Detecting - overall net worth

I understand for many this is just a part-time hobby, like golf or bowling, but it does have potential for profit. At least major detector manufactures would lead the novice to that conclusion with glossy ads featuring diamond rings, gold bullion, and sliver dollars just under the ground ready and waiting to be found - if you buy their newest detector. We realize this is hype but what is the actual reality for most people over their years of detecting?

So, the question is: Has anyone made a net profit over the years through metal detecting, from finds, not from book/DVD sales?

That is, there is much discussion about recovering relics, coins, old silver, placer gold, beach gold, micro gold, etc. but has there really been enough success through VLF/PI detector use to outweigh the intrinsic cost of detecting over the long term?

If you did make a net profit, how did that happen? Just curious.

I myself can only speak from a relic standpoint.....Could I make a living relic hunting...NO!!!

But in find's money wise...I am way ahead .....in the cost of the machine's compared to what I have found....

Relics are unique in that they are rare and not being made like coins and jewelry...so they get worth more and more every year...

There's confederate that are dug that will fetch $30,000.00 for a buckle

Some relic's are mind blowing in there worth....I have actually dug a single relic worth $5,000.00 with a 250.00 dollar machine...

Do I sell relics... Not no more...use to I did....but then found out the finds were slowing down....what I thought was shoot I have dug them before I will dig them again....well you do dig them again but not in the same quantity...

I have found over 45 civil war plate's....well I have 11 left right now...
I have had over 20,000 bullet's ....I have about 600 now...
I have had close to 800 buttons now I have around 100....
etc etc etc....

So yes I made money......yes the bullet's brought 1.00 a piece because I sold them in bulk,,,,,But thas $20,000.00 in bullet's alone but it took me probably 25 years to get them...so that less than $1,000.00 a year on bullet money... dont think I could live on that ..

Plates were about 200 a piece buttons mostly yankee brought 5 to 10 piece and some reb buttons fetched 100 or so ..did have a couple that went over 1,000.00 but just a couple....So still could not make a go of it...

My collection right now is about 10 years worth of digging since I quit selling and it might fetch $15,000.00

I think you can get the picture....

I made more money than my buddy who prospected though!

Addendum

I have thought about my post....and I am in no way bragging about what I have found....I hope it does not sound like that.......I have found far less than some of my hunting buddy's.....I was just trying to show that you cant live on relic hunting this day and age.....And you better hang onto what you find!!!!
I have found some thing's in my life I wish I had back right now....sure the money helped at the moment ..but the Historical significance is far more important...

And also another way to think of it...you might pay for your machine with the find's ...But if I turned in a time card for the research time even at mimimum wage I would be in the hole LOL!!!

But I did want to clarify ...


Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2012 07:32AM by Keith Southern.

I paid for my first detector in 6 months. But like anything you get what you put into it. I have run into a couple of guys that did it for a living and in my opinion they gave the hobby a bad name.
they were rude and often felt like they could hunt anywhere they wanted to without permission. I hope that I never loose the "fun factor" and have to hunt for profit. It is more to me to think about the person who last held the object that I just found and wonder what their life was life.

Tom in SC

I look at it this way....if I were hunting or fishing or gambling or hot rodding or running the bars....I would be spending a lot more than I do 'tectin every now and then.... i've always paid for my 'tectors...usually several times over....and still come out ahead of the game. How cool is that - a hobby that pays for itself and then some....but not enough to make a livin'....not even close. I enjoy 'tectin...it's my hobby...don't think it would be as much fun it it was my job and had to pay the bills. Do intend to hunt alot more in a few years after retirement....maybe a little supplemental income here and there.

I would probably break even "if" I sold everything of value that I have found. A few gold rings, but one I was able to locate the owner. Some silver, but mostly the rings would be the most valuable. I have never sold anything I have found. I've given a few items away. If you're into the hobby to make a living or make money, most would do better working overtime and buying the items we hoped we would find :-) To me, it's kind of like going fishing. I'm going to spend more on equiptment and license than if I were to just go to the grocery store and buy a good supply of fish for the freezer! ...but I wouldn't have nearly as much fun.

Yes, some guys get lucky, and some (a few) take detecting seriously and do a LOT of studying and go for the gold. Beach hunting is mostly luck and understanding where/when to detect. Land hunting is going to involve some research if you want to improve your odds.

My advise? ...do it for the fun and exercise!

I'm in the same boat as Keith. I haven't been detecting as long as him and haven't found as much either. I feel like I was born a generation or two too late for the hobby. Most of what I find is left overs from the original hunters who found the sites. Last yr I done something I said I would never do and sold everything but my plates and I kept a display case of "firsts". I was able to buy a TDI and Fisher Gold Bug Pro, a new rifle and bow, and some $ in the bank. Still not worth the time researching, money spent on research material, gas money driving to sites...often to get told NO or find it developed with a subdivision. Then hours spent hunting...yeah definitely not worth the money. BUT....to be the first to hold something that the last time it was handled was by a soldier in the Civil War....that means more then what its actually worth.

Clad hunting....no way to even break even locally on that. Can't even compensate for battery money! Thanks to debit and credit cards....nobody carries cash or change anymore.

But as somebody else said....if you compare it to fishing...wow. I got into bass fishing real heavy a few yrs ago. Bought a used boat for $10k, and had $5k+ in rods, reels, and tackle. And every trip to the lake cost me $100 in gas for truck and boat....this was when gas was "just" $2.20 a gallon. I couldn't imagine owning a boat now with $4+ a gallon...wow. lol And tournament fishing...fun but costly. Spent way more than I won.

Not any where near a living for me but I paid for my Omega (now departed) with just a few nice and very old silver coins I found. Two of them were worth over 100 Euro a piece. But those are hard to come by - was a virgin trading spot.

Now with my E-trac, I have found 20 silver rings in around 5 weeks - another near virgin spot. But those are only just over 2 ounces in silver. I have to go through there and dig the pull tab signals, sure there are 3 or 4 gold rings in there. That will pay for my E-Trac.

I have found some relics that I was going to throw away but my neighbor said, those are worth over 100 bucks! Just this little old bell in perfect shape. Me not being a relic hunter - I didn't know any better. I will start getting rid of them like Keith did with some of his.

I found around 30 Euro in clad last year and mostly by accident as I try to pass it up. That pays for me train "extension" tickets beyond the zone I'm in for a year. Nice.

The thing is, like most of you, we don't sell our stuff. It isn't that I look at it often or such, just never get around to selling it, but I thinkI will do some of that this year.

Fun hobby that essentially pays for itself, even if you only get out three or four times a month.

On a downer, boy that E-Trac bugs my back and elbow, that might end up costing me later down the line but hopefully some light models come out that do what the E-Trac does in my ground.

I have own about 7 detectors, paid for 5 of them, sold 2 of them, so I have about 2,000 bucks invested in machines, dug a cashe of 1500, sold my gold for 2500, sold my silver for 2500, I dig about 300 bucks a year in clad, been hunting over 10 years, another 3000, so about 10,000 made a boat load of friends, got some fresh air and some exercise, priceless, oh, I forgot the gas to all the site, I broke even, hehe

Wow $300 a year in clad is a lot. Must have a good source of replenishing depository lol I'd be on the liberal estimate side to say I bet I don't get more than $30 a year from clad in a good year. Use to you could detect school yards but now all local ones are fenced in and locked up. This past summer I hunted swimming holes after I got an AT Pro and then Excalibur II....found over $50 this summer in the water spots but no where near the cost of the AT Pro much less, the Excalibur II.

With a certain level of 'awareness' ............. (read: intelligence) ........... this so-called 'hobby' .... can be exceptionally rewarding.

Gold-silver, relics, collectibles etc. material objects at best.

Fresh air, exercise, friendships, interests and above all smelling the roses (priceless)

Heck I could do better flipping burgers at Mickey D's..

Years ago two fellows using old Whites PI units found some virgin waters at abandoned seashore sites quit their jobs and understand made approx. $40,000 a year hunting every day but all in all just a nice hobby to the other 99 percent...

I can't see myself making a living off of detecting. I agree with tmanly that I would like to keep the "fun factor" and not turn it into a job.

Nowdays it is just a hobby to me. Considering the cost of gas and scarcity of good hunting spots and my age I really do not expect much more than finding enough to pay for the detector and a little gas. But, for me, the overall picture is very different. In 1971 at 24 years old the detecting scene was almost unbelievable compared to now and continued that way up into the mid 80s. 300, 400, to 600+ coins a day was the norm. And i would be dissappointed if there were not a at least 15 silver coins and a gold ring in there every day. In 1980 when silver went crazy I told my wife when it hits $20oz I was cashing in. It did. One morning it was $21oz. I packed it all up (no... not the rare ones!) along with two coathangers full of junk gold rings and a couple coffee cans full of silver rings/medals/etc. and headed for Sol's Jewelry and Loan in Omaha.I bought a new Chevy Blazer and my wife got a new Honda Civic with the proceeds.

So you asked "has there really been enough success through VLF/PI detector use to outweigh the intrinsic cost of detecting over the long term?" I say over the long term, for me at least, HECK YA! Makes me chuckle reading some of the forums. Someone with his ETrac found a little over 200 silver coins in 2011. And everyone is raving over it. I used to find that much every 2 weeks. But that was then and this is now. I'm getting old and it stills feels great just to get outdoors and do some beeping.

It is one of the few hobbys that actually pay for itself in time. I get a kick out of friends and relatives who are shocked when I tell them one of my detectors cost over a 1,000.00. And they look at me like I'm crazy and say that much! But then you look at there hobbys like riding around on 20,000.00 Harleys or 10,000.00 four wheelers that you put money into that you don't get out. Or an exspensive set of golf clubs that you have to pay to get on a course to use. Not to mention all the good exercise you get when you are out detecting. And of course that rush you get from an awesome find is unbeatable!

Looks like most would agree that it is an expensive pastime that rarely provides enough payback in monetary value to outweigh the cost. But most are willing to trade the net red ink for the fun/enjoyment/excitement they receive alone or with like minded individuals working a detector.

I would also agree that the rewarding aspect increases both in monetary numbers and actual real world detector operation when the detectorist has performed intelligent research prior to detecting and has tested/studied their individual detectors features.

It becomes a bit of a game, in a sense. You have to logically deduce where is the best location to hunt using all the internet/library/historic archives available and in essence distill all this to isolate that one spot that will produce based on very slim evidence. It is exciting to make a logical assumption based on the circumstantial evidence and then find by discovery that indeed your deduction was exactly correct. Applying intelligence to planning involves prediction, and prediction requires you to pit your wits against the great mystery that is the past. It's fun to get it right.

The other aspect of detecting that makes it worthwhile is in gaining mastery over the detector, so that it works for you and not against you. There exists, I think, an adversarial relationship at first - the machine is an enigma and your job is to deduce why it isn't performing well, to learn its language, its idiosyncrasies, and it behavior pattern. After you've educated yourself and paid the price in time/energy learning its inner-working your adversary then can become something akin to a trusted friend or a comfortable extension of yourself. In other words, there is pride in accomplishment - the detector was in part an obstacle or challenge that you had to overcome, and in doing so there is something unspoken that defines you as a person.

I used to shoot rifles - after many years of hard work you learned that rifle and understood fluently the bullet's ballistic trajectory, so that the rifle became, in essence, an extension of your being. That is, shooting is not just a shot, and hitting a target is not just to hit the target, not any longer. When you can reliably knock a quarter off a fence post at 500 yards with a 22LR, then you have learned. Likewise, when you can reliably bring home that relic, coin, or precious metal object that you intended, then you will have learned.

It isn't Zen. Success is strong determination mixed evenly with learning and experience! Luck is just determination run a muck.

google
"chicago ron"
see 2011
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Way back in 1983 I made a living for one year detecting. Besides the $12,000 diamond ring I found, living by the beach, I would go out to the dry sand and dig enough clad in 30 minutes to pay for lunch. Then go out for another 30 minutes to pay for dinner. Probably found $24,000 worth that year. No one else detected back then.

That about sums it up, Johnnyanglo.
This hobby pulls me along. I've had other hobby's that I had to push to stay somewhat interested.
I have never sold any finds and my wife dosen't get that.
I think you have to be a certain type of person to love detecting, it's not for everyone. A thought just came to mind; There are these personality tests that my wife and many other conpanies use, I wonder if detectorists would have the same or similar personality traits/results.

Hi Ozzie, Try to get a copie of that test and we all will see if we are crazy or not.

in the UK there are a number of millionaires from their finds and certainly some who have had enough cash to buy houses and new cars with cash .
coins and artifacts of all periods

Flintstone, the test is called DISC ( Driver, Influincer, Supporter, Calculator) and of course, it costs to take it.

Hey Lipservice,

Loved your story about what USED to be in the ground...

It amazes me to hear from the guys who detected in the 70s and 80s recount the simply ridiculous numbers of coins (both old and new) that were found at that time. I know there was alot more in the ground, in most public spots, back then, but hearing you talk about just how much more, is mind boggling. Sad thing is, I first swung a detector in the early 80s, as a kid (toying around with wonder, with my grandfather's old White's coinmaster). If only I had kept with it, and gotten serious about the hobby BACK THEN, instead of now...WOW!

Steve