A Spoonful of Clues on Lot 26 (Season 12) Exclusive | The Curse of Oak Island

We’re looking for treasure on Oak Island.
So when we make finds like a silver spoon, who might have buried the mother lode in the Money Pit. ♪ ♪

Here we are, mate.
Okey doke. There’s the next cluster of flags, mate.
And we’re down on the bottom of Lot 26.
Mm-hmm.
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And I’ve sniffed out some nonferrous-sounding targets.

In all the discoveries you’ve made here, what’s the best one in your opinion?
That’s like asking me which is me favorite kid. I can’t choose, mate. They’re all as good.
Okay, I’m gonna make another statement, then.

I think your favorite find that you’ve found on Lot 26 is right there.
I love it, mate. I love that positivity. All right.

GARY: Let’s dig some good stuff up.
Let’s see what it’s got. (metal detector beeping)
There you go.
Yeah. Get in there, my son. That sounds really good.

That’s gonna be a two-part hole here.
I always know when you think there’s a coin coming up, mate, ’cause you start making another island. (Rick laughs)
Okay. (beeping) That’s a good sign. Still in there. (pinpointer beeping)

Mm.
GARY: What’s this? Whatever that is—
Oh! Wow.

What is it?
That… is a nice little spoon handle, mate. By the look of it, look.
RICK: Oh, yeah.
And you know what?
Silver! We’ve just found silver, baby!
It is! Wow, I thought it would have to be a higher tone to be silver.
That—
We found some silver, mate.
(laughs)
That—That’s an old silver spoon by the look of it.

And, of course, a little spoon bowl like this is definitely a sign of wealth.
Because back in the day a little spoon like this would’ve been usedfor sugar or salt, which were two valuable commodities.
And you had to have money to have sugar and salt back in the day.
The spoons were small, and this is your typical small spoon.
Wow. And I’m sure Laird would be able to date this by the base.
It’s… it’s looking period for the lot.

It looks like a colonial…
Mm-hmm.
…silver spoon handle.
Ah!
(Rick chuckles) That’s sweet.
RICK: Can you see something there, or is that just…?
GARY: If there’s something there on the—the back here, that would be a hallmark or the maker’s name.

And that would mean more than likely it’s a British spoon.
And if there were no hallmarks? Then more than likely North American.
And it’s gonna be nice actually taking in some precious metals into the lab.

RICK: Yep. Cracking little find, mate.
Some silver.
It’s a cool… it’s a cool little find.
Can’t beat a bit of silver for breakfast on Oak Island.
Yeah.
Yes, we can.
Yeah, we can.
With a coin.
Yeah, exactly, a gold one.

Or perhaps treasure recovery, then that whole area is of significant interest.

On to the next. Come on.

(beeping)
Oh.
Ooh.
Not so good. You never can tell, mate, till you dig ’em up.
Definitely go deeper.
Wow, what a little hot spot this has turned into. (metal detector beeping)
Is that high enough?
That’s making me toes tingle, mate.
Ah! (beeping)
It’s in my hand, mate.
Did you see it?
No, not yet. (metal detector beeping)
That is tiny.
It’s that, whatever that is.

GARY: I think, mate, that this is silver.
And this could be the handle for that spoon bowl that we found.Is that a mark or an emblem?
It looks like it’s some kind of design on it, mate.
Look at this. Sure does resemble silver on the edge, doesn’t it?
That—you think that would be the handle?
Maybe, maybe this is too large to be a handle.
That’s what it looks like.
It looks like a handle. Like the design has been embossed.
Think we might found two pieces of silver, mate.
(Rick chuckles) That would be cool, wouldn’t it?
I’m sure Emma will be able to scan these and tell us.
Absolutely bloody fantastic, mate.

So, both spoon-related?
Yeah, it looks like one’s, like, a handle off a spoon or a fork, and obviously that looks like a fork or a spoon.

LAIRD: Mm-hmm, right.
GARY: A small spoon would have been for sugar or salt.

So what can you tell from the metal of a silver spoon?
I think silver—this is the first time we’ve tried to do this with silver, isn’t it?

That would be up to Emma.
Um, so I can tell you that it is indeed silver.
Woo-hoo.
There you go.
Cool.
Precious metals.
EMMA: Precious metal, there you go.

Um, 90% silver.
It’s got about four to five percent copper on average.
Um, it does also have a three percent aluminum content, which does date it around Samuel Ball.

Oh.
Oh.
So it’s kind of Napoleon post.
ALEX: Hmm.
GARY: Absolutely fantastic.
I was hoping maybe there were some hallmarks on it because it is silver.
Yeah.
GARY: Hmm.
RICK: There’s the little piece that broke off.
LAIRD: Yeah. Do you make anything by the stem here?
Where the bowl meets the handle?
LAIRD: Well, I think you’re—
I think it’s later 1700s, yeah.
Yeah.
LAIRD: The hallmark should be there.
They’d be tiny, tiny hallmarks.
But you’re right, it’s a delicate spoon.
Interesting.

And you found these where, Gary?
On Lot 26, not too far off the pond.
Okay, so pretty close to the Ball foundation, then.
RICK: I’d say it was halfway between the Ball foundation and the pond.
If the Ball foundation’s here, it’s—They weren’t in line.

Yeah, angled away.
It was over here and then it was over there.
Oh, okay. Well, isn’t that a strange place to find something like this?
That’s exactly what we both said.
Yeah. We couldn’t figure it out.
It’s not something you carry around in your pocket.
ALEX: No.
How did they break down to get into such small pieces?

With silver, I’d have to think it’s deliberately broken.

Yeah, that’s what I would think, I mean…
Yeah.
Yeah, I think it’s called axe silver.
LAIRD: Yeah, to be melted down, yeah.
GARY: Yeah.

And these two pieces stood out to me ’cause they don’t look like they’re a match.

No.
They look like two separate things, so… what is someone doing hacking up pieces of silver?

I was just gonna say, you didn’t find the rest of this, so it’s not like they just broke where they lay.

GARY: No.
So maybe somebody was hacking up pieces of silver.
Yeah, and of course it’s a precious metal.
Right.
GARY: And… you know, there is a rumor that Samuel Ball found part of the treasure.
Mm-hmm.

This would have been an expensive item back in the day.
Both of these pieces.

It does lend a little bit of an air of mystery to whatever was going on at his property on the island.

Laird, how much would this have cost?
I mean, would this have been a precious thing?
Yeah, we don’t, we don’t recover silver in an archaeological context very much.

How close were these to each other?

RICK: Oh, they were quite close.
GARY: Yeah, maybe…
Quite close.
…three or four feet?
If that.
Yeah.

The only curious thing, then, if you follow that is, right across from where we found those, remember, we found a preponderance of iron.
There were, there were chunks like this laying about.

Yeah.
And we thought maybe that was an area for either a smithy or a portable smithy, and we’ve been told by Carmen and by you that iron was a resource.
Yeah.
So if there was an intent to process or melt down silver, it was very close.
How far would you say it was?
Maybe 20… 20 feet?

ALEX: How close was this to the well on Lot 26?

GARY: I would say 40 feet.
Hmm.
LAIRD: I think you’re working towards a really good point, where the well…
ALEX: Yeah. Yeah.
…if you have a forge, that would be essential.
That is what I was thinking.
LAIRD: Yeah.
CRAIG: One thing odd about the well water, it’s one of the few areas that there was silver in the water.
LAIRD: Well, there you go.

I think the next step is, try to decide if there is a smithy there.

Yeah.
ALEX: I think that’s a good idea.

The conclusion that I’m drawing here is that somebody was melting this down.

RICK: Yeah.
And maybe a clue, then, to who Samuel might have been other than just a very industrious, creative person who excelled at what he did and made his mark.
ALEX: Right.
RICK: I’m for heading back out. Going to find more.
The more, the more pieces, the more data.
The more data, the more speculation.
Speculation can lead to hard facts.
Yeah.
RICK: Okay, let’s get out there.

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A Spoonful of Clues on Lot 26 (Season 12) *Exclusive* | The Curse of Oak Island