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Treasure Hunting |
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| When you think of treasure hunting, people tend to think about the fancy treasure chests that old pirates used to hide. If you could find one, you would be rich. They exist, but chances are that they will never be found. People explore the ocean searching for sunken ships and sometimes magnificent treasures are brought up. Truth be known, after paying for the boat, the equipment, the crew, etc., the treasure might not cover the cost of obtaining it. You could pan for gold and you might find enough to pay for your pan in a year or so. The incredible finds make for great tv shows and news, but it's just as fun to look for small treasures too. First, ask yourself, what is a treasure? To me, a treasure is an item that holds history and/or value that was lost until you recovered it. Have you ever cleaned out your car and found a hand full of coins under the seats and under the carpet molding? Some times I find things that I am afraid of. If you have kids then you understand what I mean. If you were able to search the floor of a 1967 Chevy that has been sitting in the trees for a few years, what might you find? The last year for silver coins was 1964. In 1967 they were still in circulation. The last year for the wheat penny was 1958. In 1967 they also were still in circulation. These coins might not seem much like a treasure if you are going to sell your find. A beautiful day can't be sold either but it is a true treasure. It's all in how you look at it. I have found gold rings and new pennies as well. They both are just as exciting when they are uncovered. The first thing that I think of is the history that put it there. How long had it been lost? Now that I have rescued it, it will go into my collection. I save everything that I call a treasure. I found a gold class ring once and sold it when gold was at its highest because I wanted a guitar so bad. I don't regret it at all because now I play the guitar. See my how-to on that too. Everything else I still have. My method of treasure hunting is the metal detector. It used to kill me when I would be in someone's yard hunting and a person would walk up and say, "Whats that thang, a weedeater er whut?" How can you respond to that? You can have the best luck looking in the yards of any neighborhood. The older the house the better. Real old houses don't have large amounts of treasure because in those days people did not have much money to lose. A metal detector is set up with a disk that has a coil of wire inside. The electronic box on the handle controls different settings such as volume, sensitivity, metal type and more things than I can't explain. The disk is moved over the ground and when a metal object is in range of the disk, the unit will sound. You can pinpoint the item, knowing just where to dig. Don't look for pirates treasure chest, it's doubtful you'll find one Coins and jewelry are the common forms of treasure. If the signal get bigger the more you dig, cover it up and look somewhere else. It could be an entire car. Give up. Smaller signals are smaller items. You will learn your sounds and many times you will know that your chances are before you dig. If you bring in a backhoe to a beautiful lawn, you might not get to come back. Use a screwdriver or something like that. I use an old army knife that the edge has been removed. If you dig with a sharp knife you will get cut. Pinpoint your target and try to pop the item up as soon as possible. Place the grass back into the hole and repair the grass. If you don't leave any evidence that you have been there, you may have the opportunity to come back. Shortly after my wife and I got married, I introduced metal detecting to her. I explained how to read the sounds and look for small items. I gave her the knife and explained how to remove the item without disturbing the grass. I thought she understood. I left her with it for a short time to go take care of something and was back in less than fifteen minutes. To my surprise she had gone to the building and got out a full size shovel and had a hole in the yard that you could break your neck in if you didn't know it was there. Her eyes were very big and she was pulling on something. It was an old car part full of rust and totally worthless. She was after that big treasure chest. After pulling up the junk part, she was finished. Guess who had to fill up the hole? It will consume you and give you many hours of pleasure. I have had dreams about large amounts of coins rolling out of the dirt. It would always start with one or two coins and as I would dig it would turn into more. I would become excited and start grabbing at it hysterically, then I would wake up. Out of breath and ready to go treasure hunting. I have talked to many treasure hunters and they all have very similar dreams. It gets into your blood. There are more coins lost in the Earth than there are in circulation. Recently I was fortunate enough to visit the US mint in Philadelphia where coins are made. You can walk through the halls of the museum and look through windows into the manufacturing area where coins are made. They said that facility is capable of making one million coins every thirty minutes. You would think they would have produced enough by now. It sounds to me like there are a lot of coins in the dirt waiting for me. Think about this! When people swim in lakes, they turn upside down and money falls out of their pockets, jewelry slips off and can't be found. If the water is low, there you are! Think about the beach where the tide goes in & out 2 times a day. In every driveway people reach for their keys. Money, rings and no telling what falls out. What do you walk over every day that you don't know about? Read more about treasure hunting and think about where you can try "hunting", but don't dig big holes in your yard. If you have to anyway, see my section on 3D Landscaping and have at it! | ||||
| Where can I find information so I can get started? There are
very good
sites that will carry you from the novice to an advanced level. They
will tell you what to look for and where. Try learning about the the civil war and where old homesteads and
battlegrounds used to
be. Try the links at the bottom of the page
and see what you can learn. If you're allergic to the outdoors
then try my section on How to grow an African
Violet. There is always something to do here, just look
around.
Warren Yates www.projectsandhobbies.com |
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