I helped a guy find a part to his watch and he kept insisting that I take $20, which I eventually did, then I left that as a top for the hotel housekeeping staff.
Another time, some woman detectorist I came across at Ocean City, MD, told me an interesting story about a guy who was wearing a $30,000 gold chain around his neck who went into the water and lost it. She said it was passed down in the family so it also had a lot of sentimental value to the owner.
The owner offered $5,000 to anybody who found it. And somebody found it. That guy got his chain back and another guy became $5,000 richer.
Does anybody else have any similar stories?
I've never received a reward like that, but there were 2 times I recall offhand where I was rewarded for returning finds I had made while hunting in the ocean.
1. The first was what I thought was a makeup brush, so stuck it in my pouch. When I was cleaning, the "bristles" came off and I noticed that it wasn't a makeup brush. There was a lens at the end with a red blinking light, and there was a product name, manufacturer, and serial number printed on the barrel of the thing. I Googled it and discovered that it was a scientific instrument for detecting temperature and movement of fish and sold for something like $125 if I recall. I contacted the manufacturer, gave them my contact info, and a few days later I received a call from the Director of Aquatic Studies at the University of Delaware. The thing I found was one of their temperature/detection instruments that they had attached to a Coast Guard buoy miles offshore, that they used to detect the migratory pattern of fish. It apparently broke free when a hurricane passed by. So, after speaking with the Director, I boxed the thing up and mailed it back to her. About a week or so later, I received a large envelope from the University of Delaware. Inside was a Thank You letter from the Director, praising our metal detecting hobby, and she had also included one of their Aquatic Fisheries T-Shirts. It wasn't a ton of cash, lol, but I really appreciated the gesture.
2. I found a girl's High School ring at a beach I frequent in DE. I contacted the school, gave them my contact info, and a couple days later I received a phone call from the girl's mom. They were going to be down in Rehoboth the next week, so we made arrangements to meet at their hotel. I returned the ring then her mom told me she wanted to give me a reward. I told her that no reward was necessary, as the smile on her daughter's face was reward enough, but she insisted and placed a $50 bill in my hand. That $50 bill was in my pocket for all of 1/2 hour because after we returned the ring, the wife and I, and her sister went down main street in Rehoboth. My wife and her sister went in a women's clothing store, so I sat outside on the man bench playing a game on my cell phone while I waited. Her sister popped out and told me to come in to see the dress that my wife found and really loved. I go in, see the dress, it was very nice, and asked her how much the dress was. She replied $50, so I asked her to hand me the dress, walked up to the cashier, pulled out the $50 bill reward money I just got, and then handed the dress over to my wife. She was extremely happy and needless to say, later that night I experienced a different, but one of my favorite forms of treasure, if ya know what I mean, lol. Just goes to show that Metal Detecting can pay off in many different ways, lol.
