Provincetown, Dec. 11, 2:02 p.m.: Michael Costa’s metal detector is beeping. He drops to his knees and digs and sieves through the sand with an unselfconscious eagerness. The man is looking for treasure along Provincetown Harbor’s shore.
The bounty is modest: a rusty mercury dime from 1945. He pulls out his phone to look up its value. “It’s not worth much,” he says. “Maybe 15 bucks.” But that doesn’t matter. “Today I’m just thinking about being one with nature.”
The Provincetown native, now an Eastham resident, says he spends his free time combing the Outer Cape’s beaches, searching not for fortune but for fun. Credit cards, cell phones, coins, and earrings are among his usual finds.
“I found somebody’s wedding ring once,” he says. “I posted it on Provincetown Community Space and got it back to them.” —Elias Duncan
