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Let the Search Begin...
RVers are discovering metal detecting as the ideal hobby for their unique lifestyle by Brent Peterson
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You see them occasionally scouring the beach, a city park, or the perimeter of the campground, intently focused under a pair of headphones, waving their space-age devices over the ground in rhythmic semi-circles. The act is almost always the same â solitary, methodical, sending their users into a sort of intensely committed trance. You canât help but watch as one of them suddenly stops, retraces his movements, studies his instrument, bends, digs, siphons, and maybe, just maybe, unearths the find of the century.
It does happen. Take, for example, the Montana man who discovered an 800-ounce piece of gold. There was also the Massachusetts woman who uncovered a broken dagger, later linked to days of Salem where it was supposedly used to break the spell of the local witches. An English man who sought out to find a tool in a farmerâs yard came back with $15 million worth of Roman artifacts, including gold chalices and urns. Each of these discoveries was located by a standard metal detector, the perfect tool for the modern day treasure-hunter.
âYou just never know what the next retrieval is gonna be,â said Sondra Bernzweig, President of Detector Electronics in Framingham, MA, who got hooked on the hobby after her kids wanted to find pirateâs treasure.
âMost people just want to have fun, but they want to have a reward, too,â she added. âEverybody wants to have a reward in life.â
The rewards for most, searching through the un-concreted areas of civilization with their machines, arenât usually the big scores that end up in museums and make their finders wealthy. For most, an afternoon spent metal detecting might yield an old coin, a lost piece of jewelry, or perhaps a curious relic of a former time. That, and lots of trash, such as pull tabs and nails, found just underneath the surface. While Bernzweig begins to bubble with enthusiasm relating her most significant finds from her collection â a gold roulette wheel charm with semi-precious stones, lots of old currency, and jewelry â she contends itâs the simple act of metal detecting that motivates most of its enthusiasts.
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"It does happen. Take, For example, the Montana man who discovered an 800-ounce piece of gold."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
âI call walking out with a metal detector and headphones on your head the closet thing to meditating as you can get,â she said. âYou just sort of zone out and three hours later you say, âWhere did the afternoon go?ââ
âFor the most part, thereâs a lot of folks out there who do it as outdoor recreation,â said Kym Rowett, President of Minelab USA, builders of metal detectors for the last 15 years. âThatâs the icing on the cake, to find something of extremely value or extremely important to that person.â
Rowett takes advantage of his Las Vegas, Nevada, headquarters to search for gold, a smaller but passionate subset of the metal detecting hobby.
âYou donât get rich,â said James Beyers, President of the Southcentral Chapter of the Federation of Metal Detector and Archeological Clubs. âFor me, it was the idea of finding different things⌠it just intrigues me as to what people have lost over the years.â
Beyers said his interest was sparked after witnessing a man pull silver coins out of a city park. The same man later found a ring. Beyers bought his own machine soon after and has been enjoying it every since, surveying the same Arkansas farm and former home site for nearly four years.
âI think the most interesting thing is finding it â and then finding out about it,â said Beyers, who said it took him nearly a year to identify his greatest find, a commemorative Civil War pin from the 2nd Louisiana infantry. Although valued at roughly $3,500, Beyers says he enjoys it too much to sell, a philosophy, he admits, is shared by most of his fellow treasure-hunters.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Metal detecting falls into one of three basic groups: coin, jewelry, and relec detecting, gold detecting and underwater detecting. Most machines are fashioned to each specific type of search."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
âThe majority of us just keep âem,â he said. âMost of them are like me - Iâve got boxes and boxes of stuff Iâve found. Some of itâs relevant, most of itâs irrelevant.â
Beyerâs advice is to metal detect on areas where people are â or have been. While historic sites are his favorite (he admits to being able to tell by depressions in the ground or by the formation of the trees where a home once stood), he follows the golden rule of metal detecting.
âAnywhere anybodyâs been, somebodyâs lost something,â he said. âAnd nine times out of ten those properties have never been touched with a metal detector."
The fact that todayâs metal detectors are lightweight (2-3 lbs.) and portable (most models collapse and store easily) makes this a good hobby for RVers. Not to mention that no matter where your travels take you, thereâs probably going to be plenty of good sites nearby to search.
âRVing and metal detecting go together very well,â said Hal Thornbrugh, a recent retiree who likes to travel and hunt for gold nuggets with his wife, Norma.
It was in the Navy where Thornbrugh first became interested in the hobby some 34 years ago. He later worked for a metal detector manufacturer Tesoro as a distributor, combining both work and play. His favorite discoveries include an antique toy truck from the turn-of-the-century, Roman coins found on a prospecting trip to England, and a three-cent piece from 1863. His wife once found a gold coin.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Seek out the advice of professional collectors or dealers in order to prevent damaging rare items or decreasing their value, which sometimes happens during cleaning or restoration."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thornbrugh admits that modern detectors are far removed from the cumbersome, clunky instruments of old, a fact that has earned the hobby new interest from novices. Estimates put the number of metal detector enthusiasts at approximately 200,000 nationwide. Thornburgh says that metal detecting can be as easy as turning on the machine and walking.
âThe machines have gotten much more sophisticated,â he said. âYou can make them do pretty much whatever you want. The depth hasnât changed very much, but the features have.â
Metal detecting falls into one of three basic groups: coin, jewelry, and relic detecting, gold detecting, and underwater detecting. Most machines are fashioned to each specific type of search. While all machines pick up metal, the level of discrimination varies from unit to unit, and can make the difference between a day spent hauling in aluminum trash or an artifact destined to be the fodder for a lifetime of tales around the campfire.
âDetectors have the capabilities to find or not find depending on what the user tells it to do,â Bernzweig said. âTheyâll all find everything - the thing is sometimes you donât want to find everything.â
Bernzweig recommends first deciding what kinds of things youâre interested in finding, whether it be jewelry lost on a sandy beach, pockets of gold up in the mountains, or the chance for shipwrecked bounties on the ocean floor. Next, figure out how much you can afford and get the best model available for that price. She says metal detectors have about the same learning curve as any new piece of electronics, but the best way to learn is by just going out and doing it, like the Pennsylvania man who discovered a 1849 Pacific Company $1 gold piece his first time out. It later sold at auction for millions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"...like the Pennsylvania man who discovered a 1849 Pacific company $1 gold piece his first time out... it sold for millions."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
âThe old adage of, âyou get what you pay for,â is certainly true in this industry,â Kym Rowett said. âOne should investigate the technology thatâs available and also keep an eye on their pocketbook and come to that happy medium in between.â
An inexpensive kidâs detector is built to pick up most everything, with ranges usually up to several inches underground. Of course, the better machine, the more precise a search, so youâre not on hands and knees pulling up bottle caps all day long. Pricier models can exceed $3,000, with ground depths extending several feet. As a rule, the larger the buried item â and the older it is â the easier it is to detect. Older metals bring a stronger signal thanks to greater âhallow effect,â given off by oxidization. A signal or visual display lets users know theyâve found something but headphones are advised to both reduce noise levels for others and to let users hone in on a signal with greater precision. Once an object is located, the next step is to gather your haul, usually accomplished with a small trowel and a bag to collect the good (things worth keeping) and the bad (stuff to throw away). Always get permission before detecting or digging, public or private.
Joining a metal detecting club is another way to learn the tricks of the trade, says James Townley, President of FMDAC's Northcentral Chapter. Clubs such as these usually offer get-togethers with competitions where members search a sectioned area for seeded coins, meetings, and show-and-tells, a chance to secure the much-heralded group bragging rights.
âSwapping tales is part of the fun,â said Townley, who metal detects approximately 10 hours a week and boasts such favorite finds as a 1853 Liberty half-dime, the predecessor to the nickel, and several gold rings. âMost of our members have every object theyâve ever dug up.â
Townley says his groupâs latest winner brought in a Cavalry sword belt plate, a small apparatus connecting the swordâs sheath to the belt, from 1861.
He advises that prospectors donât try to clean any found items themselves, especially if theyâre uncertain as to what it is. Instead, he suggests seeking out the advice of professional collectors or dealers in order to prevent damaging rare items or decreasing their value, which sometimes happens during cleaning or restoration. He also says to prospect for areas that match what youâre looking for, noting that beaches are best for jewelry and areas with a rich history of population are better for artifacts.
âIf you go out and hunt on a daily basis like I do, youâll find just about anything you can imagine,â he said.
Let the Search Begin...
RVers are discovering metal detecting as the ideal hobby for their unique lifestyle by Brent Peterson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You see them occasionally scouring the beach, a city park, or the perimeter of the campground, intently focused under a pair of headphones, waving their space-age devices over the ground in rhythmic semi-circles. The act is almost always the same â solitary, methodical, sending their users into a sort of intensely committed trance. You canât help but watch as one of them suddenly stops, retraces his movements, studies his instrument, bends, digs, siphons, and maybe, just maybe, unearths the find of the century.
It does happen. Take, for example, the Montana man who discovered an 800-ounce piece of gold. There was also the Massachusetts woman who uncovered a broken dagger, later linked to days of Salem where it was supposedly used to break the spell of the local witches. An English man who sought out to find a tool in a farmerâs yard came back with $15 million worth of Roman artifacts, including gold chalices and urns. Each of these discoveries was located by a standard metal detector, the perfect tool for the modern day treasure-hunter.
âYou just never know what the next retrieval is gonna be,â said Sondra Bernzweig, President of Detector Electronics in Framingham, MA, who got hooked on the hobby after her kids wanted to find pirateâs treasure.
âMost people just want to have fun, but they want to have a reward, too,â she added. âEverybody wants to have a reward in life.â
The rewards for most, searching through the un-concreted areas of civilization with their machines, arenât usually the big scores that end up in museums and make their finders wealthy. For most, an afternoon spent metal detecting might yield an old coin, a lost piece of jewelry, or perhaps a curious relic of a former time. That, and lots of trash, such as pull tabs and nails, found just underneath the surface. While Bernzweig begins to bubble with enthusiasm relating her most significant finds from her collection â a gold roulette wheel charm with semi-precious stones, lots of old currency, and jewelry â she contends itâs the simple act of metal detecting that motivates most of its enthusiasts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It does happen. Take, For example, the Montana man who discovered an 800-ounce piece of gold."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
âI call walking out with a metal detector and headphones on your head the closet thing to meditating as you can get,â she said. âYou just sort of zone out and three hours later you say, âWhere did the afternoon go?ââ
âFor the most part, thereâs a lot of folks out there who do it as outdoor recreation,â said Kym Rowett, President of Minelab USA, builders of metal detectors for the last 15 years. âThatâs the icing on the cake, to find something of extremely value or extremely important to that person.â
Rowett takes advantage of his Las Vegas, Nevada, headquarters to search for gold, a smaller but passionate subset of the metal detecting hobby.
âYou donât get rich,â said James Beyers, President of the Southcentral Chapter of the Federation of Metal Detector and Archeological Clubs. âFor me, it was the idea of finding different things⌠it just intrigues me as to what people have lost over the years.â
Beyers said his interest was sparked after witnessing a man pull silver coins out of a city park. The same man later found a ring. Beyers bought his own machine soon after and has been enjoying it every since, surveying the same Arkansas farm and former home site for nearly four years.
âI think the most interesting thing is finding it â and then finding out about it,â said Beyers, who said it took him nearly a year to identify his greatest find, a commemorative Civil War pin from the 2nd Louisiana infantry. Although valued at roughly $3,500, Beyers says he enjoys it too much to sell, a philosophy, he admits, is shared by most of his fellow treasure-hunters.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Metal detecting falls into one of three basic groups: coin, jewelry, and relec detecting, gold detecting and underwater detecting. Most machines are fashioned to each specific type of search."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
âThe majority of us just keep âem,â he said. âMost of them are like me - Iâve got boxes and boxes of stuff Iâve found. Some of itâs relevant, most of itâs irrelevant.â
Beyerâs advice is to metal detect on areas where people are â or have been. While historic sites are his favorite (he admits to being able to tell by depressions in the ground or by the formation of the trees where a home once stood), he follows the golden rule of metal detecting.
âAnywhere anybodyâs been, somebodyâs lost something,â he said. âAnd nine times out of ten those properties have never been touched with a metal detector."
The fact that todayâs metal detectors are lightweight (2-3 lbs.) and portable (most models collapse and store easily) makes this a good hobby for RVers. Not to mention that no matter where your travels take you, thereâs probably going to be plenty of good sites nearby to search.
âRVing and metal detecting go together very well,â said Hal Thornbrugh, a recent retiree who likes to travel and hunt for gold nuggets with his wife, Norma.
It was in the Navy where Thornbrugh first became interested in the hobby some 34 years ago. He later worked for a metal detector manufacturer Tesoro as a distributor, combining both work and play. His favorite discoveries include an antique toy truck from the turn-of-the-century, Roman coins found on a prospecting trip to England, and a three-cent piece from 1863. His wife once found a gold coin.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Seek out the advice of professional collectors or dealers in order to prevent damaging rare items or decreasing their value, which sometimes happens during cleaning or restoration."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thornbrugh admits that modern detectors are far removed from the cumbersome, clunky instruments of old, a fact that has earned the hobby new interest from novices. Estimates put the number of metal detector enthusiasts at approximately 200,000 nationwide. Thornburgh says that metal detecting can be as easy as turning on the machine and walking.
âThe machines have gotten much more sophisticated,â he said. âYou can make them do pretty much whatever you want. The depth hasnât changed very much, but the features have.â
Metal detecting falls into one of three basic groups: coin, jewelry, and relic detecting, gold detecting, and underwater detecting. Most machines are fashioned to each specific type of search. While all machines pick up metal, the level of discrimination varies from unit to unit, and can make the difference between a day spent hauling in aluminum trash or an artifact destined to be the fodder for a lifetime of tales around the campfire.
âDetectors have the capabilities to find or not find depending on what the user tells it to do,â Bernzweig said. âTheyâll all find everything - the thing is sometimes you donât want to find everything.â
Bernzweig recommends first deciding what kinds of things youâre interested in finding, whether it be jewelry lost on a sandy beach, pockets of gold up in the mountains, or the chance for shipwrecked bounties on the ocean floor. Next, figure out how much you can afford and get the best model available for that price. She says metal detectors have about the same learning curve as any new piece of electronics, but the best way to learn is by just going out and doing it, like the Pennsylvania man who discovered a 1849 Pacific Company $1 gold piece his first time out. It later sold at auction for millions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"...like the Pennsylvania man who discovered a 1849 Pacific company $1 gold piece his first time out... it sold for millions."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
âThe old adage of, âyou get what you pay for,â is certainly true in this industry,â Kym Rowett said. âOne should investigate the technology thatâs available and also keep an eye on their pocketbook and come to that happy medium in between.â
An inexpensive kidâs detector is built to pick up most everything, with ranges usually up to several inches underground. Of course, the better machine, the more precise a search, so youâre not on hands and knees pulling up bottle caps all day long. Pricier models can exceed $3,000, with ground depths extending several feet. As a rule, the larger the buried item â and the older it is â the easier it is to detect. Older metals bring a stronger signal thanks to greater âhallow effect,â given off by oxidization. A signal or visual display lets users know theyâve found something but headphones are advised to both reduce noise levels for others and to let users hone in on a signal with greater precision. Once an object is located, the next step is to gather your haul, usually accomplished with a small trowel and a bag to collect the good (things worth keeping) and the bad (stuff to throw away). Always get permission before detecting or digging, public or private.
Joining a metal detecting club is another way to learn the tricks of the trade, says James Townley, President of FMDAC's Northcentral Chapter. Clubs such as these usually offer get-togethers with competitions where members search a sectioned area for seeded coins, meetings, and show-and-tells, a chance to secure the much-heralded group bragging rights.
âSwapping tales is part of the fun,â said Townley, who metal detects approximately 10 hours a week and boasts such favorite finds as a 1853 Liberty half-dime, the predecessor to the nickel, and several gold rings. âMost of our members have every object theyâve ever dug up.â
Townley says his groupâs latest winner brought in a Cavalry sword belt plate, a small apparatus connecting the swordâs sheath to the belt, from 1861.
He advises that prospectors donât try to clean any found items themselves, especially if theyâre uncertain as to what it is. Instead, he suggests seeking out the advice of professional collectors or dealers in order to prevent damaging rare items or decreasing their value, which sometimes happens during cleaning or restoration. He also says to prospect for areas that match what youâre looking for, noting that beaches are best for jewelry and areas with a rich history of population are better for artifacts.
âIf you go out and hunt on a daily basis like I do, youâll find just about anything you can imagine,â he said.
![:-\](https://www.treasurenet.com/smilies/undecided.gif "Undecided :-\")
But at a place like here at TN, it would probably be a great category 
I had gone RVing a long time ago with my aunt and uncle and loved it. We hit all the New England states except Main in one summer. Lots of adventure's and seen some awesome sites and also not so awesome sites lol I havent done that since tho but I do like camping. Just being outdoors in general. Were thinking about gettting a camp lot this summer. If we do, i'll be sure and take my MD with me 
