasures. At 7 I made my first kit detector from an X-brand circuit board and transistor radio. (Remember those days?) I found one beer can, perhaps by luck! At age 11 I saw my first treasure hunter in Cermak Park, where my dad took me fishing often. He was a coin collector himself, and we were both surprised to see all those silver dimes and other coins!
Ours was a frugal family, and the necessities of life took first priority. Though my dad probably wanted desperately for me to have that coin machine I yearned for, it just wasn't in the cards. School came first!

A dramatic tribute in diamonds and gold, the custom-crafted ring features the famous Outdoor Outfitters logo, forever memorializing the firm's beloved Gary & Arlynn Bischke.

High school and college completed, it was time to take my first teaching job. There, in 1975, I saw my custodian one night on the playground with his wife and a Compass 77B. What a great machine! Soon I was digging for him, and then borrowing his detector. I finally bought it from him when he moved up to a Judge I. In 1976, I married and spent much time in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. A birthday brought me my first brand-new Judge II, and I was hooked! When that machine broke, I found that the dealer no longer had his business. I walked into the brand-new shop that had just opened, Outdoor Outfitters, and there I first met Gary Bischke and his assistant and friend, Carl Matheis. From the moment I entered that shop, I knew my life was about to change!
I quickly learned that there was another special person involved in the venture, Gary's wife, Arlynn, a great teacher who gave up her education career to support the love of her life.

"This photo with Arlynn was taken on the only day I ever got the better of her in our friendly competition. The score was four gold rings to three, although she insisted I'd 'cheated' since I'd been hunting for an hour when she arrived!"

During the first year, I learned much about what true treasure hunters are. I frequented the shop, often buying the newest machines, equipment, and magazines (especially W&ET). The shop was always a special place, with so much to look at and inquire about, and the opportunity to meet all of the best hunters and friends. As our friendship developed, I broke everything I laid my hands on. I soon gained the loving name from Gary, "Broken Nicky." I always had questions, and Gary always had all the answers. Soon he declared "Nicky- limit, five questions. No more shotgun questions! You're good enough now!" Business and especially customers were of top priority!
The day was cold, the shop was empty, and I did have one question: "What about water hunting? These finds can't be abundant. It must be hype!" Gary's eyes lit up, and after closing and locking the door, he and Arlynn answered my question by showing me literally pounds of gold rings! Then came his invitation: "Tomorrow we'll take you in the water and show you what real treasure hunting is about!"
That night I could not sleep. On the first outing to the beach, I bagged what we all fondly know as my first two bingos! This was more gold than I had found in five years of land hunting. I thought that I had found "the secret," and we bonded forever. That invitation became my initiation. I learned that as treasure hunting buddies we would compete each season for our "gold only" numbers. At the end of each hunt, the loser always bought dinner. Little did I know that Gary and Arlynn could rarely be beaten! We playfully fought with Arlynn, telling her that a 14K earring the size of a grain of sand should not count!

When Nicky spelled out his appreciation in treasure finds, this photo ended up in Fisher World after being submitted by Gary.

As Gary worked the shop, I was nominated to be Arlynn's treasure hunting buddy. It took a while for my male ego to get used to being outhunted in the water weekend after weekend by the legend that Arlynn had become. Yet, Arlynn became a second sister to me. Big Brother Gary always hugged her and shrugged his shoulders at me as Arlynn laid the 1/2 carat diamond ring on the counter, while I put down the electroplate, cubic zirconium "diamonoide." (Another dinner to buy!) Gary always made sure I went home happy, as he often replaced my Burger Kings with some fresh lobster or barbequed ribs from that old place on G or wherever the Chevy Suburban roamed as Arlynn sang to Randy Travis's "I'm gonna love ya forever..."
Some nights became too late, and Arlynn and Gary would have me stay the night. Arlynn and I would watch Mel Fisher's Quest for Treasure to get "pumped up" for the next day's hunt. Their house was always a home. Then there are the stories and trials of the hunts, with Arlynn always worrying and checking on daughters Teri and Lisa. Yet she continued to balance the shop, Gary, the girls, her family in North Dakota, and her love of treasure hunting. Her caring manner was extended to me as well as everyone she met.
There are so many friends- Carl Matheis, Scottie Warner, Johnny and Sue, Mike, Steve, and Wayne. Gary and Arlynn introduced me to the Wisconsin Association of TH'ers and all the special friends there. There is Gary and Arlynn's family, Lisa and Tom, Teri and Wayne, Carl and Jan, Susan, Kashmir, Garrett, Wolfgang, and Angela. There are memories of Gary falling asleep one hunt in the middle of the lake on a raft, and the time we drove most of the way to Canada only to find a completely empty beach. There is the success Arlynn and I found when we discovered the treasures of Waukesha Beach. There are the tough times when they gave my daughters and me their support. There was Christmas, with crazy gifts. For Nicky, a signet ring from Waukesha Beach. For Arlynn, a Gold Bum pin. There was the news telling me of Arlynn's illness, and finally the heartbreaking call from Lisa: "No, Nicky, it's not Mom. Dad is gone..."
I was totally devastated yet honored that weekend. I was asked to eulogize Gary and to spend what was to be my last time with Arlynn. The phone rang again shortly after Gary's funeral. I knew that I was to tell Lisa and Teri that Gary went to Heaven first, to pave the way for Arlynn. He wanted to show us a never-ending sign of his love for her. This I shared when eulogizing Arlynn just a short time later.

Treasured friends (l-r) Teri, Lisa, Arlynn, and Gary Bischke.

The loss of my two best friends plagued my one-year absence from the water. For the first time in this hobby, I did feel "broken." It was like the movie Top Gun. Maverick could no longer engage in flight after the death of his best friend, Goose. My thoughts of what treasure hunting and best finds were quickly changed. I knew for the first time in my life what the true treasure was.
Shortly after that first year, I knew Gary and Arlynn would want me "back in there." Using the same words from the movie "Talk to me, Gary" or "Talk to me, Arlynn. Lock on, 1280-X. Lock on, Excalibur," I started my new season in the water. Strangely enough, the first target of my first water hunt was a metal tag, which read, "Hello." Soon after came a 3/4 carat white gold diamond ring and a bracelet with 40 small diamonds, not to mention a G signet ring and a medallion with the words, "What would Jesus do?"
At this point, the finds kept calling, and I had the urge to put everything in perspective for anyone out there who wonders what this hobby is really about, and what true treasure hunters really are.

"One of Arlynn's proudest moments," recalls Nicky, "was her showcase article in a Compass catalog."

Their beloved business, Outdoor Outfitters, always featured that famous logo of a treasure hunter in a circle. I wondered if it truly was the circle of life. At so many of the treasure hunts, you could hear someone yell, "Take the hat!" Gary always had the Outdoor Outfitters hats with that special logo at all of the hunts.
After a quick call to Teri and Lisa, I gained permission to create my memorial ring to Gary and Arlynn. It was two years in the planning, start to finish. I worked with another best friend I had met through this wonderful hobby. Every treasure hunter must have a great jeweler, and I had found the best in my town of Aurora, Illinois. Roger Light, in many respects, fits in a category much like all of us in this field. He is the most creative, prolific, down-to-earth friend a man could ever have. With his business comes a resemblance to everything Gary and Arlynn stood for. Interestingly enough, Roger now sells the Outdoor stock in his own jewelry shop.
As Roger listened to my dream of creating a spectacular ring in their honor, he was moved and thrilled by the challenge. My idea was to take many of my water finds, melt them (14K only), and create an extraordinary ring. Roger suggested that we do the logo as a coin and use his favorite hand-created, carved wax prototype for the ring, with "add ons." The circle of life was created using 25 of the 40 diamonds from the "talk to me, Arlynn" bracelet, signifying 25 years of friendship. The ring was finished with a 3/4 carat diamond from the "Talk to me, Gary" engagement ring find. This diamond would be the sun going down over the TH'er to depict the dawn-to-dusk hunting we often did. The ring was made from 12 heavy wedding bands, scrap, and miscellaneous unusable jewelry, all marked or tested 14K only. It was made in wax first and then cast by Roger. Once the 14K logo/coin, also carved from wax, was cast and placed into the ring, it weighed 32.3 grams.
No words can express my feelings or describe the look on my face the day Roger called and said, "Come see the Memorial Ring." It is truly my gift of love and my thanks to Gary and Arlynn.
"What's the best thing you have ever found?"

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