Buried treasures to be found on Ocean City beach

An Ocean Pines man, who wished to remain anonymous, is scattering hundreds of coins from around the world that he collected as a child at various spots on the beach in Ocean City. OCEAN CITY TODAY/CHRISTINE CULLEN (July 23, 2010) Keep your eyes open while out on the beach in Ocean City, because you just might find a buried treasure.

An Ocean Pines resident wanted to do something to give back to the community after his retirement, and for the past few weeks he has been discretely dropping hundreds of coins from around the world into the sand along the beach for beachgoers to find.

“I thought this might be an interesting way to get rid of my coin collection and hopefully bring a smile to kids’ faces and stimulate their interest in coins,” said the 68-year old, who wanted his good deed to remain anonymous.

The man, a retired teacher from Baltimore, moved to Ocean Pines six years ago. As a young boy, he was an avid coin collector, and amassed around 800 or 900 coins from all around the globe.

The coins sat in a box in his attic for many years, and he said he had forgotten about the collection until it surfaced during a recent spate of spring cleaning. Instead of simply giving the coins to another collector, he instead opted to sprinkle them across the beach to spread a little joy.

“It’s like buried treasures for people to find. I’ll never know the results, but I can picture the smiles when kids find a neat coin in the sand,” he said. “I know I would have thought it was neat to find a coin on the beach from another country when I was younger.”

After looking through the collection, he decided to keep just one coin for himself: a cracked and weathered small coin likely from the time of the Roman Empire. That coin is undoubtedly worth some money, though he has never had his collection appraised, and he felt it was too valuable to discard. While there may be some other coins worth some money in the bunch, he said nothing was worth more than the delight he hopes a young child will have upon finding a buried coin.

The coins are from countries as varied at England, Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, Cuba and China, and some are up to 100 years old. They will all be quietly tossed into the sand, at various locations throughout Ocean City. He did not want to disclose the locations because he wanted the people finding the coins to be surprised with their new treasures. A few days each week, he fills his pockets with coins and walks a few blocks of the beach, casually dropping them when nobody is looking.

“Some are sitting right on top, while others get buried by their weight. I’m sure by now some people have found some,” he said, smiling at the prospect of turning a child into a budding young coin collector.