Old York safe found on the beach

[treblehunter]

I was knocking on doors yesterday trying to get permission to hunt, had just talked to a father(son was owner,in house sick with flu) of a brick house with 1781 in the brickwork. He of course said the place has been bombarded with metal detectors and I would have to stop back to talk to son. So down the road I went for back up plan of a trashy area of the Delaware Bay beach. I was detecting along the beach finding trash and garbage, empy holes from other detectors with neat little piles of iron, broken bottles, and aluminum siding. Then I walked up on this.

With the door nowhere in sight and I was getting ready to leave anyhow, I just took a couple of pix and left.

 

[jewelerguy]

odd place for a safe to be. too bad it wasn't full of gold coins. looks to date to about 1900

 

[treblehunter]

The bay at this spot, is reclaiming the beach, there are houses that have already fallen. I believe someone brought that safe (theives) and opened it on the beach. It's just a theory, other theory would be it came from one of the houses and someone opened it there. I didn't even bother to look for the door, I could tell someone had already been detecting, and I had not even found any modern coins. So I said to myself, WTF, and off I went.

 

[Ed-NH]

That is pretty interesting. Got to wonder why it was put there.

 

[Markomyt1]

Did you see Geraldo Rivera hanging around?
LMBO!

 

[The Boots]

Too bad the door was missing. Cleaned up that would of been awesome.

 

[Jamesbondaka]

Very interesting! Even without the door I think someone would like it their store as a display piece....I would think someone would buy it.

 

[treblehunter]

That is pretty interesting. Got to wonder why it was put there.

It's all part of the allure of Metal detecting/treasure hunting that I like so much. "The mystery"

Did you see Geraldo Rivera hanging around?
LMBO!

I think he was the one that had been there detecting before me, leaving all the neat little piles of scrap metal/garbage and trash.

Too bad the door was missing. Cleaned up that would of been awesome.

I don't know for sure, but I was told a safe like that weighs approximately 500 pounds. It was down the beach some and would take quite the off-road vehicle just to get to it. Then the question of lifting it to load into said vehicle. I do know it cost a pretty penny to restore these safes, sometimes the restoration cost more then the actual value of the safe. I bet the door is close by, I didn't even bother to look for it, or even pull the contents out of the water inside the safe.
Still interesting finding an old safe like that. 15-20 years ago I would have gotten that thing home, one way or another. I'm not supposed to lift anything heavier then fifty pounds, Dr's restrictions. I don't mess with that rule, not worth the chance.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Interesting! Too bad it's not "full" that would be a find! Just as long as a camera crew doesn't just pop up and start filming!

 

[PeteWmass]

someone dug it up a few years ahead of you and did very well - hehe
I found one on the riverbank just like this - made me wonder "what if"....

 

[NHBandit]

Safes are cool but nearly always empty. I used to manage a salvage yard and we found one in the trunk of a car one time. Spent about 2 hours getting it open only to find that there was nothing inside. Too bad we pretty much ruined it getting the door off.

 

[ModernMiner]

Brad,
That safe is AWESOME! Too bad it couldn't be saved, but I can imagine it would not be an easy task.
Are you across the bay from Lewes? I used to detect a beach up there in Lewes when my Mom lived in Rehobeth Beach. Never found much but clad though.
Great post,
Doug

 

[73dguard]

Hey treblehunter you just motivated me to check out large iron signals again--and that's after digging up a chest freezer! Hey, this could have been a landowners cache at one time. I'd move that sucker aside and check for stuff that might have been dropped in the dark--anything's possible. DE side of the bay. Great area for goodies. If I'm ever back east coast side again I'd like to search for the U-boats that got nailed by then Ft. Miles, now Cape Henlopen Park.

 

[ingram4868]

I would love to knock the crust off and use it as a display piece.

 

[Davers]

Interesting indeed ..Cool photo
Thanks

 

[Davers]

Safes are cool but nearly always empty. I used to manage a salvage yard and we found one in the trunk of a car one time. Spent about 2 hours getting it open only to find that there was nothing inside. Too bad we pretty much ruined it getting the door off.

I reckon it was put in the car to add weight, but I would have opened it too cause you "Just never know"

p.s. Your Avatar SCARES me.

 

[calisdad]

Cool safe. Bet nobody has detected UNDER it. ;-)

 

[treblehunter]

Brad,
That safe is AWESOME! Too bad it couldn't be saved, but I can imagine it would not be an easy task.
Are you across the bay from Lewes? I used to detect a beach up there in Lewes when my Mom lived in Rehobeth Beach. Never found much but clad though.
Great post,
Doug

Yeah it is across the bay from Lewes, in a way I wish I could salvage it, but I know my limitations, funny, I took my son today with me to kill some time and show him the safe. He is 20 years old and 6' 3" tall, very strong. He could not budge it. The tide was up, wind was about 40 mph and it was very cold. I wanted to bottle hunt also, trip before I seen pieces of old bottles, but no keepers. I'll have to check the tides next week and make a trip down. Later we stopped at an old wooded area we used to deer hunt together, took a walk back there and I found an old "Nugrape" soda bottle. I have to research it now and clean it up more.


Thank you everyone for looking and commenting on my thread, HH.
Brad

 

[kimonswanson643]

Cool