Metal Detecting as a living

Tom I would like your expert opinion. Can you make a living doing full time metal detecting. I would obviously move to Florida for the year round "work". Looking for about 100+/day net.

Don't quit your day job

I am (very well) aware of one individual of whom keeps his family afloat...... due to his sole/exclusive detecting 'profession'. I have not conversed with him for a few years........ and wonder how the heavy inrush of newbie beach detectorists are infringing upon his income source.

The best way in my opinion to make a full time hobby of detecting is to offer a service and hunt for rewards. You can buy and sell used units, new units, training, or have a product that is unique to the hobby. But without
some form of backup funds, I do not think it would be wise to depend on what you find as a means of income.

Tom in SC

Heck with the price of gold and silver and the anount of new detectorists and restrictions I feel you could make more at Mickey D's with some benefits. I know years ago two fellows using Whites PI units and having an exclusive area that was a turn of the century vacation area now abandoned and they did make some fabulous finds but also had an outlet to sell their findings and did well for a while until they basically picked the area clean. To repeat a wise post..
"Don't quit your day job".....

A friend of mine here in Germany has a friend who makes a living detecting for WWII war relics and selling them on Ebay. He said he makes around 2000 Euro or so a month, enough to float the boat. I say that it is a pretty risky livelihood here in Germany with all the ordinances still in the ground.

I could imagine detecting beaches part time in FL with the price of gold where it is, but I'd much sooner take my chances gold prospecting in the States, Alaska or Australia!

EMS

in the UK there are numerous guys who make a living at detecting for artifacts and coins, they also trade stuff as well at fairs to boost income from antiques as well as their finds.
they have bought their houses for cash from their finds made ,religious artifacts from early periods can fetch huge sums of money .

in the US as you say head for the beaches for the gold finds .

I do not believe you can make a living solely detecting beaches. If you do you have to supplement it in some way. To make a living you have to live close to a very productive recent drop beach. If you dont, you have to travel and hunt daily just like a job. Ive been in Fl and been using an Xcal for about 3 months and sent my gold off for a total just over $2000. Fines are up and down based on sand movement and ability to get in the water.... and stay there very long. Im speaking as a person who hunts a lot, but hasnt acquired a lot of friends. Thats important as well. Because if you can get a following and a lot of offerings from people to hunt with them in their spots obviously that increases your chances in areas you dont know. You have to have 2 or maybe 3 top notch machines to get an edge. You have to learn how weather and tides and how they affect every beach you want to hunt on so you can choose where to hunt almost daily.... you cant do it helter skelter. This WILL take you some time to learn. I think you would have a better chance like me supplementing some sort of income or retirement pay...... but as a job and with a family... well the pressure would be tremendous and depressing with stretches of nonproductive days. There is a lot more to it than picking up a detector and hitting a beach. You are basing a decision also on a very high gold prices. Do you have the skill currently to write a book? If not you have a LOT to learn. You can turn a hobby into a living but it must include all aspects of the hobby. There is no one nitch long term worth the shot of running off to Fl. I wont even talk about the expense of living in Fl..... its not cheap.... hey but its a blast .

Dew

some guys in the UK struck lucky here

[www.eveshamjournal.co.uk]

[www.whub.org.uk]

Like HOBO said in an earlier thread... "Don't quit your day job!"

I am of the same belief because I personally found that when one tries to take a hobby that he enjoys and make a living on it... the hobby becomes a job. Once the hobby becomes a job and is depended on as the prime source of income... it loses all of it's enjoyment value because it becomes a necessity.

Enjoy the hobby for what it is and allow your hobby to supplement the income from your job.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/2011 02:33PM by NEBeachcomber.

Europe has a rich history, the US is a very young country. Ive seen a few others HIT IT BIG on a hoard or two, but id still advise Dominic not to quit his day job unless hes got the means to do it. A few years back i quit my job and we sold everything to travel full time in an RV. We had a lot of help from friends who had done it for years which gave us an advantage. We knew the ins and outs.... but it still came down to having everything paid for if you wanted to live off an a small income. There were a lot of people during the gold rush who chucked it for a chance at gold.... most didnt make it, but there is always those success stories.

Dew

Someday...if I have the means, I'd like to hunt the gold fields in Alaska. I think finding gold in its most raw and purest form would be a incredible rush.

I think you can do it, but you would need to research all the time to find new places to hunt , move from state to state, it would be a lot more work than the 800 to 400, and if someone got wind of you, you would have to guard what you find

[www.bbc.co.uk]


yet another big coin hoard

[www.dailymail.co.uk]

another lucky finder of a jackpot haul

If you have to ask this question, you probably will not make it. With the number of new detectorists and inflation making clad less valuable, your chances are getting slimmer by the day...