About This Artifact
Three small links of gold chain were brought to the surface on the pod-auger bit during the Truro Company's 1849 drilling of the Money Pit. McCully's account states: "We also brought three small links which had apparently been forced from an epaulette. They were gold." An epaulette is an ornamental shoulder piece used on military uniforms and ceremonial coats. Finn (1994) records a slightly different description, calling them "resembling the links of an ancient watch chain." Fanthorpe counted "three or four links" and suggested they could have come from a necklace, bracelet, or the decorated robes of a religious leader.
The chain links represent the only material identified as gold to be recovered from the Money Pit during the nineteenth century. Their extraction was incidental; McCully made clear that the replacement auger's ball-and-pin mechanism could not retrieve coins or larger metallic objects, meaning the links were small enough to bypass the retaining pin where everything else in the metal layers could not.
The links have not survived in any verified collection, and no scientific analysis of their composition or age has been possible. The Truro Company's drilling took place with shareholders observing, and the gold links were presented publicly at the time. A letter in the Roosevelt Presidential Library later confirmed that Franklin Roosevelt's grandfather, Warren Delano, had invested in the Truro Company, the same operation that recovered the gold chain from the Money Pit.
Historical Context
Truro Company; authenticity debated
Where It Was Found
Found at Money Pit, below 98 ft — the original 1795 excavation shaft on Oak Island, Nova Scotia.
