Early Days

Sean with his first metal detector — My first summer metal detecting.

I read about a man with a metal detector sweeping the beach. He was sure of an offshore shipwreck and wanted to find evidence carried by the tides. And he did! Spanish gold! A few years later he struck it rich. I was sure this was the story of Mel Fisher finding a gold escudo on Vero beach or thereabouts, but it blends together with the story of a man who made several trips to Padre Island and found Spanish silver in the sand.

After attending a lecture at Trinity University on archaeological salvage in Greece and seeing slides of all the wonderful things hidden below, I knew I wanted to discover my own treasures. And that’s what it’s about – that sense of discovery.

First detector

I’ve been a detectorist since the early 80’s. My first machine was a Garret American TR S2, a decent entry level detector designed for coin shooting. It wasn’t until a family trip to the coast that I discovered the detector didn’t work well at the beach.

Garrett Detector Catalog page - American TR — I think I payed just under $130 for mine.

I rode the bus with my gear and filled my pockets with trash and treasure. Mostly trash, but enough interesting things to keep me fascinated. Not much has changed, though I have my own ride and better gear – like kneepads and a finds bag.

How lucrative is it?

People ask me if I find much gold. They may be more disappointed than I am that I don’t. On the rare occasion that I do – it’s usually because someone has asked me to search for it. My first summer I found gold: an engagement ring, wedding band, and a high school class ring. All were returned to their owners.

Someone recently wanted to know how long it took to pay my machine off. I haven’t. Well, not the newer ones. The Garrett American paid for itself the first summer. But I invested in a better detector. And additional search coils and gear. I pawned it all in grad school to make the rent, and got most of the price of the Groundhog back, but that was a lucky pawn shop fluke – and the one and only time metal detecting helped pay the rent. 😉

So how lucrative is it? It’s a hobby. It gets me out in the sun and gives me a little exercise. I have to retrieve an average of 600 things to find a single silver dime from 1964 or earlier. 600! As of this writing, the average amount of change I find in a day is ninety-seven cents. And the most common coin find (about 70%) is a penny. Over half of the pennies are the newer zinc ones, which are corroded and unspendable.

It’s no surprise that metal detecting has been called the World’s Worst Hobby.

What’s your best find?

Hard to say. What thrills me may not be that thrilling for you. When I started, horseshoes and hand forged square nails thrilled me. Not so much any more. I get a kick out of finding a silver coin. Always have. Here’s one of the few remaining finds from my early years, a Walking Liberty half dollar.