Seashells to Spanish Coins: Treasure hunting the Ocean City Shore

Treasure Hunting

HAVE YOU ever been walking along an Ocean City beach at low tide, only to discover a beautiful, picture-worthy seashell peeking out of the sand? Maybe it was a pale gray, perfectly coiled knobbed whelk. Or it could have been a striated black and white Northern quahog. Regardless of the species, if you decided to pluck your newfound treasure from the water’s edge and pocket it for the journey home, then you, my friend, have gone treasure hunting, aka, beachcombing.
Shell collecting, sea glass hunting – no matter what you call it or what you’re looking for, beachcombing is always a treasure hunt. As the name suggests, you’re combing the beach, looking for items that washed ashore.
And you never know what you’re going to find. Just ask John Favano, local ring finding legend and beachcomber extraordinaire.
“It started as a hobby. My wife and I just thought, we should get a metal detector. We’re out on the beach a lot. We’re always walking around. We thought it would be fun,” John said. “This was around 2012, we got our first machine, and we went out and found our first quarter. It’s exciting!”
John and his wife, Leia, have come a long way from that first metal detector, having even established a beachcombing-based company, Ring Finders South Jersey, to help others find items lost along local beaches.
While beachcombing can be a simple stroll along the sand, picking up visible items that catch the eye, using a machine made for the beach like John does brings the experience to another level. In addition to a metal detector, John mentioned bringing along a scoop, too.
“If it beeps, there’s something there,” he said. “Be prepared to dig a lot of trash, and just go slow.”
A pouch for treasures – and trash, to discard after leaving the beach – makes things a lot easier, too.
“Everything we dig we take with us. We are some of the best cleaners on the beach,” John said of the metal detecting crew.
Another big – and important – tip is to always fill your holes after digging. This isn’t only the right thing to do to keep everyone safe, but in many seaside towns, it’s the law.
As far as time of day, John said low tide is good. But he also added that any time can be a good time for beachcombing. It all depends on the beach conditions.
“Every day the beach is changed. It’s ever-changing, and it’s alive. The more you go out and the more you understand the beach, the more you can find,” John said. “One day I found a penny in one spot, and the next day I found Spanish coins and a whole bunch of ship nails in the same spot.”

With thousands of shipwrecks along the Jersey shore, John said it’s not uncommon to find items, such as Spanish coins and ship nails, that have wiggled free from the depths of the wreck – you just need to know where to look.
“I like to find old history. The Spanish coins, Colonial buttons. That’s the real excitement – pirate treasure,” John said. “Obviously the best time to find these things are after storms.”
John metal detects all year, and he loves to go in the winter when it’s 15 degrees, the wind is blowing 35 miles an hour and he has to wear ski goggles so he doesn’t “eat sand,” as he put it. Fall is a great time, too, he said, because there’s less sand on the beach (replenishment happens in the spring) and you’re closer to the base layer of the beach.
“All the stuff that’s been sitting there for 300 years is readily able to be found,” John said.
The main thing to remember is that treasures can be found anywhere, at any of the local beaches. There are magnificent seashells and driftwood, tumbled sea glass and Cape May diamonds (which are actually tumbled quartz pebbles), buttons and coins.
“You can find all that,” John said, “and a lot more.”
As a beachcombing pro, John knows it all comes down to having the three P’s: patience, persistence and perseverance.
By Kristen Dowd