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"Treasure hunting" or "metal detecting" ?

J

jbow

Active member
It seems to me that maybe we have outlived the term "treasure hunting". 50 years ago people were different and it was a good label... "Treasure Hunter"... but these days I don't think it is helping our image.

I just wish, hobbywide, we could get away from using the term "treasure hunting" and move toward "metal detecting" and "relic recovery". Our society has become so PC and so word sensitive these days and society in general has changed a LOT since the 60s. I think calling ourselves "treasure hunters" automatically gives the "dumb masses" the wrong idea about who we are and what we do. It automatically labels us as people trying to get rich quick by finding a "treasure"... it automatically points the public to the idea of "easy money". They don't know that we spend thousands of dollars on detectors in order to find $1.50 in change.... and a pocket full of trash.
Personally, I do this for the thrill of the hunt and for the challenge of finding relics and coins... (not that I don't enjoy a target rich zone, I do!) ... but a "treasure hunter"... i'm not. I think it is yesteryear's label and I think there are probably a handful of true treasure hunters.

I'm not complaining about Findmall.. not at all. I'm just throwing this out there to see if being labeled of as a "Treasure Hunter" bothers anyone else. I realize that every once in a while someone does indeed find a "treasure" but for the most we have fun, find some dropped change, maybe a ring now and then, or recover some relics and a whole lot of junk. Bottom line, we may be treasure hunters but I don't think being called treasure hunters helps us, not these days, when so many seem so intent on having their nose in everyone else's business and in making new rules for everyone who does anything that they don't do.

it may help manufacturers sell detectors though... Garretts really seems to push the treasure thing.

What do you think? Does it give the public the wrong idea, does it fill the heads of newbies with unrealistic expectations? Can it change or does it matter to you?

Julien

Note: Findmall (Finds Treasure Forum) is my favorite site on the web, it has become my cyberhome and I love it. This isn't meant in any way as a knock on Findmall... not at all. Just some thoughts on some words that have been used for a long time. That's all.
 
I use "metal detecting" whenever talking to the general public for the reasons given. We are all treasure hunters in our heart and what is treasure is in the eye of the beholder anyway. We are all really metal detecting anyway keeping an eye open for non-metal "treasures".
 
I agree that Treasure Hunting is not the right term. As you pointed out, it conjures up the wrong image and gives people the wrong idea. I prefer to think of us as Hidden History Recovery Experts (HHREs). When asked what you're doing it sounds better to say that you're uncovering history or saving history than it does to say that you're treasure hunting. Truth is, most of us would be lying or failing if we said we were treasure hunting anyway. Treasure hunting, to most people is not a handful of old relics, its a pile of gold coins or a mountain of jewels.
 
I tell people that I am an amateur metal detector. I like the term metal detecting for the same reasons you listed however, I will admit to being a little quirky. Not everyone would enjoy a 3 hour hunt to find a couple of bucks in change or think they have really accomplished something when they dig up a silver coin or a wheat penny. I love digging up something that has been in the earth for many years that represents a part of our history that was long before my time. I enjoy the solitude of the hobby as well as the camaraderie of a group hunt and being a part of the forum's and reading about the tales of others. Call me what you want but don't knock it until you try it. HH
 
I take my title of "Volunteer Beach Cleaner and Small Scrap Metal Salvage Expert" seriously!!:detecting:

CJ
 
Its a shame you have to be so politically correct now a days.Lets call it Pastfinding. that sounds very gentle.The bottom line is we all have hobbys everybody has one ours, just involves digging if you put it back the way you found it its normaly not a problem. Today is a different generation and for the most part it hasent been raised to be a very good one. Really it is what it is. just be friendly and enjoy the hobby. And if you want to detect someones land tell them you will split what you find its a shoe in.
 
I agree, and I don't think we, dealers or manufacturers should use the term "treasure hunting" for metal detecting.
It does give our simple, largely uninvasive hobby a much bigger-greedier picture to the public.
They have seen all the treasure hunting movies and they all have a lack of historical care,death and greed involved.
However, I doubt the thought of us being treasure hunters will be leaving the general publics minds too soon. :)
 
Hmmm. I tend to DISAGREE with losing the treasure hunting name, but not from the standpoint of how I identify myself to the 'great unwashed'. There are both types that employ detectors. You can use your detector to find old silver coins at homesites but I may use the same detector to find a cache of robber's loot. I also might concentrate on finding jewelry and only look for coins when I have nothing better to do (I know several like this). So from the dealer's point of view it makes total sense to advertise detectors using 'treasure hunting' as the operative phrase. Also, from what I've seen, some folks find some very valuable old coins which, if we're being honest, fit the definition of 'treasure'. For myself, I like getting outdoors, but if I'm needing an outdoors 'fix' it won't be going to a park so I can dig change. It might well be me with my rifle traipsing through the brush after pigs, or with my detector and a pack full of whatever I think I need to recover what I hope to find. My mind just works that way-I'm just too A.D.D. and need the 'charge' of looking for a big payoff. I hit parks or whatever only if I think I'll find gold there, or to keep up to 'snuff' on my detector, but to those I discuss the hobby with, I'll always describe myself as a detectorist who likes to find old coins.

Maybe I'm missing the point here? Are we all saying the same thing? That we really ARE treasure hunters but just don't want everybody to know it? Or is this just the debate between using lures or live bait? We're all detectorists, we're all hunting some sort of treasure!
 
one mans trash is a another mans treasure-now if I could just get the right price on my scrap pile I'd sell-but no museum curator has been as of yet
 
The original poster said "Treasure Hunter"... but these days I don't think it is helping our image"
So, it's about using a term that "MAY" put us in a bad light in the general publics eye.
I don't have any strong feeling about it either way, but I think the original poster has a valid point to some degree.


Pyledriver said:
Hmmm. I tend to DISAGREE with losing the treasure hunting name, but not from the standpoint of how I identify myself to the 'great unwashed'. There are both types that employ detectors. You can use your detector to find old silver coins at homesites but I may use the same detector to find a cache of robber's loot. I also might concentrate on finding jewelry and only look for coins when I have nothing better to do (I know several like this). So from the dealer's point of view it makes total sense to advertise detectors using 'treasure hunting' as the operative phrase. Also, from what I've seen, some folks find some very valuable old coins which, if we're being honest, fit the definition of 'treasure'. For myself, I like getting outdoors, but if I'm needing an outdoors 'fix' it won't be going to a park so I can dig change. It might well be me with my rifle traipsing through the brush after pigs, or with my detector and a pack full of whatever I think I need to recover what I hope to find. My mind just works that way-I'm just too A.D.D. and need the 'charge' of looking for a big payoff. I hit parks or whatever only if I think I'll find gold there, or to keep up to 'snuff' on my detector, but to those I discuss the hobby with, I'll always describe myself as a detectorist who likes to find old coins.

Maybe I'm missing the point here? Are we all saying the same thing? That we really ARE treasure hunters but just don't want everybody to know it? Or is this just the debate between using lures or live bait? We're all detectorists, we're all hunting some sort of treasure!
Click to expand...
 
Metal detectorist gets my vote....Unfortunately the average person doesn't know beans about the hobby and probably cares less ( just remember before you entered the hobby)....Treasure hunter probably sheds a bad light on the hobby by advertisements from metal detector manufacturers but certainly not going to lose any sleep over it..
 
Dirt Fisher....

gets my vote... :rofl:

Has that poor conatation that keeps folks thinking your not worth bothering..
 
Whatever we call ourselves please just remember....This is a hobby, we are suppose to be having fun. We are jus excercising our right to enjoy our hobby of metal detecting.
 
n/t
 
Yeah, I think I noted that in the OP... you didn't read it?

J
 
Well again, I think by the simple fact that you swing a detector, you are a treasure hunter. Instead of worrying about how others define you, why don't you define yourself? BE the person you want people to see you as. That goes for all of us. Clean trash, fill holes, be conscientious and considerate, respect the law, BE HONEST. If you're worried about how people see you based one something they saw in a movie one time, go the extra mile to educate them. People see lots of things in movies and may develop an impression from them. However, no matter what it's still our job to maintain proper impressions and attitudes. If you run from a simple label now, what will you do when somebody starts saying 'detectorists are bad', or worse yet, in the vein of blaming the tool, 'metal detectors lead to lawbreaking'? I don't think it justifies to anybody that you're 'altruistic' just because you spent a grand on a detector to go dig up a 1.50 in change.

Have you ever actually had anybody say 'oh, you're a TREASURE HUNTER' with disdain? Have you had anybody look down on you because you swing a detector? Heaven forbid they start talking about you because you're white, black, green, blue, etc. and we all know what THOSE people are like! In my experience most people know what a metal detector is. They may ask or wonder why you'd be looking for treausure HERE, but that's my, yours and others opportunity to say, 'I hunt for old coins because I collect them, etc.' The title is already set, quit worrying about Hollyweird and your life will be much less complicated!
 
Well, I suppose political correctness has to rear its ugly head...it seems to intrude into everything we do,see or say. It waxes and wanes, comes and goes and continually morphs into new forms as concepts change. I recall not too long ago, the books of a well known writer of children's books were banned in some countries (these books have been around for over fifty years) because some demented idiots with very loud voices proclaimed one of the characters to be homosexual, and that the relationships between that character and other characters in the stories were "unhealthy" for children to read. Of course, it was all a load of rubbish, and the books are now back on the shelves in bookstores (though it took years for sanity to prevail).
Treasure hunting? When I was a child I used to dream of looking for and finding buried treasure, having adventures and having fun. By using a metal detector I can now do all those things. However, should I feel guilty about any of this? Should I worry myself sick about how people I dont know, have never me or seen before and who dont know me, who may or may not have any interest in what I do as a hobby and who may or may not have nothing better to do with their lives than criticize others and make ill-informed judgments about other people? I dont think so.
However, for those who do feel a bit touchy about the hobby, perhaps we could develop new labels for the different aspects of the hobby. In keeping with newspeak mode, here are some suggestions:
Treasure Hunting/Metal Detecting Clubs could be re-named as Coin Recycling Units (CRUs) or Litter Extraction Units (LEUs);
Treasure Hunters/Metal Detectorists could become: (a) Ground Contaminist Examiners; (b) Discarded Metal Overseers; (c) Lost Property Containment Managers; (d) Artifact Extraction Analysts; or any number of other "appropriate" names that anyone with imagination might devise...I'm sure the list is endless.
We might even have degree or diploma courses run by colleges and universities to provide even more dignity to our hobby.
Or, we can just get out, have fun, take care of the environment and enjoy what little time we have on the planet.:lol:
 
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