With the price of gold and silver, metal detecting

[steve from ohio]

will be a good way to make money. Look for more and more people metal detecting as the price of gold and silver gets higher and higher. That will mean more people looking for lost gold and silver.

It may actually be possible to make a living metal detecting! I have already met a few unemployed people out of the beaches with metal detectors trying to make ends meet.

That metal detector could pay itself off in a very short time with the prices of metals rising as they have been.

I also see a new gold rush out in the western states as people who cannot find work need a way to make some cash. The popularity of TV reality shows like Gold Rush Alaska and some of the Outdoor channel's gold prospecting programs are proof that there will be a repeat of the Gold rush of 1849 if prices keep rising.

Your metal detector may very well be a very good investment and your abilities with it could be financially rewarding.

 

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[lookindown]

You would be better buying a lottery ticket... I've paid off both my MD'S, but I would be happy to make property taxes this year, but it ain't gonna happen!!! If ya live in a tent and eat beanie weenies every night (one meal a day) and don't need clean underwear, go for it...

The way it's going, you might have to give up the tent and beanie weenies for a cardboard box and hot water soup.

 

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[donj]

I would agree making a living at MDing would be hard work to say the least, My example is 3.5 hours of searching with my partner is $1.57 and we were both so tired and worn out I had to go to work at my real job to get a rest. I do love detecting though, i'll be back out there as soon as the rain stops.

 

[joeman]

I don't know much about gold prospecting, but there's just no way anyone's going to make 'a living' with metal detecting for random, lost stuff.

The places to hunt are fewer and fewer, those that are available have been hit hard over the past decades (which means that most of the old silver coinage is gone) not to mention the buying power of the dollar has been weakened so badly that the clad you do find hardly buys anything meaningful... I can't imagine anyone is better off wandering around with a metal detector versus working at McDonalds flipping burgers for $7.50 an hour. Your accumulated hourly rate is probably much higher at the Golden Arches.

If you're down to the point where you're wandering around with a metal detector to try and feed your family, you should probably sell that metal detector and go get a second job.

I think it would be 'difficult' in much of the USA, simply based on your population and the amount of detectorist's living there. I would assume that some States in the USA could be very good (Nevada, California, Alaska, Arizona) but you'd have to 'go the distance' and invest in 'very good equipment' for the task at hand and be very well prepared for the environmental issues. I remember reading decent article about a couple of guys would take big quads out into the desert to VERY remote destinations and were apparently doing VERY, VERY well. They obviously had a GREAT location and knowing what to 'look for' from a Geology / Geographical point of view certainly helps and although their Daily Gold accumulation was less than a couple of ounces, they were pulling out 'collectible specimens' and those were selling for significantly more than the Gold Content.

Cache hunting is a 'whole different' thing and I believe that a couple of dedicated persons could indeed find large enough scores to keep them running full-time, but you would REALLY need to know your History and Geographical locations...

Lest we forget the individuals that hunt specifically for Meteorites (wife / husband team in Nevada comes to mind..) which can easily fetch $7 dollars per gram with some well in excess of 75$ bucks per GRAM!

Having stated the former, places like Australia have proven time and again that Metal Detecting can not only make you a living, but some people become 'border line' wealthy collecting gold nuggets.

Now as far as making a living detecting on Beaches and Parks?... That would be VERY difficult in my opinion.

Cheers,

 

[deepskyal]

Lot of talk about beaches but someone would have a pretty tough time making anything inland where an oldtimer lives with their detector in every town.

With the big box stores selling the El-Cheepo's, a lot of the unemployed would find themselves deeper in debt from wasting there money buying a machine that won't find them squat because all the goodies have been cherry-picked to death and back in all the "common sense" areas they would think would be their bonanza.

I know where I live there is someone in every town that's been detecting for years. Probably several oldtimers but we just don't meet or see them. Not everyone with a detector is on T-net!
I know I'd never make a living at it. Maybe I could by something off the dollar menu at MickyDee's...lol

Sure, there's parks I haven't hit, but the ones I have also have been hit by others...many others! So...stands to reason the ones I haven't hit probably have been hit by everyone that owned a detector in that area.

People are dreamers though....I'm sure there will be a few that think they can do it. We will probably see some increase in people trying to make a buck the easy way and even more that won't take the time to fill their holes, etc and make life harder for those of us that respect the hobby.

Al

 

[mlayers]

One hour of detecting

1 quarter
1 nickel
2 dimes
14 pennies
1 wheat penny
1 silver quarter

So if I sold my silver quarter at 20 X face

$5.00
.25
.05
.20
.14
_____
$5.64

Did not make MD's wage today.... Not counting the junk that I dug up which will be sold later this year...Matt

 

[Dirty Money]

Even for us retired folks, there is almost no way detecting is going to supplement your income significantly. If you're a cache hunter take the time you put in researching and divide that into what you find. Not much per hour is it?

You can use your down time (winters in the north, summers in the deep south) getting leads on caches and relic sites, but pulling big money out of the ground is getting harder and harder. How many times have you heard a detectorist say "Silver? I haven't pulled a silver yet this year." Hear it all the time on the forums and from detectorists.

It's a hobby. Search, learn about the history of your community, enjoy being with really great people, but remember: it's a hobby.

If you want it to be anything more, you had better have very deep pockets, or sponsors with the same.

HH

 

[triplehooked]

I sold 4 of my pre '65' quarters today for $20...best I could find out of three places in town. Not great (melt value as of today was $27.50) but it bought some batteries for the MXT!!

 

[wildman4910]

The best is seeing the "I'm gonna get rich at the beacher's w/my Wally World MD" and they swing it like they are using an old manual weed wacker!

~~Happy Hunting~~​