One boy's passion for history has the whole family involved

When Bobby Grangier's metal detector went crazy with whines and whistles, the 10-year-old boy knew he had found something special in the mud near his feet.

Was it trash iron or treasure?

It would be a good day indeed, because the junior detector had hit the jackpot on Virginia's Eastern Shore. On the beach of the Chesapeake Bay shoreline, Bobby found a treasure hoard.

Within minutes he found a coin, smaller than a thumbnail. Yet the detector said there were other targets to be dug. His fingers squished the mud from one coin after another found in a 3-square-yard area. The boy was in detector heaven as the whining machine exploded with activity, hit after hit after hit.

Almost dizzy with exhilaration, Bobby found coin after coin, until the detector went silent after revealing the location of 48 coins.

When he washed off the dark copper discs, Bobby knew they were unusual. He had made one of the most unusual discoveries on the Shore in finding a cache of Roman and Greek coins dating to about 500 AD.

Dale Clifton Jr., known as "Delaware's Treasure Man," is owner of DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum in Fenwick Island. He has been working with Bobby on identifying the artifacts he finds. Clifton said the discovery of so many ancient coins in one location is unprecedented on the Shore, though he has found a number in the Lewes area.'

"I think they were probably a curiosity collected by ship captains who shared them with their children and grandchildren, who may have played with them and lost them or buried them as their 'treasure.' Over the years they are discovered," Clifton said. "In the 18th century their value was really in the copper content, not the age of the coin or country of origin."

"Apparently they were once buried on land near shore and were washed out on the beach. Dale said it was uncommon to find so many because they would usually be melted and turn into Colonial coinage," said Bobby's grandfather, Ronnie Grangier.

"Dale also said they may have been children's 'pirate loot,' buried for safe keeping," added his mother, Sarah.

"You never know what you will find"

That discovery was made this past summer. Now Bobby is exploring the field next to his home in Perryhawkin.

His grandfather and grandmother, Bonnie Grangier, and his mother hovered around the metal detector as Bobby swept the circular wand over a potential hot spot. A sudden burst of tone indicated a "hit," a site worth excavating where gold, silver or copper might be found several inches below the surface.

What can rapidly become an obnoxious, piercing, annoying, grating sound, much like that of a theramin, or a police car siren, is sweet music to the treasure hunter's ears.

Under the moist, rotting roots of corn stalks, Bobby slipped the sharp edge of his shovel deep into the black earth. Somewhere, in an area about the size of a slice of bread, there was hidden treasure.

He scanned the first clump of dirt removed from the shallow hole with back and forth swipes with his metal detector. The hoped-for whine of the electronic wonder, indicating that a metal object was in the clump, failed to sound. When he dipped the circular wand back onto the hole, the detector's tone indicated something was still hidden just inches deeper.

It was a tense moment for the explorer. He scanned the second clump of dirt knocked free from the shovel. Sure enough, the metal detector whistled with excitement. Something of value was hidden in the baseball-size piece of earth.

With bare fingers, Bobby crumbled away the coating of dirt when suddenly a thin disc was revealed. In the palm of his hand he cradled a worn, smooth, copper English coin with a date of 1772. He may have been the first person to touch the coin since the owner lost it more than 200 years years ago.

The soft-spoken youngster, with the thrill of discovery brightening his dark eyes, yelled, "Mom, it's like a coin off the Faithful Steward."

The Faithful Steward was an English ship that went down in the Atlantic in 1785 and was said to have been carrying 400 barrels of half pennies and gold guineas. For decades, coins have washed up on the shoreline just north of the Indian River Inlet, south of Rehoboth Beach, now famous as "Coin Beach."

Who would have thought treasure was hidden in a cornfield in the heart of Perryhawkin in Somerset County?

"I'm like his assistant," his mother said with a proud smile. "I do a lot of the research with him learning about the things he finds. Really, it has been incredible. I also try to find him places where he can search.

"It takes a lot of patience to do this, because for every good find you have, there might be 50 holes dug only to find trash pieces, like can tabs, shotgun shell casings or rusted pieces of farm equipment," Sarah said. "You keep goin' because, on that 51st hole, you might find something really cool. You never know what you will find."

"We found a button off a uniform worn by someone who worked for the Baltimore Rail Road out here," Bonnie said, "and a big Colonial button. We've also found tractor parts and lots and lots of iron junk, beer cans, all kinds of stuff."

Fun for the whole family

Not long ago, lost deep amid the roots of an old tree in the yard of his aunt's home, he found a 1774 coin. "He really had to work for it, but it was unbelievable," his mother said.

The youngster's interest in treasure began with tales of shipwrecks off the East Coast.

"He has always been into the shipwreck thing," said Sarah, "but when my husband, Kip, and I bought him a Junior Bounty metal detector when he was 9, that's how he got started. Soon we all got into it with him and are involved in the research. It's become a really fun hobby for the whole family. We go out on adventures together. My family takes him on trips and my husband's family takes him, as well. It's really been an adventure for all of us."

Vacations are now planned to include potential sites for metal detecting. Bobby has also developed a strong interest in the American Civil War, and is hoping to join a local reenactment group. Last year's family summer vacation was Civil War-oriented.

"He got his 'junior historian' designation from the National Park Service this past summer," his grandfather said. He has a badge and certificate for having completed a mini-course from each National Park Service site.

In his living room "museum," the boy has assembled a collection of choice artifacts. Each nail, button, coin and item comes with a tale of its discovery and a story about its history. Bobby picked up a Spanish Maravedis copper cob, dating to the 1600s, discovered on a beach in Accomack County. "They were first made in 1497," Bobby explained. "This was the very first coin that got me started, when I was 8."

After reading up on the history of Virgina's Eastern Shore, the boy quickly deduced that there were other things to be found. The chase was on.

Historical significance

His discoveries are not without considerable historical significance. Near Deal Island, Bobby unearthed a rare piece of county history.

The boy found what first appeared to be a large coin while detecting. Once cleaned, it appeared to have been a medallion. As big as an American silver dollar, the copper medal has an intentionally punched hole and damage to the rim and face, which could suggest having been struck by a bullet.

Minted in France in 1807, the front of the medal shows the laureate head of Emperor Napoleon and, on the reverse, an eagle clutching a thunderbolt, part of the emperor's imperial seal.

Amateur historian Warner Sumpter, who has researched the history of the War of 1812 in Somerset County, suggested to Bobby that the medal may have been lost by a British soldier who had confiscated it from a French soldier, possibly during fighting between the French and British in Canada. Tangier Sound, off Deal Island, was a hotbed of British naval activity during the War of 1812.

The hole probably held the cord that suspended the medal from the soldier's neck. Whatever the case, it is a small bit of evidence indicating the British were indeed in Somerset County during the War of 1812. No other medal of this type is known to have been found in the county.

More than 200 years old, it retains sharp details.

In the summer, Bobby swam along the shoreline with goggles, looking for underwater history. His goal this summer is to become a certified scuba diver so he can accompany Clifton on a treasure hunt adventure. He will be traveling to Pennsylvania for classes.

A main test, said his mother, is his physical ability to manage a 50-pound tank. This could prove tough for the 63-pound boy.

"He has wanted to be a scuba diver for years and years," said his grandmother, "and he has to be 10 years old to take the classes." He practices by walking around with his grandfather's air tank — purchased during his college years — on his back to help get accustomed to the weight.

"I already have a job lined up," the fifth-grader said. "Mr. Dale said I can come to work for him when I'm old enough."

Clifton is said to have the world's largest privately held treasure museum.

"Dale is a mentor to Bobby," Sarah said. "Because of Dale's advice to him, Bobby's treasure hunts have been very successful." Clifton said he was about the same age as Bobby when he was bitten by the treasure hunter's bug.

Bobby spends as much time researching the artifacts he collects as he does finding them in fields and beaches. Each item in his museum has a special story, a special significance to him. The eclectic collection showcases glass items, Native American Indian pottery shards, Civil War Minié ball, bottles, neat curios of the past.

It is a mystical union, when artifacts two centuries old come alive again in the hands of a boy. In the ground, some of the highly worn copper coins of old may be almost worthless, but in his hands they become a glowing treasure, a beacon of life-changing enlightenment. Across the ages, these bits of history have the power to direct and influence one young man's life and career.

"Maybe I'll have the chance to have my own treasure hunting team when I'm older. Or maybe I will be an archaeologist," Bobby said.

"When he was little, he had an interest in sports and martial arts, but this has become his passion," said Bobby's father, Kip. "He loves this, and I enjoy looking at the neat stuff he finds and helping him clean artifacts and do research. I don't know where this is taking him, but I hope it will be into a career field that he really enjoys."

bstump@dmg.gannett.com