general rules on private property

[Wayne H.]

Hello everyone, besides getting permission to detect on private property, how do you handle your finds with the property owner ?

Do you divide it up with them, do you offer the relics to them or do you just keep everything you find ?

Also, if you find relics in Canada , Mexico , or some other country are there laws against taking them out of the country ?
(Bringing them back to the U.S.A. ) I would welcome all help on this matter that you can give me, thanks Wayne H.

 

[relic nut]

We never offer or have been asked for a split but some landowners here do like to see what we find. If we are successful then sometimes we will put together a small relic box with some goodies like buttons and or a few bullets. These have been well received and goes a long way to secure your permission and obtained future ones. Good sites are hard to find so we try to keep everyone happy but I'm not interested in giving half my finds away. If the owner is interested, I'll gladly offer my back up machine and assist them in digging with us.

 

[Loco-Digger]

Most people will not bother with seeing the finds. I had one permission were the owner requested that if I dug up multiple old coins of the same denomination and type, that he get one, the lesser one. He got a nice Indian Head penny in a thank you card. I have given an old brooch to a property owner as a thanks , I could see she really loved that relic since it was history for the house she recently bought. Another lady who saw me detecting next door th her property came over and offered up her yard. She just wanted to see what I dug and would like some relics. I always wanted to hunt her yard, it was high on my list of prospective sites. She got all the tableware I dug, she liked the 1812 French 5 Francs I dug by making the comment "I really like Napoleon" but I was not giving up my oldest coin at that time. (Huge Silver). She understood and was happy I dug it. One site gave up 3 bucket listers and about $10 in clad so I bought the owner a six pack of beer as a thanks.

 

[Deep1]

I had an owner who wanted half of what I found.
I told him my rate for recovery is $50.00 an hour.
Told he could pay my rate and he could have everything I find.
Needless to say, we didn't make a deal.

 

[Opie]

Wayne, research is your friend. Research what your recovery might be. Case in point, at an auction the ability to verify and validate where the object came from is huge. Example: I detect locations that could hold caches or single finds of the Mormon gold coins, these locations are brought up and I have a special permission slip (contract) for the owner that we both sign. The Mormon Gold $10 dollar coin is the Million dollar coin find. I offer some finds to the owner and include the reason or need to sale some finds to help pay for my habit. I don't do parks or modern locations anymore unless its for work or I get asked to help with personal items lost. Its funny what a set of keys or a wedding ring will bring you in the name of a tip for finding it.
In major stuff I need the owner as much as they needed me to find whatever it is and that even holds true long term too. You can't sit on some coins for years without the explanation of where? it came from. Offer to share if it gets you the property but don't try and spoof the owner, I know of many a tale of people finding old coins and not saying anything then placing the item on social media only to find the owner getting upset and pulling the plug on the property.
Good luck!
Stay Gold!
Opie

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I'm a coin shooter. The proposal I have made in the past is that I'll show the landowner all I find and they get the personal items (jewelry, artifacts, etc). I keep the coins.

They technically already own whatever I find so it is a privilege for me to get to look and potentially find coins on their property.

 

[hvacker]

People can have odd responses.
I had a job years ago that involved going into many homes. I also had some involvement in antiques.
On occasion I might see a piece of furniture in a basement or some storage area not being used or even being destroyed in a wet basement. If I asked if it might be for sale the answer was almost always No.
Reasons ranged from some relative might want it to I might do something with it someday..

The lesson I learned is. if asked about something it then becomes valuable. Avalue that was unknown before being asked.
After awhile I quit asking.
If I was asked by someone to MD my land I also would have to wonder....Is there something I could find?
What does this detector know that I don't?
I have received welcomes also.
Maybe it feels like the cops coming to your house and asking "Mind if we have a look around?"

As a landowner, I'd never agree to letting an MD'er keep the coins. They might find a handful of Double Eagles.