On a brilliant afternoon at Long Island’s Sore Thumb Beach two years ago, Dave Efron strapped on his thousand-dollar White’s BeachHunter metal detector and went to work. A veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars had lost his dog tags in that area of Jones Beach Island three days earlier, and Efron was called to duty: “He was desperate to recover it,” Efron recalls. “It had no monetary value, but it was his most prized possession.”
The 47-year-old from Bay Shore plunged knee-deep into the chilly Atlantic and emerged minutes later with the dog tags.
The vet was elated. “The guy was crying, I was crying. I didn’t know what to do, so I started crying! Two years later, we’re still in touch,” says Efron.
“Some people look at metal detecting like a geek running around, but we do a public service,” says Efron.
When beach-goers pack it up for the day, Efron and other treasure hunters spring into action, oversize earphones on their heads, long metal sticks in their hands as they comb the ground for signals.
Doctors, lawyers, veterans and an 8-year-old newbie named Ramy are all part of a motley crew of colorful characters who belong to the Atlantic Treasure Club, a 40-year-old local metal-detector society of about 100 members. It’s one of hundreds of similar clubs across the country.
These treasure hunters wear the hats of an explorer, archaeologist and private investigator.
More ambitious hunters will travel the world — to places like England, the El Capitana shipwreck off the coast of Ecuador, and Turkey, where 5,000-year-old Roman coins have been unearthed.
Just ask Mike McMeekin, a 40-year treasure-hunting veteran from Hicksville, LI. The 62-year-old owns Treasures Unlimited, a metal detector shop that’s mostly a museum of his incomparable finds — which include Colonial artifacts from now-defunct plantations and silver Peruvian coins minted in the 1600s. McMeekin notes that today’s technology has made metal detectors more sophisticated than ever, and has allowed him to dive 170 feet with one, looking for a good shipwreck.
So, does he ever consider selling any of the loot — including 700 gold rings and historic coins — he exhibits in his store?
“Nah — when I’m ready to retire, it’s my 401(k).”
While some of the top-of-the-line metal detectors McMeekin sells can run into the thousands, novices can pick one up at Walmart for just $50.
“This is the only hobby that pays you back,” jokes Efron, who shelled out $1,000 for his White’s BeachHunter metal detector — a seriously sophisticated piece of machinery.
“In three years, I made back six times that amount.”
Among his favorite finds: an 18-karat gold ring with 72 diamonds, not a bad bonus for his wife.
Treasure hunter Joanie Caldas enforces only one policy when digging: She won’t accept a cash reward, but she does ask to pose with grateful people reunited with their treasures.
“If someone’s in distress, I don’t want to make a profit,” she says. “The reward is if I find it.”
The five-year metal-detecting vet fell into her passion accidentally: “My doctor told me I needed a hobby,” explains the financial services executive.
“The serenity, especially the headphones, block everything out. It’s just me and the water crashing on the shore.”
And while recovering lost belongings for people is gratifying, doing public good is even better. She was featured in the July issue of Lost Treasure magazine for her pro bono work after Hurricane Sandy, when she removed hundreds of protruding metal spikes and staples from the battered athletic fields of Roslyn High School on Long Island.
“We don’t just metal-detect, we serve the community,” she says.
Peter Facinelli, of Bellmore, LI, got a reward that was too good to resist: After recovering a $5,000 gold bracelet a few weeks back, the 74-year-old Merrill Lynch retiree accepted a $1,200 reward.
His $1,500 White’s BeachHunter — one of two metal detectors that he owns — has yielded change, bottle caps and, best of all, jewelry, which his 4-year-old granddaughter appreciates.
“I found a silver ring that says ‘LOVE,’ and it fit perfectly. She loves it.”
But just because a treasure hunter recovers loot, that doesn’t entitle him to keep it. If detectors find any item on state property with a value over $20, they must attempt to return it.
(Permits are required for state parks and beaches, while town or county beaches don’t require them.)
Despite his reward for that bracelet he found, Facinelli says, “You don’t get rich over here; I have a silver bracelet, 10 rings — one white-gold pinky ring with diamonds, another with a lion’s head — and every one has a memory.”
While treasure hunting might be the catnip of collectibles for people of a certain age, it attracts a younger crowd as well: Ramy Latif, 8, and his mom, Cheryl, are trying their hands at treasure hunting this summer.
The Wantagh, LI, family pulled a 16-year-old metal detector from the closet and decided to give it a try. “I always liked the idea of finding treasure and discovering history,” admits Cheryl, 43. “Long Island has a very rich history. We found a button from Revolutionary times 16 years ago.”
Ramy’s motivations are simpler.
“I want to hopefully find gold and expensive metal,” he says.
Meanwhile, Efron has been plotting his latest jaunt — to Onancock, Va., the site of a 300-year-old farm where he hopes for a windfall of brass cow tags and sleigh bells.
So does he share his metal-detecting itinerary with fellow treasure hunters?
“I’m researching old homesteads on the south shore of Long Island now,” he says.
“But I don’t want to give too much detail, as people would use it to hunt for themselves.”