St. Augustine man finds tourist’s missing treasure buried at the beach

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — You might have noticed Joseph Cook wandering the beaches of St. Augustine, near the pier. Once he gets off work, he spends between six and seven hours on the sand, sifting and searching for treasure. However, it’s not for profit.

“I believe if you do good things, good things will happen,” Cook said.

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He’s been metal detecting for 25 years.

“My mom and dad bought me a detector at a young age, and started doing it in the yard,” Cook said. He’s since traded in the grass for the sand and has discovered dozens of priceless items.

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Action News Jax told you back in November of 2022, Cook found a diamond ring on the beach. It turns out it was worth $40,000. He was able to return it to its rightful owner.

“About a month ago, somebody approached me on the beach said they had lost their wedding ring,” Cook said. “I kind of looked that day, and they were on vacation from Canada.”

But, nothing turned up that day. However, he kept his eye out for it. Finally, he struck gold on Wednesday.

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“Something told me to go over there. I went over to that same spot that I’ve been to 100 times, and I wasn’t over there four minutes,” Cook said. “About a foot and a half down, I find this guy’s wedding ring.”

He never got the couple’s direct contact information, but he did give out his Instagram handle, and through the power of social media, they found him.

“He contacted me on my Instagram page and said ‘Oh my god you found my ring I can’t believe it,’” Cook recounted.

In a post, the woman commented on a post saying, “My husband watched your videos every single day, hoping you would find his ring !!!”

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“It’s gonna sound corny as can be, but when they’re happy and smiling and to see some of them tear up and cry, it makes me happy,” Cook said.

He said he never sells the items he finds. In fact, he holds onto them in hopes of returning them to their owner. He posts most of his findings on Instagram and TikTok.

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