Rick Lagina and metal detection expert Gary Drayton bring the bejeweled brooch they discovered on Lot 21 to the home of veteran treasure hunter Dan Blankenship, where they show it to Dan and Marty Lagina. The artifact features a more intricate design and better preservation than the rhodolite garnet brooch found on Lot 8 the previous season. Archaeologist Laird Niven later examines the piece at the Oak Island Visitors' Centre and observes that the ornamental housing has been gilded with gold leaf, a finding he considers unusual for Nova Scotia archaeological sites. At the Mug and Anchor Pub in Mahone Bay, the team discusses next steps and decides to have both brooches examined by a specialist in Calgary. Eagle Canada, meanwhile, continues the full-scale seismic survey at the Money Pit, detonating over 225 charges that morning at a pace of roughly 100 per hour. Charles Barkhouse monitors the operation, which has been calibrated to map structures 150 to 200 feet below the surface.
Preparations for the Smith's Cove cofferdam move forward as Brycon Construction and Irving Equipment finalize logistics. The project requires a new access road, roughly 175 loads of fill material, and a 300-ton crane that will be assembled near the Money Pit before staging on a purpose-built pad at the beach. The cofferdam will stretch nearly 525 feet, using interlocking steel sheets driven 25 feet into the ground to create a watertight barrier allowing excavation of roughly 12,000 square feet. The team hopes to uncover the U-shaped structure Dan Blankenship found in 1970, locate the flood tunnel system, and recover additional artifacts.
Rick, Marty, and Dave Blankenship fly to Calgary to have both brooches examined by Charles Lewton-Brain, a professional gemologist, master goldsmith, and longtime university instructor at the Alberta College of Art and Design. Using a digital video microscope capable of 220x magnification, Lewton-Brain confirms the Lot 8 stone is a genuine hand-cut garnet with a refractive index above 1.7. The Lot 21 stone, however, turns out to be hand-made leaded glass, identifiable by numerous tiny bubbles visible under magnification. While not a gemstone, Lewton-Brain notes that glass gems have been produced for at least 500 years and that formulas for red glass were closely guarded secrets, sometimes written in code. The setting proves even more significant: the wire surrounding the bezel displays a spiral pattern known as block twisting, a technique dating to the Bronze Age in which metal is hammered into a thin rod and twisted to form a braid-like wire. Because drawplates replaced this method around 1340, the brooch could predate the 14th century. Lewton-Brain describes the work as European, crude, and consistent with countryside craftsmanship.
Marty Lagina, his son Alex Lagina, and Craig Tester then travel to St. Mary's University in Halifax, where associate professor of chemistry Dr. Christa Brosseau and colleague Dr. Xiang Yang examine the Lot 21 brooch under a high-powered scanning electron microscope. The analysis reveals the setting is primarily brass, but a bright area directly beneath where the stone sat registers as gold. The result marks the first scientifically verified gold found on Oak Island. Back in the War Room, Marty shares the news and connects it to Lewton-Brain's block-twist dating, noting that the artifacts keep pushing the timeline further back than anyone expected. Combined with the laser ablation results confirming the lead cross was crafted from non-North American lead, the team sees mounting evidence of pre-searcher European activity on the island. At the Money Pit, Rick and Dan Henskee witness Eagle Canada fire their final charge, wrapping up the seismic data collection that will be processed over the coming weeks in Calgary.
