Finding Electronics while Metal Detecting and returning to Owners

LawrencetheMDer

Hero Member
Feb 22, 2014
978
2,386
Ohio and Florida
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Minelab Manticore, Minelab CTX3030 w 11" and 17" DD coils,
Minelab Excalibur II w 10" coil, Equinox 800 (4) w 11" and 15" coils,
Troy Shadow x2 w 7" coil, Pointers; Garrett Carrot, Pro Find 35,
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
Around Spring Break I find a lot of electronics while water hunting and I thought I’d share a few examples. Last week I found a newer Samsung phone, an iphone (version 10 or newer) and an Apple watch (series 4). Usually the Samsung phones I find in the water are DEAD on arrival and often have a swollen belly (battery). This one was just dead, or at least I thought it was dead. When I found the iphone, as soon as I looked at it it came on. Wow, a live one; I remember saying to myself. The Apple watch was a real surprise since I never found one of those before now. I figured it was dead, too.


Phones and iphone and apple watch.jpg

When I got home I decided to dry-out the Samsung phone for four days before trying to turn it on or to charge it. Since the iphone was already looking at me, I thought I’d try to discover the owner. The iphone was locked and, unfortunately, the owner did not provide an emergency contact. I could see text alerts highlighted on the screen but could do nothing to find the owner. I did find that the phone service was by AT&T so I dropped the phone off at an AT&T store – the response was not what I expected. The clerk was very shocked that I would return a found $1,000 iphone and had to ask twice where I found it [in 3 feet of water at a popular area beach while metal detecting]. In the water? Guess this is your good-deed for the day, the clerk stated. I said thanks and left the store for the post office. I did leave a note on the iphone for the owner that the phone was found by LawrencetheMDer and that he could learn more by coming to TreasureNet.com.

When I got home from metal detecting with the Apple watch; almost immediately, I placed the watch on my wife’s apple watch charger and it came alive! For about 3 seconds and then died. Sorry Apple watch; perhaps I should have dried you out too…

Back to the Samsung phone; I turned the phone on after 4 days of drying-out and it came alive!! The battery was very low and the phone powered off. I got a neighbor to charge the phone. As it turns out, not only was there an emergency contact number - but the phone wasn’t even locked! But the phone did have it’s service discontinued. I texted the emergency number with my phone as well as the Samsung phone’s number, figuring that the owner may have replaced the phone and kept the same number. Bing Go!

The Samsung owner lives in Connecticut. I found the phone in Florida. I was able to mail the phone to her today. Instead of asking for postage or the like I simply asked the owner to pay-it-forward and do a good deed for someone else.

Happy Hunting
 

Upvote 0

BallsDeep

Sr. Member
Apr 30, 2012
369
245
Eastern Florida
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 800, Whites Surf Dual Field, Garrett Carrot Pinpointer
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting

CASPER-2

Gold Member
Jan 3, 2012
17,153
19,933
NEW ENGLAND
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
6
Detector(s) used
WHITE'S XLT, PI PRO, GARRETT 2500, 3- FISHER CZ21s, JW FISHER 8X
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting

lookindown

Gold Member
Mar 11, 2010
7,089
4,936
Florida
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
ACE 250,AT PRO, CZ21...RTG pro scoop...Stealth 720
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Nice returns...always feels great to something back to the owner that thought it was lost forever.
 

Oct 5, 2014
31,886
35,424
Massachusetts
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett: AT Pro, AT Gold & Infinium; Minelab: Explorer SE, II; Simplex; Tesoro: Tejon & Outlaw; White's: V3i
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Great story, thank you for sharing! :occasion14:
 

Blak bart

Gold Member
Jun 6, 2016
18,549
97,694
FL keys
🥇 Banner finds
5
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Mine lab primary fisher secondary
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thats a great story Lawrence....you will be blessed with good karma now !!
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top