Gary Drayton and Rick Lagina Discover 1700s Military Bag Seal | Laird Niven and Emma Culligan Authenticate Find on Oak Island S11E5

In The Curse of Oak Island Season 11, Episode 5 (“Muon The Horizon”), the spotlight returns to Gary Drayton and Rick Lagina as they revisit Lot 5—an area already famed for yielding Roman coins in earlier seasons. Their goal? To investigate newly flagged signals in the same soil that once delivered coins dating back nearly 2,000 years.

Gary calls it “the coin zone,” and their optimism proves justified. Amid the damp soil, Gary extracts a thick, heavy object that’s quickly identified as another ancient coin—or so it initially seems. Rick holds the find in his hands—after receiving it from Gary—when Gary remarks, “There’s some secrets still in this area here,” hinting at the unexplored potential of Lot 5.

From Coin to Bag Seal: Emma Culligan and Laird Niven Weigh In

The artifact is brought in for expert evaluation. In a follow-up session, Rick joins his brother Marty Lagina, along with archaeologist Laird Niven and archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan. Although the team initially speculated it might be a coin, Culligan and Niven quickly correct course. The object is identified as a lead bag seal, dating back to as early as the 1500s.

Emma uses an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer to confirm the material: lead with trace amounts of iron and copper. Crucially, the seal contains markings that read “I. Lloyd Packers, London”—a clear reference to British Army suppliers who packed and shipped military cloth in the 18th century. This insight makes the object far more than a discarded relic; it is now a clue that potentially links Oak Island to British military logistics.

Historical Links: Army Connections and the Lead Cross

This is not the first time the team has unearthed military-related lead objects. Just west of the swamp, on Lot 32, the team had found another lead bag seal three years prior. Even more remarkably, isotope testing has linked several finds—including the lead cross found at Smith’s Cove in 2017—to materials used across the same time period.

Emma’s analysis also reveals stylistic lettering practices—such as the use of “I” for “J”—which were phased out in English by the early 1500s. That detail pushes the potential dating of the artifact even further back than previously thought.

What This Means for the Oak Island Mystery

This episode reinforces a growing belief among the team that Lot 5 is more than just a random dig site—it’s a hub of ancient activity. Rick Lagina voices the team’s hope clearly: “Once all of the artifacts are analyzed, then you will be able to say with some sort of clarity that yes, this presents an answer.”

The discovery of a British military bag seal from as early as the 1500s raises two tantalizing possibilities:

1. Was it left by those hiding treasure long before 1795?
2. Or was it dropped by searchers from a later era, still hundreds of years ago?

Either way, as Marty sums up: “It adds up to something dramatically different than homesteading.”

Cast Highlighted in This Episode

• Gary Drayton – Metal detection expert and coin hunter
• Rick Lagina – Veteran Oak Island explorer and historian
• Marty Lagina – Strategic lead and voice of reason
• Emma Culligan – Archaeometallurgist providing scientific validation
• Laird Niven – Lead archaeologist offering historical interpretation