shofs
Full Member
- Jun 5, 2013
- 244
- 597
- Detector(s) used
- Bazooka Sniper Sluice 30"
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Some background first. I have been a treasure hunter all my life. I started as a rock hound around age 6 looking for geodes and petrified wood with my Dad in Colorado and Utah. I loved it and we expanded to fossil hunting and from there Indian artifact and arrowhead hunting. Finally, for my 15th birthday I got a metal detector and soon I was out looking for old west relics. I had mild success with these hunts and it really got me hooked, but I wanted more! I do a lot of stream fishing in the Colorado Rockies which gave me the idea to do a little prospecting and gold panning while I was out fishing since it was right in the heart of the gold belt. I've only ever found a little piece of gold flake which I proudly have saved in a tiny glass vile. While I truly enjoy all these hunts the results have not really been enough to justify the time and effort put into them (at least financially speaking). I graduated high school in 2009 and started as a full time college student still in Colorado. With my busy college schedule I had to cut down on my treasure hunting activities. I would still sometimes metal detect a local park every now and then but that was really all I had time for and I have still only found come clad coins and nothing much of value. It seemed I lost my treasure hunting ways....until recently. Around last October (2012) I went with my girlfriend to an estate sale because she wanted to find some Halloween decorations. I found myself looking at some expensive looking jewelry but since it was the last day of the sale everything was half off so I had the bright idea to buy some and turn it for a quick profit at the pawn shop down the road. I bought 3 necklaces for about $3 each not knowing much about this sort of thing and hoped for the best. I brought them into the pawn shop and to my surprise the guy offered me $175 for one of them! I was so excited I took the money without a second thought (Big mistake.. I saved the receipt and later on after educating myself on precious metals I realized it was 14k gold and worth about $600). I learned two valuable things on this day. First, never sell stuff at a pawn shop and second garage and estate sales are goldmines! I began to teach myself about gold and silver identification and found surprisingly easy to learn. I took the next step and purchased a rare earth magnet and little $20 kit with an acid scratch test, diamond tester and eye loupe which I still use to this day eight months later.
Below I have some pictures of whats in my current collection. I have scrapped a ton of beat up and common pieces, enough to pay for everything I've purchased and then some. I'm actually making more money on gold and silver from thrift stores/goodwill/garage sales from just the weekends then my part time job at Applebees. I finally found how to treasure hunt on a college schedule and budget! I only buy items that are mislabeled and not recognized as gold or silver so I've sniped all this stuff for pennies on the dollar. I also try not to get scrap happy because I know some of this stuff has a lot more historical and artistic value over melt value and I really enjoy finding the history of the more uncommon pieces.
Anyways, here are some pics of whats in my current collection. Some of this will be gone by the end of the week but more will be found on the weekend
Enjoy and thanks for reading!
Some lovely lovely gold (mostly 14k)
Everything is hallmarked solid silver and tested
The top row is mostly sterling handled items.
I get a lot of these little spoons
Necklaces. The gold ones are gold plated silver.
The edges on those decorative plates are thick sterling.
The big plate is from goodwill 606 grams for $5! Good deal on the brush too
you might recognize some spoons from my other posts.
Salt shakers and miscellaneous
Some rings and earrings and small stuff. All fake diamonds sadly
Below I have some pictures of whats in my current collection. I have scrapped a ton of beat up and common pieces, enough to pay for everything I've purchased and then some. I'm actually making more money on gold and silver from thrift stores/goodwill/garage sales from just the weekends then my part time job at Applebees. I finally found how to treasure hunt on a college schedule and budget! I only buy items that are mislabeled and not recognized as gold or silver so I've sniped all this stuff for pennies on the dollar. I also try not to get scrap happy because I know some of this stuff has a lot more historical and artistic value over melt value and I really enjoy finding the history of the more uncommon pieces.
Anyways, here are some pics of whats in my current collection. Some of this will be gone by the end of the week but more will be found on the weekend
Enjoy and thanks for reading!
Some lovely lovely gold (mostly 14k)
Everything is hallmarked solid silver and tested
The top row is mostly sterling handled items.
I get a lot of these little spoons
Necklaces. The gold ones are gold plated silver.
The edges on those decorative plates are thick sterling.
The big plate is from goodwill 606 grams for $5! Good deal on the brush too
you might recognize some spoons from my other posts.
Salt shakers and miscellaneous
Some rings and earrings and small stuff. All fake diamonds sadly
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