Treasure comes in all shapes and sizes. I would imagine the 1st treasures hunted would have been Easter eggs in the yard as a child which evolved into looking for pop bottles that could be exchanged for candy or cash age 4 to 12 (2 cents a bottle back then). Other sources of treasure were change return trays in vending machines and pay phones.
At 12 I began going through wrecked cars and junker trade-ins behind the local Ford dealership looking for spare change in the consoles, glove boxes and under the seats, especially the rear seat. It evolved into searching through old houses and out buildings set for demolition. I would even lift porch boards and crawl under the structures looking for bottles from the construction crew from the mid to late 1800's. Many a day I would walk along the canal looking for bottles from old trash piles.
Twice a year our town had a special trash pick-up where you could put anything out. I would drag home what I considered treasure from furniture to doors and other pieces of wood so we could build a clubhouse. My mom gave me the name of Sanford after the Sanford and Son TV series. I have always been drawn to looking through other peoples trash. I found many old documents that I donated to the local historical society when it was formed back in 1976. At a young age finding a playboy magazine in someones trash was true treasure.
Once I hit puberty, my definition of treasure evolved to the other sex and partying. Then came marriage and the treasures changed to making family memories. My treasure hunting was confined to going to yard sales, estate sales, flea markets, and the occasional estate auction.
Back in the early 2000's, while my full time job was still being a soldier I picked up a part time job as a handyman for a retired teacher to earn money so I could begin to buy computer parts. I built a couple dozen computers and sold them to people who could not afford a new one. Back then the average price of a computer was $1,200. I sold them from $125 to $400 depending on the system specs. I would also buy sell parts on ebay back when it was profitable.
I did get back into curb picking for a while and would clean and repair my finds and have the occasional yard sale. Back in 2004 I was really into this since I had a few months of terminal leave when I was retiring from the Army. I made two grand that summer selling other peoples stuff. I averaged about $125 per day in sales that year.
Now that the kids have all moved out I tried fishing as a hobby, it lasted for a couple years, but in 2014 I began to swing the coil and have since been bitten hard with the detecting bug.
I have never had any good leads on caches or other large treasures, but I am content on securing permissions to dig old coins, cool relics, and maybe a ring or two.
