The Curse of Oak Island: Silver Treasure Discovered in the Money Pit (Season 12)

 

**NARRATOR:**
In the search for deeper answers on Oak Island, metal detection expert Gary Drayton and Peter Fornetti have arrived on Lot 4, located on the western side of the island. Their mission? To sift through more than ten tons of spoils excavated from Lot 5, where the team uncovered a mysterious round feature near the shoreline that could hold significant clues.

**GARY:**
“No mistaking these spoils, mate. All of these came from Lot 5, around that big feature. There’s a huge pile of material to go through.”

**NARRATOR:**
The area surrounding this stone-lined feature has yielded a surprising range of artifacts, with objects dating back centuries. From a 14th-century lead barter token to 17th-century iron tools, the items found here are an eclectic mix—raising even more questions. Adding to the intrigue is a mortar-like substance found in the stone foundation, which appears to match materials that were discovered more than 100 feet deep in the Money Pit, as well as beneath Cone E of the potentially 800-year-old Nolan’s Cross.

**GARY:**
“Let’s get stuck in there, mate.”

**PETER:**
“Okay, let’s do it.”

**NARRATOR:**
With a plan to focus first on nonferrous metals, Gary and Peter begin sweeping their detectors over the spoils, hoping to uncover more clues that will help them piece together the history of the mysterious feature.

*(Metal detector beeping)*

**GARY:**
“Ooh, that’s a banging signal, mate.”

**PETER:**
“Okay, it’s gonna be good, mate.”

**NARRATOR:**
The detector pings excitedly, and the two men begin to dig, carefully extracting the object from the earth.

*(Pinpointer beeping)*

**PETER:**
“In your hand?”

**GARY:**
“What a find!”

**PETER:**
“I think we’ve found a cut coin.”

**GARY:**
“And if this is a cut coin, mate…” *(stammering with excitement)* “Oh, I’m getting bumswizzled, mate.”

**NARRATOR:**
Gary is elated. The object they’ve uncovered appears to be a cut coin, which could hold significant historical value. During the 15th to 18th centuries, cutting coins into smaller pieces was a common practice, particularly in Spain and other European nations, where both military units and pirates would cut coins into quarters or eighths to use as currency or payment for services rendered.

**GARY:**
“If this is a cut coin, mate, it could well be a Spanish coin. More than likely, it’s silver.”

**PETER:**
“Okay.”

**GARY:**
“Look at that clean break—it’s been quartered. They used to cut the silver and gold coins like that to make change back in the day.”

**NARRATOR:**
Is it possible that they’ve just found a piece of a valuable Spanish treasure coin? Between the 15th and 18th centuries, Spanish coins—often cut into smaller denominations for trade or payment—were commonly used in the Americas. This discovery could be another tantalizing clue in Oak Island’s mystery.

**GARY:**
“And this is absolutely brilliant, mate. We’ll bag it up and get it back to the lab.”

**PETER:**
“What a day.”

**NARRATOR:**
Excited by the find, Gary and Peter head back to the Oak Island Laboratory to meet with Rick and Jack Begley, eager to have the coin analyzed by archaeologist Laird Niven and archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan.

**RICK:**
“Well, well, well… Look at that walk, you two. What a strut!”

**GARY:**
“Pete and I have been searching the spoils off Lot 5, and we’ve just recovered a real top-pocket find. You are gonna love this.”

**NARRATOR:**
As the team gathers around, Gary presents the coin, which is carefully examined by Laird and Emma. The anticipation is palpable.

**GARY:**
“It’s got some weight to it. What do you think?”

**LAIRD:**
“It’s a cut coin.”

**GARY:**
“Pete and I believe it’s silver.”

**LAIRD:**
“Wait, silver? No way!”

**GARY:**
“Way! And it’s perfectly cut. It’s quartered.”

**NARRATOR:**
The discovery is met with excitement. A quartered coin could be an important clue. But to confirm its significance, Laird decides to put it through a CT scan for a closer look.

**LAIRD:**
“I’m going to pop it into the CT scanner and try to get an image of it.”

**NARRATOR:**
The CT scanner uses X-ray radiation to produce high-resolution, three-dimensional images of the coin. This method allows for a more detailed analysis of the object without damaging it.

**EMMA:**
“This scan will be quick, but it’s not going to give us a perfect image. We’ll need a longer scan to see more detail.”

**RICK:**
“So, you’ll do a longer scan?”

**EMMA:**
“Yeah, it’s early days, but we’ll be patient.”

**NARRATOR:**
As they wait for the scan, Rick reflects on the significance of the find. He’s hopeful that it could provide vital insights into the timeline of events on Oak Island.

**RICK:**
“Where there’s one, there might be two, three, four, five… Let’s go find more.”

**NARRATOR:**
The excitement builds as the team discusses the possibility that this cut coin could help further establish the historical timeline of Oak Island, especially regarding the presence of European powers on the island in the 17th century.

**MARTY (via video call):**
“Hopefully, Emma can tell us more about this cut coin.”

**NARRATOR:**
The team now convenes for a video conference with Marty and Craig to discuss the latest findings. Laird provides an update on the CT scan and the results of the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis, which focuses on the elemental composition of the coin’s surface.

**LAIRD:**
“When we first received the coin, we thought it might be Spanish, but after the XRF analysis, we can confirm that it’s a silver English coin from the 1690s. We found faint engravings on one side, including the letters ‘GVLI.’ This is a William III shilling.”

**GARY:**
“Hmm, interesting.”

**EMMA:**
“And we can see the ponytail and the ribbon design clearly. It matches the details of a William III shilling exactly.”

**ALEX (excited):**
“Wow, that’s a shocker!”

**NARRATOR:**
The team is stunned to learn that the coin is not Spanish but rather a silver English shilling from the reign of William III. This coin could be connected to English military activity on the island in the late 17th century.

**MARTY:**
“So, this could push the timeline for habitation on Lot 5 back to the 1600s, or even earlier. It fits with some of the theories we’ve been looking at.”

**LAIRD:**
“Yeah, it certainly supports the idea that there was activity on Oak Island well before the mid-1700s.”

**NARRATOR:**
Could the coin be linked to British military efforts to recover treasure from Oak Island, as suggested in the book *Oak Island and Its Lost Treasure* by Graham Harris and Les MacPhie? Their theory posits that English allies of Sir William Phips may have made several failed attempts to retrieve treasure from the island in the late 1600s.

**DOUG:**
“If that’s true, then this could be evidence that the British military was on Oak Island, trying to recover treasure from Phips’ ill-fated expedition.”

**NARRATOR:**
Could this 1697 English coin be part of that elusive treasure recovery effort? Doug Crowell believes it is significant, noting that the gold and silver particles found in the current water tests point to the continued presence of treasure on Oak Island—just waiting to be found.

**RICK:**
“Oak Island is a very complex mystery. But the only way to solve it is to find undeniable proof that will make even the most hardened skeptic say, ‘I believe.'”

**MARTY:**
“Let’s get back out there and keep digging. The mystery continues.”