007tallguy
Elite Member
no, i haven't been detecting on the actual Island (as of yet) and this isn't a huge chest full of gold, but.... this token speaks for itself, haha.
i was itching to get out today to do a little bit of swinging and i managed to find a little patch of lawn nearby where this weeks' snow had melted away. after swinging for an hour or so and digging up the usual trash, i came up with this little item.
initially, i thought it was a silver quarter or 50c coin cause it really sang a nice little tune on the 250. but then i saw the pirate on it and the words "Oak Island" and i thought to myself... "what have we here?"
I honestly don't remember seeing one of these before, but after a bit of research i did find a little write up about them and i'll quote this comment made to someone who managed to purchase a couple of these tokens on Ebay about 6 years ago. (i haven't been able to find out what he paid for them, but i guess they go for quite bit!):
"Back in 1974/75, those coins were used to "salt" a fake treasure pit we had built on the far end of South Shore beach, for the little pirates who travelled with their parents to visit Oak Island. Kids would get inside the pit we had made out of Spruce logs and dig for the treasures that were salted that morning and that way, they could go home and say they found treasure on Oak Island.
This was an initiative by the Provincial Tourism Department when they ran tours of Oak Island from 1973 - 1975. I have seen some of them on ebay and I know of at least two other OITS members who own at least one. I have one too and I show it off every year at EOID. I remember seeing bags and bags of them and I often wondered where they all ended up.
Oak Island souvenirs are few and far between. Back in the day when I worked for the Tourism Department we did not have a store where OI goodies like t-shirts or hats could be sold (an over site), but I do remember having these coins, a bumper sticker and posters. I do not recall seeing any bumper stickers anywhere for sale, nor have I seen a poster, but once in a blue moon, you see these coins, congratulations, you have a real treasure."
so there ya go, even though it wasn't found on the island, i now have my very own little piece of the Oak Island treasure!
thanks for looking.
Pete
i was itching to get out today to do a little bit of swinging and i managed to find a little patch of lawn nearby where this weeks' snow had melted away. after swinging for an hour or so and digging up the usual trash, i came up with this little item.
initially, i thought it was a silver quarter or 50c coin cause it really sang a nice little tune on the 250. but then i saw the pirate on it and the words "Oak Island" and i thought to myself... "what have we here?"
I honestly don't remember seeing one of these before, but after a bit of research i did find a little write up about them and i'll quote this comment made to someone who managed to purchase a couple of these tokens on Ebay about 6 years ago. (i haven't been able to find out what he paid for them, but i guess they go for quite bit!):
"Back in 1974/75, those coins were used to "salt" a fake treasure pit we had built on the far end of South Shore beach, for the little pirates who travelled with their parents to visit Oak Island. Kids would get inside the pit we had made out of Spruce logs and dig for the treasures that were salted that morning and that way, they could go home and say they found treasure on Oak Island.
This was an initiative by the Provincial Tourism Department when they ran tours of Oak Island from 1973 - 1975. I have seen some of them on ebay and I know of at least two other OITS members who own at least one. I have one too and I show it off every year at EOID. I remember seeing bags and bags of them and I often wondered where they all ended up.
Oak Island souvenirs are few and far between. Back in the day when I worked for the Tourism Department we did not have a store where OI goodies like t-shirts or hats could be sold (an over site), but I do remember having these coins, a bumper sticker and posters. I do not recall seeing any bumper stickers anywhere for sale, nor have I seen a poster, but once in a blue moon, you see these coins, congratulations, you have a real treasure."
so there ya go, even though it wasn't found on the island, i now have my very own little piece of the Oak Island treasure!
thanks for looking.
Pete