We might have found a piece of shoe leather, digging in the Money Pit.

<i>This is a fantastic clue</i> <i>that could help us take a step in the right direction</i> towards figuring out who came to Oak Island and buried treasure a long time ago. ♪ ♪

<i>RICK: You have to keep your eyes open on Oak Island</i> <i>because you’re always looking for clues</i> that will speak eloquently to what happened here.

<i>And we’re digging at the Money Pit,</i> <i>looking for some evidence of Shaft Two</i>

00:45
<i>when Gary makes a very interesting find.</i>

Hmm.

Hey, Rick!

Yeah?

A find, mate. We’re not finding a lot of metals, but on that last load, Billy, this came off. It’s a bit of leather.

-BILLY: Oh, wow.
-RICK: Yeah, that’s cool.
-Yeah. It’s a…
-Well, how did you– What, did you just…?

I just saw it, yeah, with me twin optical scanners. I was just climbing the side there, hoping to find some metal, and at first I thought it was a piece of bark, but then, when you pick it up,

01:29
you can tell it’s leather.

And that’s similar to that, um, shoe that we found in the swamp.

-Yeah.

<i>GARY: This is a nice find,</i> <i>not found with my metal detector either.</i>

<i>I’m always looking at the spoils,</i> <i>and what I just pulled up is a nice piece of leather.</i>

Now, we did find a piece of leather in the swamp dig last year, and we’re always looking for connections on Oak Island, especially between the swamp and the Money Pit.

Maybe these two pieces of leather 02:03 coming from the swamp and the Shaft Two dig are connected.

If it’s leather, we really shouldn’t be handling it.

No, I’m gonna put it in a bag.

I mean… ’cause this can be tested, -and is it Joe Landry?

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

If we could get Joe Landry the leather expert to look at it.

Yeah, normally, you can tell the age by the nail holes that go around the shoe. And I’m just seeing if there’s any– Oh, look. That looks like a little square nail hole there.

-See at the top there?
-BILLY: Yeah.

02:37
RICK: You see the way it’s done, though? This must be the arch. ‘Cause see how much thicker it is?

-Yeah.
-Yeah.
-Uh…
-Well, or-or it was really worn, right?
-GARY: Yeah.
-RICK: Or if it’s– uh, I mean, we’re even guessing that it’s a shoe, really.

GARY: Yeah, could be a boot, a shoe. I mean, that’s what it looks like, though, when you see that arch there.

Well, that came out of the clay. All this thick clay that’s coming up, it rolled out of there.

-Hmm.
-Well…

Again, it doesn’t say, uh, original or re-crib.

-Not yet, no.
-No.

BILLY: If we didn’t have good eyes on that one, that would be hard to see.

Okay, but to think-think about it, right? It’s like, it’s all the ceramics we find, all of them, you know, why just…? (laughs)

That’s the interior of a boot. That’s not the exterior of a boot.

(laughing): Wh-Where’s the boot? The boot might be coming up.

Well, unless it’s a real old boot. Could it be the ex– like an old sole, right? -In your boot.

-GARY: Yeah.

03:39
Well, we’ll find out, we got enough equipment on the island and enough experts we can contact.

I was expecting to find pottery, glass, but leather’s good. Leather’s good.

<i>RICK: The leather that Gary found is interesting.</i>

It certainly does have the possible appearance of being part of a shoe.

-Yeah.
-Interesting.
-It’s a step in the right direction.

-(Rick laughs)

<i>RICK: I think we have avenues to pursue,</i> <i>i.e., I think we bring it to a cobbler</i> <i>or someone familiar with old-style constructions</i>

04:11
<i>of leather shoes,</i> who can say, “Well, this was tanned in this manner, “and these… it was only used this way from such and such to such and such.”

<i>I think there are reasons to be excited about it.</i>

-All right, I’ll put it in a bag.
-Yeah, no. Any find is a good one.
-RICK: It’s a great find.
-GARY: Yep.

RICK: Just shows, you know, not just metal-detecting, it’s watching things.

-Oh, yeah.
-RICK: I don’t know if I’m better off over there or better off here.

04:43
<i>-Okay, good eyes.
-BILLY: All right.</i>

<i>-GARY: Thanks.
-RICK: Really, good eyes.</i>

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