Sunday, August 31, 2008

Treasure Groups

On a regular basis I mine the Internet for interesting treasure related goodies. While on Ebay awhile back I came upon a number of issues of the Treasure Hunters Newsletter published by the 8 States Associates Inc., which I promptly bid on and won. These issues were from 1971 and 1972. I can say I have truly enjoyed reading them, but there is one thing that I noticed. This group of skilled treasure hunters were asking for the public for their knowledge of treasure sites. In return for your information and upon successful recovery you would get a certain percentage. This percentage could be as little as 15% of the net recovery.

This makes me feel very generous when I offer the land owners 50% of all recovered finds in my contracts. This isn't what this article is about though. The newsletter got me to thinking about the number of groups out there who actively solicit treasure leads. I haven't put any effort into counting how many of these groups there are but two come to mind. There's nothing wrong with this as long as all parties concerned are up front and honest with each other. It would be hard for me to put my trust in a group of people I haven't gotten to really know, but this again is just my opinion.

With that said there are some good points that the newsletter brings out. Far too many treasure hunters have taken their knowledge to the grave with them and that wealth of information is lost forever. I have learned that you can't do it all by yourself. Luckily I have found a great set of partners and friends whom I can trust. These guys bring individual thoughts and ideas that help me to become a better treasure hunter. I welcome the fact that none of us think exactly alike. This helps me to work every angle of a treasure lead and to not waste valuable time chasing my tail. My wife often makes fun of me because at nearly 40 years old I'm the baby of the group. Most of the treasure hunters I work with are two to four decades older than me. I personally think they keep me around because I'm pretty handy with a shovel or backhoe.

I have been blessed having Alec as a friend as well. He is the backbone of this blog, which I created with the idea of helping other treasure hunters without asking anything in return. The one thing you should notice with the blog is that neither Alec or I have ever asked our readers for their treasure leads. We don't lurk on the forums looking to grab up any leads that might happen along. Our efforts with the blog have been to inform and entertain you and to make new friends along the way. We try to open your mind and to get you thinking outside the box. To offer you the tools to research and think for yourself.

I know from the many positive e-mails I've received that we have been successful and we plan to continue bringing you items of interest. We aren't compensated in anyway other than the encouraging words and joy we get from helping others. As always we welcome suggestions or ideas from our fellow treasure hunters and if any of you out there have some old issues of the Treasure Hunters Newsletter you want to sell or get rid of drop me an e-mail. My e-mail address is at the top of the blog.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

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