CAN YOU MAKE A LIVING Metal Detecting ????

[ferdware]

Hello again.

I am just curious. Can a person make a living from metal detecting? I am a metal fabrication artist by trade. I work for myself so there is always plenty of down time. Since I bought my V3i ALL my down time has been consumed with metal detecting. From looking for places, doing research, reading everything that I can, on this forum, and out hunting, (mainly the beach).
Now I know not to expect to get rich. Although I do hope for that huge diamond or even better a spanish reale every time I go out. But can a person make a living by metal detecting.

Does anyone have any examples or know of anyone who does ?

Could a person do it at the beach alone or would relic hunting also be advised ?

And how often do these people usually spend hunting, that you know of ?

Thankyou for your input..
FERD

 

[Rob (IL)]

Ha, I couldn't make a living at it, that's for sure. There are many people who make a living in the metal detecting business but not off their finds. Jimmy Sierra would be a good example. Hey there are the Meteorite Men. Rob

 

[ramases]

There are a few in the UK that I believe make a sort-of living but they have to sell pretty much everything they find. I wouldn't want to do that, would you?

 

[CROCK of COINS]

I see people that can bring in about $100 Dollars a Month. Not enough to live on. A GOOD ring might help...but you can't bet on that all the time.

Jerry

 

[Mike Hillis]

I read about a retired couple who spent their summers in a RV and hunted nothing but beaches for gold jewelry. They moved from beach to beach. I understood they made enough to cover their summer expenses.

Maybe I still have the article in my archives. I'll try to remember to look for it. If I find it I'll share it.

HH
Mike

 

[greenbean58]

I wish I could!!!!!!! I hate my day job and the pitiful union that supposedly helps (yeah right) us. If I could I would. Manufacturing in this country has taken a big dump.

Greenbean58

 

[nikandr23]

I read about a retired couple who spent their summers in a RV and hunted nothing but beaches for gold jewelry. They moved from beach to beach. I understood they made enough to cover their summer expenses.

bs
try to cover gas and batteries...
and parking fees...

unless it is Golden Beach in OR..

 

[Neil in West Jersey]

Here is my Craigs List Ad which made me $200 last year: The subject line is simply "LOST RING"?"


I can help you find your lost ring or jewelry. I am an experienced metal detector enthusiast from South Jersey. I recently returned a white gold engagement ring that was lost in a backyard, and a woman's wedding band lost at a local swim club..



If you lost your ring in an outdoor area, and have a rough idea where it was dropped or fell, I can most likely find it.



Years of "Treasure Hunting" Experience.

Latest State of the Art Equipment Allows Visual Identification Before Digging, Preventing Unnecessary Excavation.

Careful, Clean and Neat: Property Left In The Condition It was Found!

References Provided.

No Recovery, No Fee*

 

[Larry (IL)]

I think you could if your cost of living was not very much and you hunted beaches frequented by the rich as some of the beach hunters do on the Beach and Water Forum. Having experience as a diver would be a great advantage too. On the down side .............. a fun hobby becomes a job................

 

[Rob in (Ca)]

You probably could make a living at Md ing, but you would really have to put in your time......... And I mean lot's of time , now it would turn into a full time job now. A 4-5 hour (no rest) hunt at my local Park wipes me out.

 

[Rob in (Ca)]

I think you could if your cost of living was not very much and you hunted beaches frequented by the rich as some of the beach hunters do on the Beach and Water Forum. Having experience as a diver would be a great advantage too. On the down side .............. a fun hobby becomes a job................

The junklord over at the beach Forum finds a Ring every 1-2 days think he could qualify

 

[nw1886]

The only folks that I've met that make a living off treasure hunting are the ones who sell detectors,specialize in some area of knowledge (Write books about it all.) and do a heavily researched/invested hunt occasionally. Guess it would be most accurate to say the make a living in the industry.

 

[RedRockNv]

I ran in to a guy that made his living detecting swimming beachs at lakes and the ocean. He detected in the water using a standard detector that floated in a inner tube with a webbing. He said that was what he did full time. Water is where you find the most good stuff.

 

[Rob (IL)]

Those examples would not cover my overhead. My medical insurance is bad enough, what do you think Larry? I'll just keep having fun. How much is he getting for a ring? It must be more than I thought they would bring. Rob

 

[Larry (IL)]

I suppose it would depend a lot if the rings had stones or not...... I heard the other day "Transformers" actress Megan Fox lost a platinum ring with a 2 Carat rock on a Hawaiian beach. That would pay a couple of months rent...

 

[Ray-Mo.]

I think I could if I were debt free to start with and wanted to live under the most modest of conditions.It makes a lot of difference on who you need to make that "living" for....If a person were single with no dependents and little or no debt load it could very well be possible as long as you had a good outlet for selling all your finds.You would need to be willing to travel and put in some very long hours.Also would need several years experience detecting under varying circumstances with top end machines.Taxes would not eat up much of my income either
Also would require very good health and great physical condition to succeed.I believe the right person could even get a bit of industry sponsor ship if they worked it right,Ray.

 

[Butch in Colorado]

n/t

 

[Mike Hillis]

I was going back through my archives looking for something I read about a retired couple who did just that. I didn't find that particular article but I did review some others from old websites like the Golden Olde and Alan Hassel that are focused on beach hunting. These make me think that someone with the right experience could do just that, especially at todays gold prices, hunting the beaches.

Beach hunt in the summer and prospecting in the winter. Yes...the right someone could make a living with a metal detector if he/she was willing to travel the beaches and follow the summer crowds.

Gold is over $1100 an ounce right now. You can get 94% of that. So at 1100 an ounce, 94% is $1034 in your pocket.
Some rings with the stones in them are worth much more than the scrap value, even at a highly discounted price.

How many ounces of gold would you need to make a go of it? How many months of the year support the best beach hunting times? Could you travel to the best beaches?

Say you needed 60,000 a year. 60,000 divided by 1100 is 54 and 1/2 ounces of gold. 2/3 of that would need to be found at the beach during the summer months of June, July, August and September. Thats 38 ounces during the summer months. 9.5 ounces a month for those 4 months out of year. Then 16.5 ounces needed for the remainder.

Round the summer quota to 10 ounces a month for 4 months straight. Could that be done? How many rings make a ounce? Chains, pendants, charms?
What about the stones. Can they count toward the ounce quota?

Just thinking out loud here. 2 people hunting, 5 ring quota each person every week = 40 + rings a month plus the others peices....could be done by knowledgeble people.

Winter time prospecting. Full time on a decent claim or two with a efficient dry washer, 16 ounces wouldn't be that hard to get, or for that matter extra to make up for what ever you fell short on during the beach months.

Could you live on less than 60K a year? If so the effort gets less.

I dunno. I think the right person(s) with the right knowledge could do it. What do you think. Too far fetched? To much effort?

HH
Mike

 

[gilfordberry]

Detecting the beach the other day, scooped up a quarter near a couple of girls sunbathing; one said "what did you find?" I said, just a quarter. She then said another detectorist has passed by them just a few minutes ago said he found over a thousand rings a year, one ever 5.3 hours on average. I said, "Sure, and pigs fly." She said "you think he was lying?" I told her I'm not calling anyone a liar, but think about this: if he finds a thousand rings a year, and averages one every 5.3 hours, that means he detects 5300 hours a year, over 100 hours per week, over 14 hours per day, seven days a week. Maybe he does, but more than three or four hours walking soft sand on the beach kicks this old man's butt. Here on the west coast where we find very few valuable older coins the typical detectorist probably finds around 2 or 3 dollars per hour on average in clad, and maybe one gold ring every thirty or forty hours of detecting time. That would reap less than working for McD's. It's a hobby, folks, unless your name is Mel Fisher. The good thing about this hobby is that you do find enough to pay for your equipment and gas (usually).

 

[Scortch]

I know a fellow who makes a living selling detectors and running guided trips for detecting. He does fairly well but has little free time. He pays property owners for the sole right to detect, then charges people, as a guide, to detect the sites.
It seems to be a lot of work and a ton of travel. He also charges for lessons in various types of detecting, gold hunting, relics, and so on. I guess it all depends on how much your in to it.