Saltburn-by-the-Sea

c.cooper7, on December 16, 2007, said:

my dad vic,on retirement,took up metal detecting here.he found a 1685 golden guinea ,the only british coin with two monarchs heads on, william and mary.the next day he was on the front page of our local paper.what happend next, yip he was followed around the beach with twenty metal detectors in tow,but he was leading them away from the cherished spot.school children came to the beach on nature walks.the teacher would ask dad if he had found anything,and he would launch into a free history lesson ,on kings and queens and british coins.god bless you dad.ray thorpe

Derick Pearson, on February 3, 2008, said:

Hi Ray, I do remember your Dad Victor Thorpe well.We used to go metal detecting on Saltburn and Redcar beach together and sometimes ventured into the old Italian Garden flood plane area, although he preferred the beach. I have detected alongside him (10 to 15 yards away)on many an occasion including the same week he found That beautiful 1685 William and Mary Guinea. I knew him for some years. Both before he found it and afterwards. Some of the local detectorist's used to make fun of dad because he used a little Viking metal detector (model 32) if I remember right, with a small head and many of the lads from the club had far superior machines. I remember on a couple of occasions he was down on the beach at Saltburn when the weather had stripped the beach down to the small rocks near to the pier car park. On both those occasions he did better then some of the high class machines because his little (4 inch I think) viking search coil would go in among the rocks. He had a strange wave your wand search method too but oh boy did he prove them all wrong when he got the lovely William and Mary Guinea. I had the coin year book in the car glove box always and when heard of his find we priced it we all got a shock. We got an even greater shock when it was valued at over twice what the Coin year book said. I liked him and he was a very down to earth man. He did cause us some concern though for some time after he found the Guinea as he used to keep it in a little plastic coin envelope in his wallet and if the kids or youths used to ask if he had found anything, out came the guinea and hence starteth the history lesson. On 2 occasions I myself and a friend had to go over to him and stand pretending to talk with him as he had shown some unruly youths it and we were concerned for his safety.He sometimes used to show it to the wrong sort. It was not a wise thing to do when one was on a windy beach and sometimes with headphones on. Please don't think I am calling him in any way, but we were concerned for him due to the value of the Guinea. However wonderful memories of a wonderful period in my life and the stories and dreams we oft shared laughingly while on the beach. Always searching for the biggie. We (the local lads) used to laugh when we used to watch him with a few new to the area detector merchants who had seen the newspaper report, and they were following him at a distance thinking he did not know. They were all watching where he searched and as sure as shot when he knew they were there he used to drift slowly toward all the rubbish and away from any good find areas. Grinning quietly to himself. The last I heard of your Dad was when we voiced to one another that we had not seen Victor for a while and one of the lads said he was poorly. Good days those, even though it was cold at times.The Detector club at that time was Cleveland Discoverers who used to meet at the back of the High St at Redcar, although Victor was not keen to participate a lot.He preferred to be individual and I understood him in many ways. Topkapi Gems also played a big part in the metal detecting scene at that time with a very leaned man called Edward Fletcher. Edward (Ted) did not always do things by the book but was extremely knowledgeable in his field and wrote a few books. However all could not work with him. You have stirred some memories for me with your letter. I have for many years been a local Historian and have been involved in local historical projects involving 1000s of photos and old documents. I hope one day what we write now will be of interest to others in years to come. Good to hear from you again. I hope you are well, and thanks for stirring up some of my past and your Dads too. If you wish to contact me I will give you my email on your next response.

Kind Regards

Derick

c.cooper7, on February 6, 2008, said:

that was nice Derick,thank you,ray thorpe.