What do you do with your finds?

Shorty Buckshot · Sep 8, 2012

I have only been detecting a few weeks with an old Garrett American S1 but I have an Ace 250 arriving Monday so I am hoping my luck will change...so far all I have found is clad and a whole lot of junk.....

I see some amazing finds from folks here and was just wondering....what do you do with your finds? Do you keep everything, sell everything, sell some and keep some or something else? Things such as silver coins, jewelry, oddities and the like. Just wondering what you do with all your finds? Thanks...Shorty

Chisos · Sep 8, 2012

Display most of it, all except for the gold and silver coins that we found on Padre Island before it was a National Seashore. All of those I gave to girls I dated at the time or was trying to date. They did me about as much good as they did the spaniards who lost them. Enough said.

inspectorgadget · Sep 9, 2012

I sell all copper scrap I find including very worn 1982 & prior pennies. Some of my copper finds end up on eBay such as very old copper door knobs that aren't damaged & those are hard to find especially if your restoring to original an old very early 1900's thru 1930's home. I keep any neat copper finds like old buckles that are in good shape.

Brass I find also gets scrapped such as water valves, key's & any old plumbing or old sprinkler parts unless it's a very unique or unusual brass item such as the cool padlock I just found.

ALL Aluminum I find gets scrapped!

Toy cars, marbles, tokens, metal toys & other misc weird/neat items get collected up & put away!

All gold jewelry for females get's sold or traded for old silver coinage! Men's jewelry get's sold or kept depending on the item in question, if I feel like keeping it then I keep it & if not I get rid of it!

US 90% Silver coins I keep! Foreign overseas 80%ers I sell or trade. US 40%ers are kept & at some time traded for 90%ers or bullion. Anything 9.995-9.999 is KEPT! Most if not all .925 jewelry is sold or traded for 90%ers or even bullion bars if I have enough 80%ers & .925 silver to trade.

To me it's...

25% making some money
25% fun by myself or with friends
25% collecting
25% for the thrill of what might be in the next hole! (& that's the main one that really keeps me going!)

RON (PA) · Sep 9, 2012

I keep all clad & save it for my son's college fund, after I clean it of course. All jewelry, except kids junk stuff, is kept. All old coins are kept. Aluminum is recycled. All junk is pitched or recycled. Hope it helps.

TerryC · Sep 9, 2012

I give mine all away. Last year, someone here on Tnet asked for contributions to a kid's hunt. I sent all the rest of my gold and silver rings, including many old and silver coins to them. TTC

ynpto804 · Sep 9, 2012

This is what I have done with mine. Found this coffee table one Craigslist and got it for a steal. Keep your eyes open. The cases are Riker Cases from Sgt. Riker.com. As for all the junk sell it for scrap

cti4sw · Sep 11, 2012

I'm about as new as you, so I keep all the non-garbage I find right now. When I'm able to upgrade my MD and expand my collection I will likely be more selective in what I keep vs. what I donate, sell, scrap, or trash. Right now I live in an apartment so scrapping is sorta limited; whenever we buy a house I will be getting trash cans for the aluminum and copper scrap. I really like ynpto804's coffee table idea.

I will probably trade my scrap silver and gold for bullion as an investment, since precious metal is usually on the rise. My first gold coin will stay in my coin collection since I don't have one yet, but after that, they'll hit eBay. I have no use for jewelry, since my wife and I don't wear anything beyond a wedding ring. Diamonds, contrary to popular belief, are worthless investments, so I may keep any other jewelry gems with my bullion. I might try to find jewelry owners, but that depends on the item and where I found it.

Relics... these depend on where I find them. If it's on someone's property, I will offer relics to them. If they are locally significant, I may offer them to the local historic society (if none, then the local library or township). If I find something really significant (yeah right :icon_scratch:

), my cousin is an archaeologist and the curator at the Charleston, SC Museum of Natural History, so I'd ship it to him. If it piques my interest, I'd probably just keep it.

RCP · Sep 11, 2012

Only about 6 weeks into it but have found the usual modern coins (some domestic, some from overseas), one junk charm, 4 pairs of sunglasses, 1 tungsten men's ring, one silver ring, 9 ear rings (1/2 junk 1/2 silver), 3 or 4 unidentifiable objects and a 24 inch 14k tri-color 12g necklace. I can't get myself to part with any of it yet. My family comes over and loves to dig through it. Great for conversation.