What do you all DO with your non-money finds?

UncleVinnys said:
What do you all DO with your non-money finds? I mean jewelry, relics, toys, tools, knives.

Do you keep them?
Give them away?
Display them?
Return to owner?

Sell them on Ebay?
What are the different things you do?
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In answer to the question all my finds are non-money finds, so I keep them all. (after sharing some with the landowner)
 

keep the coins, sell some of the jewelry, and pretty much everything else i toss unless it's something i think is cool! HH
 

I think most of us detectorists have a seriuos hoarding problem..8-)
 

Lately, I've been giving away my finds to people that either want or appreciate their beauty. This year, I've given away 13 of my Spanish silvers to people who have never found one. As for my jewelry finds, if someone would like to wear it, I give it to them; gold, silver or bling.
 

All the toys that are usable I give to kids. Junk broken jewelry goes in the trash. Any tools and knives, nuts, bolts, etc. are unusable go in the trash. Money gets spent. Relics, now that's a different story. I keep most relics. As I am still in my massive downsize of the ages, good,old coins post Civil War get sold. So I keep CW and colonial only.
 

Hoarding seems to be my prevalent theme since I'm still early in my hobby (since 2018). I may not know what is truly historical and what is junk.

As an example, I'm still kicking myself for tossing something after only 3 months. Specifically, a black "can" about the size of a tomato puree can (1-1/2" dia. & +- 3" tall) with the bottom intact but turned down (not rounded like a soda can). It was black from what I assumed was a 1920 era fire pit because of the other modern junk. I initially thought it was dirty and rusted. The open end was lightly collapsed but the metal was still solid and strong enough (but dark black) that I couldn't pull it back into a round shape. I assumed it to be a steel can of some sort but couldn't figure out why it wouldn't rust after even 50 years that close to the ocean. There was no sign of any kind of opener being used on the open end.

It was among other modern garbage at a construction site within 60' of where I later found some other Spanish artifacts, about 100' from the beach, which is why I'm kicking myself even today. I've regretted it ever since I tossed it into the recycling bin after only 3 months.

All of you older (don't throw stuff at me) and more experienced members have provided lots of inspiration with your finds. The volume and especially the quality are truly amazing.
As a newer detectorist, I really appreciated Black Barts image of the bottle with all the pull tabs in it. With his level of success, for us newer hobbyists, it was a great visual example of the kind of stuff we have to dig to find good "stuff". Perseverance does pay off!!

My hat is off (as well as my rocker) to each and every one of you "old timers" that have taken the time to share your finds. From my perspective, it isn't bragging, but the incentive to keep trying. Thanks for sharing your great finds over the years. (Sorry about this "book" but had to let you know how much sharing your experience and finds helps to motivate.)

To the topic of display, I finally picked up some glass top display boxes while visiting Sanibel Island last year.
Hope it's ok to mix images of NA artifacts, fossils, and MD finds as I should have picked up more boxes to house things separately.
 

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I'm pretty new and I hunt early-mid 1800s sites so I keep just about all the non-ferrous finds and put them in my display case, of the iron stuff I have only kept a couple axes, a hoe, and a select few square nails. Later stuff like 1890s on is usually trash unless it's in real good condition or is super cool.
 

Last edited:
Professor of Engineering said:
Lately, I've been giving away my finds to people that either want or appreciate their beauty. This year, I've given away 13 of my Spanish silvers to people who have never found one. As for my jewelry finds, if someone would like to wear it, I give it to them; gold, silver or bling.
Click to expand...
Hey uh... speaking of people that have never found one... *hint hint*

No just kidding! It's super awesome that you are giving things like that away to people who might appreciate them more though!
 

Most of my relics reside on shelves in my garage..., with some stuff nailed to wall with square nails,
but a few special items are on the bookshelves in out library....
...I have to do the dusting in those areas....oh well, all Museums have that problem...1
 

PetesPockets55 said:
Hoarding seems to be my prevalent theme since I'm still early in my hobby (since 2018). I may not know what is truly historical and what is junk.

As an example, I'm still kicking myself for tossing something after only 3 months. Specifically, a black "can" about the size of a tomato puree can (1-1/2" dia. & +- 3" tall) with the bottom intact but turned down (not rounded like a soda can). It was black from what I assumed was a 1920 era fire pit because of the other modern junk. I initially thought it was dirty and rusted. The open end was lightly collapsed but the metal was still solid and strong enough (but dark black) that I couldn't pull it back into a round shape. I assumed it to be a steel can of some sort but couldn't figure out why it wouldn't rust after even 50 years that close to the ocean. There was no sign of any kind of opener being used on the open end.

It was among other modern garbage at a construction site within 60' of where I later found some other Spanish artifacts, about 100' from the beach, which is why I'm kicking myself even today. I've regretted it ever since I tossed it into the recycling bin after only 3 months.

All of you older (don't throw stuff at me) and more experienced members have provided lots of inspiration with your finds. The volume and especially the quality are truly amazing.
As a newer detectorist, I really appreciated Black Barts image of the bottle with all the pull tabs in it. With his level of success, for us newer hobbyists, it was a great visual example of the kind of stuff we have to dig to find good "stuff". Perseverance does pay off!!

My hat is off (as well as my rocker) to each and every one of you "old timers" that have taken the time to share your finds. From my perspective, it isn't bragging, but the incentive to keep trying. Thanks for sharing your great finds over the years. (Sorry about this "book" but had to let you know how much sharing your experience and finds helps to motivate.)

To the topic of display, I finally picked up some glass top display boxes while visiting Sanibel Island last year.
Hope it's ok to mix images of NA artifacts, fossils, and MD finds as I should have picked up more boxes to house things separately.
Click to expand...

i'm totally agree with you
 

I made a table out of all the pennies, don’t mind the cardboard boxes they were on the floor from polyurethane so it didn’t drop on the floor. The pennies were all cleaned prior to placing on table in a rock tumbler.

AA75D629-F788-49E9-99BF-141C727F4477.jpeg
 

I display my favorites and I have a giant box of other stuff. To be honest , it’s getting out of hand (;
 

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I've got more junk in places out of sight, but tend to display relics I've found. Probably the only real value to them is the memory of when, where or with whom I found them.. I put silver and interesting coins away in binders for my grandboy when I go..
I've found many old tools which go to an iron garden I'm still building.
 

Sort them into similar categories, restore the nicer ones, sort out the scrap for future disposal/redemption, put the nicer small finds into Riker Cases.
Nick
 

I have a pirate chest that I put all my clad and costume jewelry in. All the scrap metal goes into different bins until I accumulate enough to do something with. Iron etc goes to the scrap bin at the dump and the copper. brass. aluminum etc I sell and donate the money to the SPCA .
 

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