I, based on first hand experience, starting at the late fifties, disagree.
MANY of our metal detecting adventures were planed around fabled or documented hoards, accidents and so on.
Even when I focus was on the big win, we had 9-5 jobs, school and so on we had to return to, when the weekend was over.
If, as they say, a professional is someone paid, there are a lot of treasure hunters who are far from professionals, even as many using detectors get paid regularly.
We, often, used our detectors to locate cites where it was indicated there might be a small treasure. Things like homesteads, where their bank was a mason jar with a rubber gasket glass lid buried in a shallow location.
Or there was the saloon from over a century ago with floors that had so many gaps you didn't need a dust pan to sweep them, and all that had long since rotted away.
Then there is the mentioned "trash can be a treasure" thing. For example, I have a ZIPPO from the back yard of my first house and which is only recognizable as such because I've owned a few. Fifty years in, it's still garbage, but in my treasures bin.
Finally, there is that snobbery thing some suffer. They would, erroneously, elevate themselves above others because they don't drive a Ford / Chevy / . . . . when the reality is, they ignore facts to imagine their self elevation has put them above those they consider commoners.
