METAL DETECTIVES

Back in September, I received a call from friend Chris Bourque who reads our stories and follows us on Facebook. He had a dilemma and was wondering if we could help.

The previous day, he was attending a large party at a neighbor’s house in Plaistow, N.H. Several of the guests started running around playing games when one of them stopped and realized his charm was missing from the chain around his neck. The party quickly turned into a lost-and-found mission to recover the item. According to Chris, they spent the entire afternoon and well into darkness with flashlights to no avail. The next day he told his neighbors about us and figured it was worth a shot. When he texted me the details on my phone, without hesitation I said we’d be right over!

My wife and I gathered our gear and headed toward New Hampshire. Aside from metal detecting for unknown objects, we do occasionally get calls for lost wedding rings or, in this case, a lost charm. When we arrived, Chris greeted us and explained he really had no idea what the charm was, only that it was small.

My first question was about the composition of the metal. Gold and silver pop (give great signals) on our machines versus costume jewelry that have many target signals. We quickly received an answer that it was silver, but what it was had yet to be identified. Using Colleen’s Garrett AT Pro and my Garrett AT Gold, we started the search in an area they thought it might have been lost. We conducted a grid-type search striking many targets, digging what we thought might be the item, only to realize it wasn’t. After about an hour of no luck, I decided to move outside the area we were concentrating on and run more of a zig-zag pattern. It took about 10 more minutes before I stumbled upon a shallow reading of an item that I knew might be silver or gold. I carefully dug the upper layer of the grass and the tiniest religious silver cross appeared in the sunrays. The cross was no bigger than a paper clip but contained a bail. I motioned to Chris and asked if the cross was the charm. Following a quick text to the person who lost it with the picture attached, it was confirmed I had found it! They were all in awe that I had located such a small item using our metal detectors after they spent over four hours searching with no luck. We were just happy to locate a family heirloom and, after the history behind it was revealed, we realized our presence must have been heaven-sent.

The chain and recovered cross belonged to Lucas Miguel. Lucas’ dad Carlos explained it was a gift from his grandmother who had passed eight years prior. A few years back, ironically, the chain and cross were lost at a football practice. After searching into the night, they finally recovered the chain but not the cross. After two weeks went by, another football player doing pushups thankfully found the cross. Since then, Lucas only wears it on special occasions. For some unknown reason, he wore it this weekend visiting his friend in Plaistow. His dad added that he was extremely upset this time and thought for sure it was lost forever.

With our help, Lucas and his keepsake were .reunited a second time. When they asked to reward us for our time, we kindly rejected the offer explaining that it’s our hobby and we just love finding lost items. My advice, however, was to bring the cross to a jeweler and get that bail welded so it won’t escape a third time.

Methuen father/son treasure hunters Steve and Jonathan Stewart were the August 2019 MethuenLife cover story. They run YouTube, Facebook and Instagram accounts called Mass Metal Detecting and have followers around the globe. They love to save history and enjoy talking about it. If you’d like to invite them to your property for a hunt, you may be included in a future article! Please drop them a note via MethuenLife@msn.com.