Do you Sell or Keep your finds?

[Oddjob]

Just wanted to ask folks here if they sell or keep their finds. My family and I sell all of our finds, normally we will wait until we have about a kilogram or gold, a few kilograms of silver and any coins are cashed in at the end of the year unless they are old then we take and dumb them at a shop.

I only ask because I want to see if it is a national thing in selling or what; meaning I know a few Americans here in Europe that hunt, they too sell their stuff; however the Europeans I know keep their finds. There is one cop out of Luxembourg I often have professional dealings with, I got him into MDing back in 2005 and he loves it. He is often on the road with me when I travel but a few months ago I stopped by his house and he had an entire room dedicated to his finds, his wife and girls are also into this as well. They said it was their treasure room.

Anyway when I saw his gold he had close to 6,000 grams I told him that I have someone who can give him 3-7% under spot and he looked at me like I was nuts. Naturally I had to ask him if he could get better spot deals than that because my family and I pull about 4,000 grams on average in gold a year and if he can get better than 3% then I want to know where.

He tells me I must be crazy, they would never sell their treasures.

He is not the only European I have met like this, just the most extreme one.

I hunt for profit my self and love the hunt. Every African I have met in Europe MDing also hunts for profit and they sell too, Europeans though seem to really keep it close to them and many of them are also hunting areas that would only be good for profit.

So since this forum has a good amount of Americans and other nationalities I am just curious if you keep, sell, sit on the fence depending on what it is or go on a hunt with the sole purpose of selling your finds.

Thanks folks.

 

[relic nut]

I may sell at some point, but right now I'm enjoying my collection and love to go through it and share my findings with others. I have given some of my smaller finds away and also find that gratifying. It's like money in the bank. Our finds mean different things to different people. For now I'll keep mine.

HH, Relic Nut

 

[diggingthe1]

I think if I hunted gold I would sell it! I have some nice tokens and tags relics and coins that will be passed down to my boys. I have thought hard about what should go to them. I sell some of my nicer finds and keep the best ones for now! I keep everything from the nearby towns, love the history. If you are just talking about gold you may want to post this in gold prospecting! Happy Hunting!

 

[Kevin in IN]

The cool thing about this hobby is at the end of the day, we usually have something of value to show for our effort. For me, it's the history, and I find it hard to put a value on some things I find. I guess if I needed the money to survive, I have found plenty of things of value. Most stuff I just like to look at and think about the day I found it, maybe the friend I was hunting with, or wonder about the person who lost it. So most likely, it will become my wife's problem when I'm dead. Then it will be sold at public auction, and others can enjoy or ponder over my treasure. Kevin

 

[Duncan James]

Been out of the game a number of years since having moved to TN from TX. Had 3 detectors and a gold dredge with air when I moved here. Rules different here due to civil war. Sold everything. Got a bit older, kids grown just about. Wife and I are hitting the beach in 2 weeks so I got an excal ii and all the gear. I'll sell what I don't want to keep. Keep what the family wants to keep. Give away a few others. Never found an expensive coin so I'll probably hoard the first few of those when I get them. I guess it's because the stories I get to tell is why I keep some. Even something not worth much will have a treasure of a story.

 

[Murray8144]

with the exception of about $2 that i spent on a beer once, i have every single coin ive ever found. all my clad gets wrapped in coin wraps.

 

[BigWaveDave]

with the exception of about $2 that i spent on a beer once, i have every single coin ive ever found. all my clad gets wrapped in coin wraps.

Funny you say that...I did the same thing yesterday, on my way home from a hunt, realized I didn't have my wallet with me all day...the look on the girls face when I gave her brown quarters and dimes for a 24 oz....

 

[BigWaveDave]

I keep everything, except for the generous offer made to me for my WW1 ring, that I couldn't pass up...

 

[TheRingFinder]

I do a little of both - Sell some and keep some.

 

[redcobra8u]

I may sell at some point, but right now I'm enjoying my collection and love to go through it and share my findings with others. I have given some of my smaller finds away and also find that gratifying. It's like money in the bank. Our finds mean different things to different people. For now I'll keep mine.

HH, Relic Nut

Ditto for me. I cash in my coins when the bucket is full. Usually about $400. My daughter gets 10% for helping sort etc. I let family take things they like and pile the rest in my safe. They mean more to me than a stack of $100 bills strangely. As relic nut says, the money is in the bank anytime I want it.

 

[cactusman]

It depends -- if it has some sort of sentimental value to me I keep it, regardless. I'm not a coin collector, so if it has numismatic value, I'll sell it if the price is right. The same goes for jewelry, etc. Then that, along with clad gets changed into silver ingots which are put into a safety deposit box while the price is still pretty low. -- I might as well (potentially) get more for my finds in the future than just cans of clad that will (most likely) depreciate with the dollar.

To each his/her own -- I know a lot of people who have never cashed in a single penny they found, and others who have helped to pay the bills with theirs, and others still who routinely buy a nice coin for their collection from cashing in their clad and such. -- It’s one of the many great things about this hobby; you can make of it what you want and at least feel like you are coming out ahead.

 

[CoilToTheSoil]

Only thing I cash in is clad. Then I buy American eagles with the money made in clad. More silver for me even if I don't "find" it directly

 

[eyemustdigtreasure]

I plan on (finally) cashing-in all my clad (modern) coinage, since I have finished tumbling them clean.
But my old coins, and all precious metal jewelry, I'm keeping - since I have so little - trying to fill out my coin collection that I started as a Boy Scout!

 

[gunsil]

A kilo of gold a year!!?? Man, you must have some great places to hunt!! I have sold some relics I have found, and do not keep modern coins, but I do keep all my older coins. I hunt dirt mostly, not beaches so I find little gold. I suppose if I found a kilo of gold I too would sell it.

 

[Peyton Manning]

I keep everything, except for the generous offer made to me for my WW1 ring, that I couldn't pass up...

you were in WW1?

 

[Peyton Manning]

next week when I find a $10k diamond ring I'll probably sell it

 

[BigWaveDave]

you were in WW1?

No silly, the one I found a couple years ago....

 

[Peyton Manning]

No silly, the one I found a couple years ago....

ahhhh, and here I was about to give you respect

 

[Loco-Digger]

I cash in my clad at the end of every season. I mean it's only clad. It goes in my MD account for upgrades and tools of the trade, etc. I'm a coin shooter that likes the relics of the past. I keep it all except the junk. I do save junk copper and lead for scrap. Every hunt since Jan 2015 gets documented via smart phone pics. I would like to make some art, maybe steam punk with some of my finds.

 

[Oddjob]

Thank you everyone for your answers.