Treasures Abound, Found, Then What???

collegefbfan

Junior Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2018
Messages
76
Okay my detector will be here tomorrow. So, I find stuff. Coins, relics, whatever. Do y'all keep it all as treasure keepsakes, keep the rare stuff, sale rest on eBay. Pawn shop as scrap for cash. Let me know. Thanks
 
So far the trash (pull tabs, can slaw, nails, etc) I throw away. Coins I clean and put through coin star and get an Amazon gift card...other things (jewelry, old coins, pins, buttons, silverware, etc) I keep...right now in ziploc baggies until I decide on a "treasure chest" for my booty.


If/when I find something of actual monetary value (this weekend I think...that's the plan at least) then I'll decide whether to keep it or sell it.
 
Cart before the horse stuff, here.
First, get the detector.
Second, LEARN the detector.
Then you should start finding treasure.
Finding the greatest treasure, (rare coins, nice precious metal jewelry), could happen right away but more logically might take awhile...it took me two weeks till I found even my first coins, it took months until I found my first wheat cent and longer till I dug my first silver coin.
Gold and silver jewelry was a long time coming too but I was in no hurry and eventually those totals started to rise...but that took time.

Some keep everything they have ever found, many sell a lot of their treasure because everyone is different.
Have patience, you will figure out what to do with it a all once you actually get out and start finding stuff.
 
Last edited:
Oh, I know it will take time. I was just curious. I like the Coinstar Amazon gift card idea for regular coins. Still, can't wait...
 
BTW - dont EVER sell gold or silver to a pawn shop. You might as well give it away for how they are going to rob you.

Ebay is OK but lots of scammers out there. Good condition jewelry has a much bigger sale value than its bullion. broken and damaged jewelry can be sold to PM recyclers for about 90% of spot.

Of course, those are all an academic points because
1 - you dont have any gold or silver yet
2 - I'm a pirate and I bury all my gold and silver. I seriously have every piece I have ever dug, for decades :yes::yes::digginahole::pirate2: :digginahole:
 
I have never dug any trash, before. However for my valuables I hire a team of six, 3 to sort my treasures two to travel the world to sell them and one accountant to pay everyone's wages, and pay the IRS my quarterly estimates.

Getting rich on detecting doesn't happen over night, it took me 30 days. You will have plenty time to figure it out.
 
I recycle aluminum with the weekly pickup. Copper, brass or other metals go in a bucket until I either use it for something around the house or scrap it. Lead is cleaned, sorted by hardness and melted to ingot to be made into bullets or musket ball.

The rest is given to the treasurer. Around here she's known as Beanie. She does research on the interesting finds, boxes the non-valuable goods until she decides what to do with them, packs up the things that need protecting and splits up any jewelry with her brothers and sisters, and occasionally her mother.

I don't remember selling anything but nothing I've found so far was worth more than what I get handing it out to the kids.
 
You can post pics and offer finds For Sale here on the Forum....which is a good thing...You are right to be thinking about the problem of 'finding things' ahead of time to allow your brain to figure out what to do with it...

For Instance, I know for a certainty that some fine morning as I head out metal detecting like normal, I will eyeball a briefcase in the ditch, and it will be stuffed with $100 bills...so yeah I gamed that scenario out ahead of time and know exactly what I will do....

I also know, for a certainty, I will find a stiff washed up on the beach early of a morning...So far I've been within 30' of two of them in the past 7yrs, hunting in the beach and surf in the dark....

Yeah, you gotta prepare mentally for what you will do in these circumstances...You gotta think of this ahead of time and be prepared to rifle a stiffs pockets for a wallet and maybe have the right tools along to snip off a finger to retrieve the gold ring....A guy has to think about these things and get their mind set right for a proper response....Hey, a guy never knows what adventure awaits once he gets out of the house! Detecting! Hell Yeah! :laughing:
 

Attachments

  • Apr 2-15-1.jpg
    Apr 2-15-1.jpg
    114.2 KB · Views: 627
  • cross2.jpg
    cross2.jpg
    33.2 KB · Views: 639
  • may 6-16-1.jpg
    may 6-16-1.jpg
    16.7 KB · Views: 648
  • sept 20-16-2.jpg
    sept 20-16-2.jpg
    18.9 KB · Views: 613
Getting some great responses so far, but the reality is you will mostly dig garbage. I keep the stuff I like and sell the rest. Silver takes a long time building up to really be worth much, but gold can add up quickly. Try to find a local buyer who will pay a decent percentage on precious metals.
 
clean up the clad coins, trade them into the bank and buy silver with the proceeds at the end of the year. If you stick with the hobby your stack will be HUGE after some years.

When i first started the hobby I sold some gold i found to finance a new detector. Now I have all the equipment I want and have been stashing all good finds ... unfortunately no more gold yet..
 
The vast majority of what I have found in the past six years has been modern clad coins. I clean them and run them thru the credit union coin machine and convert them into green money. I sometimes spend some of that green money on new detecting toys that I "NEED". Most of it is locked in my gun safe.

I have only ever sold one of the Precious metal items that I have found. it was a diamond ring and I sold it for half the appraised value. That one ring more than paid for my Excaliber II.


As previously stated: Never ever sell anything to a Pawn Shop. They are in the business of buying as low as possible and selling as high as possible.
 
Don't sell to pawn shops. Agreed. Get yourself some small buckets or cans/whatever containers for scrap pieces of brass, copper, and lead. Recycle or trash the aluminum junk. You may find things like little toy cars, a stainless steel fork, Mud-Puppy's bloody snipping tool; you just never know. You'll have to decide what to keep, toss, etc.

I personally have an interesting, but low value collection of smalls, and a slowly growing collection of silvers. Higher value stuff usually goes on the market. Saving up silver and gold is generally a good idea. Cash in when you need to.
 
Whatever you want to do with it. Some see it as extra spending money....what you can spend here and there without having to take it out of your regular earnings , some see it as collecting and would never get rid of anything , some see it as an investment for the future. Some keep everything they find , others keep only what has immediate value , some keep nothing.


Some find money and items worth hundreds of dollars each year , some find just enough to pay for batteries and break even.

What you keep and what you do with everything usually evolves over time and you develop your own unique personal system.
 
Okay my detector will be here tomorrow. So, I find stuff. Coins, relics, whatever. Do y'all keep it all as treasure keepsakes, keep the rare stuff, sale rest on eBay. Pawn shop as scrap for cash. Let me know. Thanks

I got back into the hobby because I'm generally energy efficient (i.e. "lazy") when it comes to physical exertion and I was up to 310 pounds. I got my detector in February of this year and started slowly, maybe only beeping once or twice every couple of weeks. Now, I go out both days on weekends and throw in some after work excursions.

Where I live has a lot of history, but not many old public spaces. Still, I've found >1600 coins (about $105) and five rings (four sterling and one junk) and two sterling pendants. Oh, and a 1952 dime and eight wheat pennies. And some interesting relics that I really need to post on these forums, because I'd like to know what I have.


I'm just saving the clad until I have enough to justify getting a coin tumbler. I don't keep an accounting of what I spend detecting (batteries, gas, whatever), because I'm not doing it for the monetary return. I've lost 70 pounds and am more fit than at any point in the 25+ years since I got out of the army.

Still waiting to dig a honker 18k diamond ring, but my point is (after all of that extended blather), that the thrill of the hunt and the time spent doing something that can be exciting and rewarding is worth more than what I find in dollar value.

Everybody has their way of doing it...and your way may be different, but it won't be wrong. Keep what you like and want, box up or divest the rest, and have fun. Happy hunting!
 
Back
Top Bottom