Treasure hunters Robert Hodson and Clyde Longworth are more than just your pair of beach-walkers with metal detectors – they’re “recovery artists.” They belong to a treasure hunting club in Galveston whose members only rarely find rare finds, but when they do, they’re worth something. And in this case, their worth is measured in the admiration of the previous owner.
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Hodson & Longworth Find Buried Treasure in Galveston
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Not Just a Little Coin Spill
Photo: Wikipedia
On January 8, these two particular members happened to be treasure hunting on the beach in Galveston when they came across something intriguing. In an interview with an NBC affiliate out of Houston, the two men displayed foreign coins, numbering in the hundreds, which they came across in their process of prospecting. In their history of hunting for buried treasure, they advised that coming across several hundred of such coins in one location is quite unusual. Said Hodson, “Sometimes we don’t find like maybe $2 or $3 in maybe a little coin spill. But this was a big coin spill.” Longworth recalled, “I told him when we were digging them up, ‘This is a theft. Somebody dumped this. This isn’t a couple coins that accidentally dumped out of somebody’s pocket.'”
Finding Their Rightful Owner
Photo: Pixabay
After making the discovery, the pair took to the internet, as well as Facebook, to find any possibilities of a relation to local incidents, and they determined in fact that the dump was indeed no accident. Peter Grasso, the previous owner of the “treasure,” several firearms, and a flat-screen television that had been stolen, was able to correctly verify for the men that the coins were, in fact, his property. They had been stolen from his home while he was recovering from triple-bypass surgery in a senior living facility.
Making the Final Presentation
Photo: Flickr/Portable Antiquities Scheme’s
Since their original contact with Grasso, Hodson and Longworth have been returning to the site to find as many of the coins as they can in efforts to clean and return them to their rightful owner. They’re not valuable on the open market, but to their owner, the collection was priceless. Said Longworth, “We’re not going to find the guns, and obviously we’re not gonna find the flat screen TV out there that’s worth finding. But we can get him a little something back.” They haven’t disclosed the location of their finding, due to the fear that others would also prospect for them and not return them, however, their plan is to officially present all of the coins to their owner on January 17. Ironically, this will be at their club’s monthly meeting that happens to be at the same location where Grasso has been recovering. In this case, no X marks the spot!
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