I have a serious question ..

[bigfoot1]

its easier than you think...

[h=3]how I sell my finds..part deux[/h]

 

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[voodoo]

auctioneer to make a few bucks or donate / sell to museums (make sure you get your name and pictured displayed at the museum). I'm sure they would go through the boxes. Good luck.

 

[joesmarbles]

Hi Mud Hut, most good auctioneers list there auctions at "auctionzip.com" to find a good one in your area go to the site and put in your zip code. It will show you all the auctions in you area up to hundreds of miles. Great way to find a good auctioneer.....Joe McDonough

 

[Keppy]

Well i got a lot of years in this and i have found a lot of items and i only have one thing left from all those years of finds that is my first find..….I sell everything when it comes to relics to me those relics that most prize and some will buy ……. Is just plain junk to me … so if someone buys them great if not to the scrap yard.. I never get attached to any item to want to save it ………… Sell what you can and scrap what you can't ….. Sounds to me like your kids thinks it is all junk..

 

[pepperj]

Well i got a lot of years in this and i have found a lot of items and i only have one thing left from all those years of finds that is my first find..….I sell everything when it comes to relics to me those relics that most prize and some will buy ……. Is just plain junk to me … so if someone buys them great if not to the scrap yard.. I never get attached to any item to want to save it ………… Sell what you can and scrap what you can't ….. Sounds to me like your kids thinks it is all junk..

Interesting statement Keppy and my first reaction was the you have no real attachment to history besides or profit. Then the other little guy on the other shoulder yelled "Hey wait a minute"
Then came the thought that sure your digging history and by selling the items it's enriching the collection of somebody that collects but doesn't have the means to get to dig or time, or they don't need to get dirty.

That been said I've seen through my own family tree huge rifts between siblings over things and it boils down to $$$. One case where the collection meant nothing, there was no hint of attachment to anything even though they grew up around the parents.

I've heard this statement a few times through my life where the wife has stated " Don't you dare die and leave me with this mess to clean up"
That's the thing-0ne wants to collect and hoard and the other has no idea how to deal with the whole thing. It's down right scary for the one that doesn't have an attachment to the items.

 

[Keppy]

Interesting statement Keppy and my first reaction was the you have no real attachment to history besides or profit. Then the other little guy on the other shoulder yelled "Hey wait a minute"
Then came the thought that sure your digging history and by selling the items it's enriching the collection of somebody that collects but doesn't have the means to get to dig or time, or they don't need to get dirty.

That been said I've seen through my own family tree huge rifts between siblings over things and it boils down to $$$. One case where the collection meant nothing, there was no hint of attachment to anything even though they grew up around the parents.

I've heard this statement a few times through my life where the wife has stated " Don't you dare die and leave me with this mess to clean up"
That's the thing-0ne wants to collect and hoard and the other has no idea how to deal with the whole thing. It's down right scary for the one that doesn't have an attachment to the items.

How can you have a attachment to a non living object .. That just sits around and collects dust .. And creates clutter … I have attachments to a lot of living people and animal's … but not any inanimate item or thing .. And why would it be down right scary for some one not to love some chunk of iron , chunk of wood

 

[Escape]

I mostly hunt coins and jewelry so I don't have boxes of stuff. If I did and my years were running out and I really liked the stuff, I would get my self a casket and epoxy the things I liked on the outside in an artistic manor. Let the local media know what you are doimg. They like human interest storys.

 

[Lores]

Take it to a local museum. Donate, get a tax break

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

I have been metal detecting since the early 1960's, and have amassed quite a collection of all sorts of things imaginable from Colonial times, through more modern times. I have never had any place to display what I have, so it sits in boxes in the attic. I have 3 children, and none of them are interested in any of it. Now, realizing my own mortality, what should I do with all the stuff? The thought of going through 50 years of "stuff" is daunting, and quite frankly, I'm not sure I could do it.

Wow...Ive only been detecting for 7 years or so, But I also have a huge collection of things I have found that haven't parted with yet.

My plan was to keep them to see if the kids may be interested one day, but every now and then I do purge out some things.

And to be honest, I have grown attached to alot of it, not of the Item itself, but the memory of when and how I found it.

There are so many items that I can remember vividly finding and remembering who I was with and most of that day.

Maybe its just a mental thing, but I do enjoy being able to go thru them all every once in a while. Lately I have been thinking of Selling and Giving alot of it way, There are alot of people on this site that have passion for many different types of things.

For instance, I find alot of old Shotgun shells and Axe Heads, Farm equip, etc. But being on this site, i found out there are people that collect these things.

Again, I dont nearly have the hours/years you have put in, so my feelings might change. But I would think giving it to someone that collects these things would be a great thing

BTW, I collect Silver and Gold..lol

 

[Keppy]

Wow...Ive only been detecting for 7 years or so, But I also have a huge collection of things I have found that haven't parted with yet.

My plan was to keep them to see if the kids may be interested one day, but every now and then I do purge out some things.

And to be honest, I have grown attached to alot of it, not of the Item itself, but the memory of when and how I found it.

There are so many items that I can remember vividly finding and remembering who I was with and most of that day.

Maybe its just a mental thing, but I do enjoy being able to go thru them all every once in a while. Lately I have been thinking of Selling and Giving alot of it way, There are alot of people on this site that have passion for many different types of things.

For instance, I find alot of old Shotgun shells and Axe Heads, Farm equip, etc. But being on this site, i found out there are people that collect these things.

Again, I dont nearly have the hours/years you have put in, so my feelings might change. But I would think giving it to someone that collects these things would be a great thing

BTW, I collect Silver and Gold..lol

I can under stand …SILVER & GOLD ...

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

I can under stand …SILVER & GOLD ...

Yea, When I started, I told myself " Anything Old and Cool!"....So, now that I cant walk thru my shed. I knew I had to start downsizing. I have a friend that collects old watch fobs, So I give him the ones I find. Another friend collects tootsie cars and old tags.
So I give him all those, I have gave away a few things that i kicked myself for, BUT..Out of site , out of mind

I focus now Coins and Tokens...oh and old home hardware pieces ( Dont know why I like them so much)...My wife likes Old Kitchen stuff and old bottles. The rest goes to friends or boxes to give to others.

I never would feel right Selling this stuff to my buddies (which they offer). I just like the feeling knowing I gave someone something they have a passion for.

 

[pepperj]

Well i got a lot of years in this and i have found a lot of items and i only have one thing left from all those years of finds that is my first find..….I sell everything when it comes to relics to me those relics that most prize and some will buy ……. Is just plain junk to me … so if someone buys them great if not to the scrap yard.. I never get attached to any item to want to save it ………… Sell what you can and scrap what you can't ….. Sounds to me like your kids thinks it is all junk..

How can you have a attachment to a non living object .. That just sits around and collects dust .. And creates clutter … I have attachments to a lot of living people and animal's … but not any inanimate item or thing .. And why would it be down right scary for some one not to love some chunk of iron , chunk of wood

Well why would you hold on to that first find? You said it yourself Keppy. To hold onto a find is an attachment to the item, it's non living, inanimate item, but it lives on your memory every time you holder look at the item. So what's the difference between 1 or a 100 items it's all the same thing it brings folks a memory back to when they found it.
Ok you sell everything and you buy something, isn't that just clutter? I'll exclude everything that would pertain to sustaining the basics of life and if that's the case it a whole different subject.

 

[Keppy]

Well why would you hold on to that first find? You said it yourself Keppy. To hold onto a find is an attachment to the item, it's non living, inanimate item, but it lives on your memory every time you holder look at the item. So what's the difference between 1 or a 100 items it's all the same thing it brings folks a memory back to when they found it.
Ok you sell everything and you buy something, isn't that just clutter? I'll exclude everything that would pertain to sustaining the basics of life and if that's the case it a whole different subject.

MY first find was a scale weight that i use to help me when i tare my scale so i can sell all the junk i find..…. I am not a collector i hate clutter to me there is nothing out there that i want to collect and set on a shelf or in boxes .. I like things very neat and clean …. like .Diggein-N-Dumps said the best things to save is Silver & Gold….. I do not know if you ever watched that TV show .. called Monk that is what my wife calls me for i have to have every thing right in place and very clean ...

 

[TheSleeper]

I have given all my collection away. In the last two weeks alone I have given 2 large drilled cents to two people and my most treasured >> a piece of chewed lead, it had perfect tooth imprints in it on both sides from a CW HQ site I found back in the late 70's.

I think it was Tom who asked, back in the late 60's and early 70's ohhh wow I can't describe it, no one knew what we were doing back then, no competition and everywhere was virgin ground. No place except fed property was off limits, because they didn't even know what a detector was. You have to realize though back then silver was a common coin, heck I didn't know I should have horded it, I spent it like regular change.

All the jewelry I have found has gone to girlfriends past or present, OPPS sorry no present gf. Exception being last ten years or so since it skyrocketed so high, but at one time I had 5 shoeboxes full of silver and gold chains, rings and misc jewelry. Any beach back then was a treasure chest just waiting for a detector to swing on it.

It was a totally different world back then.

Sorry not meaning to take this thread off topic, so to re focus, Mud worse case scenario find young people interested in our past, gift items to them, let them hold in their hands something from a hundred + years ago, enjoy their smile and sense of wonder, cause with each smile you gain a smile deep inside.

 

[Ahab8]

Do you think the kids would be more interested and appreciative if you went through the stuff together and explained some of it? It's a shame that they don't care more about something that was obviously such a big part of your life. Wish I was more help but that's a tough one

 

[Sluice Willis]

I would do one of two things, stipulate in your will they must personally go through every box and examine every object before the collect a cent lol. Ok what I think you really should do, pick the best finds from all that stuff and have them framed up, add little notes about where you found it, what it is, and how old your kids were at the time. Add information about their lives and make the objects a connection between you and them, make one for each child and give it to them now, while you're still on this side of the dirt. To them it's just Dad's old junk he found with his detector, but when you add the memories it's Dad, and they will cherish it.

 

[mikeraydj]

How ironic would it be, to spend the last years putting back what you had found so the next generation of detectorists could find it? Seems fitting don't you think?

 

[bobw53]

My grumpy old gramps passed recently. In his basement we found a box with buttons and tokens... Buttons from my great grandfathers uniform, and tokens from his time as a trolley man...

Close to 100 years ago... The Historical Society of my home town was quite interested, there hasn't been a trolley in that part of the country for close to 80 years...

Do you have some stuff that can go somewhere that a lot of people can enjoy it?

 

[Fletch88]

I have stuff that I plan to give for display at Olustee battlefield in Florida -- thru my research I found a union artillery camp site in Jacksonville , Florida where Elders horse artillery ( US 1st -company B artillery) that took part in the battle of Olustee camped at after the battle for a couple months ( 22 feb , 1864 until they left town on april 25th of 1864) before leaving Jacksonville --- they landed in jax on feb 5th -- left out of jax the 7th -- from the 7th thru the 20th they were enroute to Olustee --on the 20th they fought there by the 22nd they were back in jax --after a very rapid retreat from Olustte .--- there is a photo of the camp site online--- look up "union artillery camp in Jacksonville , florida" in the foreground on the left side is a tent with a sign on it * --originally the photo only had upon it --union artillery camp -jacksonvile - 1861 /1865 -- by me blowing up that sign I found the units name and then looked up their "battle history" and thru photo analysis I was able to locate the camp sites modern day location and find it --and obtain items that prove it is indeed the site in the photo-- I told the state about what unit it was and the time frame and the state added the info -- however they did not credit me for giving them said info on the site /photo page.---I use my relic items to teach the local school kids about the civil war in our local area ..

Ivan, very interesting info. I've been trying to research campsites for the other side in my area. I know the site of one Confederate hospital not far from me but it was totally by accident that I found this out.

 

[ivan salis]

simply put there are two basic camps in metal detecting ---are those who love finding history and things historical and there are those who love money and only live in the "here and now"... --- those that collect and hoard finds for the most part and those ho basically say "sell it all --be it for history collectors or scrap metal--whatever--it will fetch.---my wife asked me long ago--do you do it for A or B? --both I said --somethings interest me historically -- things like old copper and silver coins and relics --other things not so much (modern gold / silver jewelry , I would sell most likely for cash--unless the owner is IDible --classring with name)

often with "collections" of anything --only you know what you have got , most of the time (unless your lucky) -- your wife and kids are not interested in your hobby or your collection outside of "what cash will it bring in once your gone"? so be smart -- know your not going to live forever and for those who get your stuff to get the real value out of your collection of "stuff" --its got to be labeled as to what it is and where it came from -- its "context" -- other wise in many cases it value is greatly less. ---often if you can its best for you to dispose of the collection and give the cash out to them or use it for your benefit if they are "unworthy"