Value of finds per hour now vs 40 years ago?

[jeweler21]

In 1972, I kept an accurate record of all my finds and their monetary value.
The first six months with a high quality detector of that period (A.H. Electronics Pro). I averaged
$10.30 an hour in value of finds. In today's dollars that would probably equal about $35.00 per hour.

I had taken a break from detecting for about fifteen years and again started pursuing the hobby this year. The first five months of reentering the hobby, I have kept an accurate record of my hours and the value of my finds. Judging by the average finds, I see posted on "Todays Finds", I think that I am finding about the same amount as others. My finds for this period, a total of three hundred hours equals $1.61 per hour.

A mere pittance of what the value of my finds was back then. Has anyone else kept a record of their finds and value back when they started detecting? Or now?

I am just curious as to how I am comparing with my fellow hobbyist.

 

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[diggummup]

Good thread. I doubt you'll get too many with records from 40 years ago but you may get one or two. I'd be interested to know the types of areas you detected then, versus the types of areas detected now and whether that plays/played a key role in the "hourly finds" average. I'm sure the number of detectorists back then was a mere pittance as compared to today. Are there really that many more people in the hobby nowadays digging up all the finds? I don't think that is the reason. Are legal (public) detecting sites becoming that few and far between? We know it can't be the electronics involved, I mean everything is more advanced nowadays, right? To what would you attribute the reasons for such a dramatic decline in averages? Your records don't include the amount of trash targets you dug do they? In 1972 a person could live pretty good on $10 an hour. Hell, there are people living off of that nowadays.

 

[jeweler21]

Good thread. I doubt you'll get too many with records from 40 years ago but you may get one or two. I'd be interested to know the types of areas you detected then, versus the types of areas detected now and whether that plays/played a key role in the "hourly finds" average. I'm sure the number of detectorists back then was a mere pittance as compared to today. Are there really that many more people in the hobby nowadays digging up all the finds? I don't think that is the reason. Are legal (public) detecting sites becoming that few and far between? We know it can't be the electronics involved, I mean everything is more advanced nowadays, right? To what would you attribute the reasons for such a dramatic decline in averages? Your records don't include the amount of trash targets you dug do they? In 1972 a person could live pretty good on $10 an hour. Hell, there are people living off of that nowadays.

I am searching for the most part the same areas that I did then. As far as technology, I can't see much difference. The AT Pro that I am using now has much greater depth than A.H. Super Pro that I was using then, but the discrimination is basically the same. The main difference is: back then at least 1/3 of the coins I found were silver and I found a lot of 10K class rings. Now I haven't found but 1 silver quarter and 6 silver dimes, no class rings. I don't think people are buying class rings like they used to, if they are, they aren't losing them as much. I haven't found anyplace that was open to metal detecting then that is not still open to metal detecting. One difference is most of the schools and sports facilities are fenced and locked to where the area one can look in is much more restricted than it was back then. Rather than just a comparison of someone keeping a record at that time, I would like to know the amount people are averaging now, so I would have a better idea of how I'm doing.

 

[RotZorn]

How you're doing comparatively to others depends on if you believe what you read here?!

Compared to the people who are way cooler online than in real life, you're doing terrible.... Read around a little!

Your post is realistic, I would say you're doing fine. But the stuff that some on here claim they find is just ridiculous, tales of " in about 30 minutes with my new explorer I found $22 dollars in clad and 14k diamond necklace" are rampant- and blatant lies- Sorry.

Some of these folks should maybe think about how long it takes to find, dig, recover, and refill before they brag about their new MD.

I'd say given the fact- like you stated- there's just less silver to be found now than in 72- you are doing fine..... Probably better than most actually, and I'd truthfully include myself in the group you're beating out.

But I'm having fun, and that's why I got into this. There's no other reason.

 

[mrwilburino]

I started in '74. I still have a mason jar that I filled with my earliest coin finds. Once the jar was full I started spending the rest of the coins that I found because the novelty had worn off at that point. The original jar of coins is still intact however, and kind of an interesting time capsule. One of these days I'll have to go through it to see what my silver to clad and wheat to memorial ratios were. Wasn't finding anywhere near 10 dollars per hour (in total find value) in those days, but with the amount of silver in the ground back then, I'm sure it was possible if you were at the right sites. I took about a thirty year hiatus from detecting, and when I came back......what a shock! Even the clad is scarce in the places I hunt. Still able to get a silver or two here and there but working darn hard for them.

 

[diggummup]

I don't keep logs but there/s many a day when I don't find enough to pay for hourly parking. It's $1.50 an hour so...

 

[tnTesoro]

Very interesting post! Ten bucks an hour was great money back in those days! I've never kept a written record but I usually find $0.50 to $0.80 cents in clad in an hour or two when I hunt a park. I found two gold rings, 6 inches apart from each other, a couple weeks ago. I don't find gold or silver jewelry very often but probably $100 to $200 per year. I haven't found any valuable relics, yet. But I keep trying. So basically my hunting pays for batteries and lunch! But the thrill of the hunt?: PRICELESS!

 

[jeweler21]

Interesting replies. I might mention that back then, I kept everything that had value whether I found it with the metal detector or not. For instance: I had a jar full of old collectable marbles, pop bottles were returned for deposit, I would find several on every outing, I had many old collectable bottles and at the time there was a very strong collector's base for bottles. I still have a display with eight collectable watch fobs that I found back then, two of them or rare, at the time those two were worth over a hundred dollars each, they are still in that price range. Some collectables have increased in value, others have decreased or remain dormant. However, back then, I was seriously searching for monetary value because I needed the money. As others have expressed, it is now just a hobby for me and I still feel the excitement of seeing what comes out of the hole, even if the chances are it is just a zincoln.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Most people don't carry change, and most kids don't buy class rings. There just isn't as much being lost. Add that to the fact that in the 1970's you were hitting virgin ground which had never been detected before. Today we pick up scraps from heavily hunted parks and beaches. If it was about the money, I would be better off flipping burgers at McDs.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

jeweler21, thanx for the interesting topic.

I started in about 1975 or so with a 66TR. And it would depend on the detecting pressure of what particular town a person was located in, if things were "virgin" by then. In my town, the sandboxes were already scanned routinely even by then. So we were not getting $10 p/h in clad in the mid to later 1970s, by any means in my area. By then "silver was king", and we were searching for silver primarily. And even that wasn't easy for the VLF/TR days. I mean, I might get 2 or 3 silvers on a trip to the park or school. Maybe 5 or 7 on a good hunt. But heck, I can still do THAT to THIS day (because the technology is so much better now). And if I wanted to bone up on clad counts, I bet I could get "$10.00 by merely cruising for quarters and dimes only with today's whizz-bang TID technology, at certain parks I can think of, where no one is harvesting the clad.

But I did hear of some early hunters in the mid 1960s, to the early 1970s, that ....... if they were the lucky ones to be the first ones in their town to have ever hunted older sandboxes, that .... yes .... they were brimming with coins. Or the stories of the guys who were the first ones to ever hunt fairgrounds under the twirly rides (that turn you upside down). Or the first guys to ever hit in front of beach concession stands, etc...

So, just like now, it's the same as then: It depended on where you were, what type sites you hunted, if you were the first one or not, etc...

But all things being equal, it would have been much easier for someone to have made a living at it in those days. Because, heck, minimum wage in the late 1960s or very early 1970s, was still only like $1.90 an hour or something. And a gallon of gas was only .49c? etc... A guy I talked to from Los Angeles, had gotten ahold of an early metrotech (which was groundbreaking good for 1964-ish). And he describes that .... back at that time ... you could go to ANY sandbox in his area of southern CA, and .. in a few hours .... have enough to a) fill your gas tank, and b) buy enough beer for you and your buddies to go party for the rest of the night. And in 1964, they weren't keeping the silver separate. It was just treated as the accumulating face-value total (since, afterall .... silver was still in circulation). I asked the guy if he ever got exotic and tried ghost towns, which .... at that time, would have been virgin (and without restrictions, etc...). He said no, they never thought of that. They never researched out old stage stops or hit historic monument type places. They just thought it was cool to bulk up on face value, and the occasional ring.

 

[jeweler21]

A couple of other things that have changed in the past forty years, at least in this area they have, the so-called beautification projects have turned most the sod or grass areas into concrete slabs for parking or sports and paved trails for bikers and joggers take up acres of land that used to be prime hunting ground. I don't see concrete as being more beautiful than sod and grass.

 

[mlayers]

Well it all depends on where I am hunting. I have had days where I would be lucky to find .25 a hour at the park or fair grounds. there has been days where I have hit the beach and was lucky enough to find $3 a hour in change. Then there is some days where I get lucky and fine a new beach and find a half dz gold rings. I'm still lucky every now and then and fine a very old coin. I still have a box filled with stuff that I found over 30 yrs ago. But I do wish I still had all the old silver that I found back then but I sold it all when I needed cash. but I still think you are doing pretty good with what you are finding today.

 

[cudamark]

I think it's comparing apples with oranges. I started in 1970 in Virginia. I went to the beach because it was close, easy digging, and plentiful coins. It wasn't uncommon to have half your finds be silver and wheats. As a 17 year old, I was more interested in dollar amount and not trying to find the oldest coin possible. I wasn't particularly interested in finding jewelry either as it took time to find a buyer and you had to haggle and deal, etc. I had a whole lot more energy and endurance back then too! I could hunt all day and party all night with the money I found. Nowadays, I don't care if I ever find another Zincoln but love to find jewelry and old coins so my direction has shifted over the years. With the old POS I first used, it was beep and dig every target. Now I can pass up the obvious junk and undesirable stuff so my volume may be down a little but the quality is up. You also have to factor in the recovery time and even that is subjective. There were no separate pin pointers back then so you had to rely on your skills with the primary detector to pin point, but, the targets were all shallow (mainly because my machine was severely limited) Now you have some great electronic pin pointers and other recovery tools, but the finds are deeper which take longer to extract. Even though I haven't kept a log on my finds, your $1.61/hour average sounds about right in today's urban setting.

 

[firemac]

summer 72 I made 1.95hr and summer 73 2.05hr, the next summer was 3.00 hr/60 hr week at a gas station pumping gas and it was for CASH at the end of the week, the first detector was a high school grad gift in 73, cant remember what or how much was found but I remember it was fun!

 

[Muddyhandz]

Your post is realistic, I would say you're doing fine. But the stuff that some on here claim they find is just ridiculous, tales of " in about 30 minutes with my new explorer I found $22 dollars in clad and 14k diamond necklace" are rampant- and blatant lies- Sorry.

Some of these folks should maybe think about how long it takes to find, dig, recover, and refill before they brag about their new MD.

Other than the explorer part, what's so unbelievable about this? Maybe in the States that's a little far fetched but not impossible here in Canada.
I've had $15 in one scoop in the water and then 5 minutes later, Bang, a gold ring. A couple of loonies and twoonies later and I've easily matched your scenario.
Of course I've posted clad totals before years ago (My first T-net account) and recently and it didn't take long before I was called a liar.
I can imagine that the States dried up. There used to be van loads of Americans coming up here during the 1960-80's and "cleaning out" our old parks. One important military training site had 5 Americans camped for a whole summer working it before many of us were even on the scene.
I'm not bitter, it just makes sense that things aren't like they used to be.
Just in case anyone cares, I do average $10 an hour. I still find hundreds of silver coins a year but relics, well, I'm not saying anymore.
However, the amount of gold every year has definitely decreased. I find several stainless steel wedding bands now.
Cheers,
Dave.

 

[cudamark]

If we'd get smart and have $1 and $2 coins to replace the paper money, we'd have a higher hourly rate too.

 

[RotZorn]

Other than the explorer part, what's so unbelievable about this? Maybe in the States that's a little far fetched but not impossible here in Canada.
I've had $15 in one scoop in the water and then 5 minutes later, Bang, a gold ring. A couple of loonies and twoonies later and I've easily matched your scenario.
Of course I've posted clad totals before years ago (My first T-net account) and recently and it didn't take long before I was called a liar.
I can imagine that the States dried up. There used to be van loads of Americans coming up here during the 1960-80's and "cleaning out" our old parks. One important military training site had 5 Americans camped for a whole summer working it before many of us were even on the scene.
I'm not bitter, it just makes sense that things aren't like they used to be.
Just in case anyone cares, I do average $10 an hour. I still find hundreds of silver coins a year but relics, well, I'm not saying anymore.
However, the amount of gold every year has definitely decreased. I find several stainless steel wedding bands now.
Cheers,
Dave.

Really? I wonder why Canada would be any different?


Less people detecting? Because of a lower population per square area perhaps? Hmmm.....

Guess that would mean there'd be LESS people loosing money too?

So you found $15 in one scoop in the water? Did someone loose a roll of quarters? Oh, wait, coin roll wrappers here in the US are made of paper? ....Which water breaks down fairly easy in a relatively short amount of time. Are they made of plastic or some other non degradable material in Canada?

Maybe they were not in a roll at all? Made they were loose, and you were lucky enough to scoop a DEAD EVEN $15 dollars?

But they WERE in the water.....right?..... And any body of water large enough to lose $15 worth of coins in, generally has CURRENT..... How fortunate AND convenient for you to be able to get them in a single scoop, and find a gold ring 5 minutes later!

I'm sure you do average $10 an hour with finds like that! What kind of MD do you have? I'm buying whatever it is- next money I get. I'm also considering a move to Canada.

 

[LM]

There are a number of reasons why the net hourly rate is less now compared to years ago.

First and foremost, the guys who were earliest in on the technology enjoyed virgin territory. If you owned a metal detector in 1970, there's a very real chance that you were the FIRST person ever to detect that local park or that local beach and as a result, enjoyed a hundred years accumulation of 'lost stuff'; bonanza type finds that are incredibly rare these days.


Secondly (and not to be underestimated), the value of the dollar is so far in the toilet now that people don't carry coinage like they once did. Used to be a bucks worth of dimes and nickles got you some candy, a movie and even lunch. Now, it hardly buys a coke.

In this vein, even the inflation that's occurred since metal detectors first hit the scene versus now has had a huge impact on the lucre of the hobby.
If you found a few bucks in 1980, it bought three gallons of gas.
Now, it doesn't even buy one.

The way I see it, the objective of MD'ing is always finding a place that's likely to have accumulated 'lost stuff' over the years. Guys wandering around parks and beaches are almost always too late to the party.

 

[Ism]

Best I've done in recent years is $7-7.50/hr at a very old heavily used location. All was clad, so it appears that somebody hunted it in the 70's.
It was like hitting one number short in the powerball..... Nice consolation prize but no jackpot.

 

[Digger2]

I really don't keep track of the Dollar value, but I do keep track (sometimes) of the number of coins I find (zlincolns included). my best find was about 78 coins in an hour or so.
This was because I was in an unhunted tot lot with 4" or so of wood chips covering the ground. I started hunting with my Detector, but when I saw I close together the coins were, I switched over to my Vibra-tector with its 4 inch coil. I have made several more visits to that spot and have pulled close to 200 coins total.
My best hunt before that was 42 coins in about 6 hours, with a total of $18.52.
Whenever I hit 4 to 5 coins an hour, things are going great. Its not about the money, I just enjoy doing it.
I average finding about $10.00 a week, maybe hunting a total of 20 hours or so. If I subtract, about $30.00 for fuel, I only lose about a Dollar an hour.