Tried a Different Approach and it Worked!

Lee1968

Elite Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2019
Messages
1,144
Location
Worden, IL
I live outside a small farming town in Southern Illinois. People around here are friendly, but private. Their first reaction to cold knocking on a door, is generally suspicion followed by a polite "no". There is a church in town that states on their website they have served the town since 1877. It is not a very big area to hunt, probably the size of a small yard, but I would like to try it. So with nothing to lose, I contacted them through their website since they had an e-mail address and said this:
Greetings,
I am an avid metal detector hobbyist in Worden. I was hoping to get permission to use my metal detector on your property to see what I could possibly unearth. I enjoy collecting old coins and relics, and do not sell anything I find. It all goes into my collection. I am very respectful of the property of those kind enough to allow me to detect on their property. My process is as follows - I find a diggable target (usually from 2"-8" deep), I lay out a towel and carefully dig a plug from the ground and place it on the towel. Once the target is found, I carefully place the dirt and the plug back in an effort to make it as unnoticeable as possible. My favorite locations are old farms and homesteads, but with the history of your church, I wanted to take a chance and ask.

My background -
Married for 34 years
2 grown children
Detectorist for ~15 years.
Member of the Madison County Historical Society
Employed at the same company for 24 years.

I appreciate your consideration, and look forward to hearing from you.


I received a response last night from them:

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner but I needed to get
permission from the trustees. They see no problem for you
using your metal detector on our church property. Thanks
for asking first. Appreciate it. Diana
 
Nice work and great permission! Hope it is untouched ground and you find some beauties!
 
That's great news....

but....not to be a debbie downer, I don't like the tone of "thanks for asking permission first". Since it's private property you SHOULD ask permission, but her response gives me the impression that others HAVE detected it without permission. I hope that's not the case, or if they have that they've gotten all the junk out for you. Be sure to report back with the goodies you find.
 
Nice! I did the exact same thing this week for a church that has been around since the early 1800's! The initial reply was that they see no reason not to approve me but wanted to check with their insurance company. They will let me know by tomorrow. They specifically appreciated me asking vice just doing it. Good luck with your hunting!
 
Great work. I have to try this since Im not much of a cold knocker. Would it have been good to add that the old coins and relics would be presented to them before you kept them? Not sure how that works with a church since not one single person owns it.


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Great work. I have to try this since Im not much of a cold knocker. Would it have been good to add that the old coins and relics would be presented to them before you kept them? Not sure how that works with a church since not one single person owns it.


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She asked for pictures of the better finds, which I sent her. After I hunted it a couple of days, I also sent them a "Thank You" card, a few of my business cards, and a small donation to their church.
 
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