I understand your interest in finding at least one specific example from a regular guy, for motivational purposes, as it suggests the likelyhood of whether or not you might ever find one (i.e.: wasting your time). Kindly refer to my thread herein on the Dutch Schultz cache. It' in two parts cuz when I finally posted my map showing the location of the site I didn't bother putting it in the original thread. In summary, a map was known to exist and to have fallen into the hands of a rival gangster, who denied ever recovering the cache. Yet, due to tax implications related to mobsters, he certainly would not have admitted it. Unreported income was how they were nailing gangsters. So, along I and many others came. After 3 years, I located the site, empty. So, the mystery was solved, but in a manner I was not happy with. If the reward had been intact it is unlikely you would ever have heard of it, for the above reasons. So this is probably as close to an admisssion as your going to get on this site. I have only been on that one hunt. I don't go coin shooting. I'm planning my second search here in the northeast, and can expect some days in the field. I had dragged family along with me on the Schultz hunt. They wanted some fun and never expected to find anything related to the treasure. My wife kept calling it a lark (arghh!). In retrospect I wish I had not been so businesslike about it and had made it more fun for them. Next hunt I'm going to do just that. This is my advice to you: Make it fun for yourself and those around you and there's no reason to ever quit.
