Not All Treasure is Silver & Gold

The majority of us are out there looking for that big cache of hidden gold or silver or maybe even the lost mine that will make us comfortable the rest of our lives. This is all well and good but we have to remember that we are liable to stumble across a thing or two in our hunts that may not make us rich but could make us some money. In some cases maybe a lot of money.

The most obvious thing would be a cache of weapons or a cannon or two. Some of these things can be worth a lot of money. Most of us won’t be that lucky but we can come across things like buttons or belt buckles from a Civil War uniform or an old tool or even a knife. These things can ad up to a tidy sum if you find some good specimens.

We all walk around with our detectors looking for “the big one” and we sometimes forget that the people who hid the big one had other things that they lost or threw away as trash that can be worth money these days. Just the fact that we are looking in a particular place for a cache means that people were there, in some cases, generations of people. If you are ever on a site and just get stuck and frustrated maybe you should break out the detector and start digging signals. You never know what you may come across.

I have posted two photos with this article. One is of an old Civil War picket pin (just being uncovered) and the other is of three .50 caliber rim fire cases. These were all found in the same area where I was looking for a cache. The rim fire cases aren’t really worth any money but to me they were a very interesting find. Just as interesting was the picket pin however this came with a bonus. In doing some research it was determined that these were worth some money, this particular pin sells for $150-$200. Not bad for swinging a detector for a day and getting away from the usual stresses of life.

Unless you have been very lucky in life, treasure hunting is a hobby. We do it because we enjoy it and it gives us a chance at striking it rich doing something we enjoy. Keep that in mind when you are in the field and get frustrated about a symbol or marker. Being in the field treasure hunting has got to be better than being at work any day of the week.

Keeping an open mind and using your detector even if you don’t think you will find the cache may just reward you in a different way.