# Beachcombing: has anybody ever found anything valuable ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 12, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355 "2007-08-12T17:41:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/1 "2007-08-12T17:41:56Z")
Has anybody, or do you know of anyone having found anything valuable while beachcombing (excluding the washed-up goods after the recent cargo wreck off the coast of Devon) ? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/2 "2007-08-12T17:50:55Z")
Since there really isn’t a classic “General Question” here, let’s try MPSIMS. **samclem** GQ moderator ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/3 "2007-08-12T19:05:37Z")
I often find my sanity while beachcombing. Does that qualify? OK, how about this? One of the things my niece got for her last birthday was a metal detector. About a month later, they went to the beach to see if they could find anything, but it wasn’t the beach my niece wanted to go to and she started to get hissy about it. Her mother tried to calm her down by telling her that maybe she’d find jewelry or money or something with her metal detector and eventually got her to come out of the car. They got down to the beach and lo and behold, right away, my niece spots a ring in the sand. It wasn’t even buried enough to need the metal detector. It probably wasn’t worth fifty bucks but it was a nice find for a kid who, had she gotten her way, wouldn’t have found it at all. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/4 "2007-08-12T19:39:01Z")
I’m not sure if most beachcombers are even looking for valuables. I think that most are just looking for things like interesting shells, sea glass, driftwood, etc. There _are_ places, however, where one could possibly find treasure (like the Treasure Coast of Florida, where lots of Spanish ships carrying gold got whacked by the frequent hurricanes there). However, unsurprisingly, most of those places have been played out or are off limits. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/5 "2007-08-12T19:54:37Z")
I found 18 golf balls on the beach one time when I was about 12. I think they’re still in the house somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/6 "2007-08-12T19:57:46Z")
[QUOTE=An Arky] I’m not sure if most beachcombers are even looking for valuables. I think that most are just looking for things like interesting shells, sea glass, driftwood, etc. [/quote] Whaddya mean? Those _are_ valuables! I once found a bottle with a letter in it. Turns out it had been tossed in by a neighbor, who hoped someone in a far-off, exotic land would find it. I didn’t have the heart to tell him it didn’t get that far, so I mailed it to a friend in California who lived on another beach and another body of water, and told her to write back to the originator, saying she found it right there. I expected the news media to pick it up and run a story about the bottle that made its way thru Lake Michigan, over Niagra Falls and the St. Lawrence Seaway, then thru Panama Canal (or around South America) to be found on a Santa Monica beach. But that never happened. Maybe the scam was too obvious? ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/7 "2007-08-12T20:07:33Z")
OK, then. We once found a message in a bottle that had gotten about 30 miles for where it had started. We wrote to the girl who launched it but never heard back from her. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/8 "2007-08-12T20:31:56Z")
I once found about 200 packets of cigarettes, presumably dropped by a smuggler. Unfortunately they were this disgusting Chinese brand, so I left 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/9 "2007-08-12T20:56:24Z")
I found Bruno Gerussi, and man, was he glad someone dug him up. [sub]\* Non-Canadians probably won’t get this joke.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/10 "2007-08-12T21:24:30Z")
Not beach combing, but snorkling on Maui, Mrsin found a wedding ring. We advertised in the Maui News and got a couple of calls but no one could identify it. We still have it. Identify it and it’s yours. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/11 "2007-08-12T22:49:04Z")
I’ve beach combed items - fossils and seaglass mostly, that I’ve sold on ebay for a few quid. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2007, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/12 "2007-08-13T00:38:06Z")
I have found all sorts of neat things, but nothing very valuable. My gramps used to find all sorts of jewelry with his metal detector, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2007, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/13 "2007-08-13T02:07:27Z")
[A previous thread about people finding valuable ambergris](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=355700&highlight=ambergris) ---
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2007, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/14 "2007-08-13T02:55:47Z")
I remember going for a picnic with my family when we lived in Holland. We stopped at a beach, most beaches in Holland are stone/pebble beaches and we met a woman who was looking for semi precious stones - she’d found garnets I believe. We tried but hadn’t really got a clue what we were looking for. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2007, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/15 "2007-08-13T05:08:02Z")
Last year I found a diamond ring on a beach on the Big Island. I turned it in to the police. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2007, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/16 "2007-08-13T06:17:32Z")
When I was a kid, I used to go beachcombing with my dad and a big, noisy metal detector. The best things we ever found were a thin gold ring which looked like a class ring, and several coins. When I was 7 I discovered a marble whose outside had been buffed by the sand to a frosted finish. Not valuable, but to a 7-year-old girl it was TREASURE. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/17 "2007-08-13T14:18:38Z")
I’ve found quite a bit of seaglass on the beach at Lake Huron. Thats it though. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2007, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/18 "2007-08-13T15:30:02Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] [A previous thread about people finding valuable ambergris](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=355700&highlight=ambergris) [/QUOTE] On the Baltic and the North Sea coasts they still find amber with fossilized organisms. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/19 "2007-08-13T15:31:33Z")
[QUOTE=Dragwyr] I’ve found quite a bit of seaglass on the beach at Lake Huron. Thats it though. [/QUOTE] What’s seaglass ? Can’t find it in dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355/20 "2007-08-13T15:41:23Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] Whaddya mean? Those _are_ valuables! I once found a bottle with a letter in it. Turns out it had been tossed in by a neighbor, who hoped someone in a far-off, exotic land would find it. I didn’t have the heart to tell him it didn’t get that far, so I mailed it to a friend in California who lived on another beach and another body of water, and told her to write back to the originator, saying she found it right there. [/QUOTE] Laughs! That’s tricky. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beachcombing-has-anybody-ever-found-anything-valuable/415355.md?page=2)