By Staff

If you’ve got an adventurous spirit and love being outdoors, maybe you should give treasure hunting a try. We’re not talking treasure maps marked with an “X” and fending off pirates here, but a more high-tech method that involves a metal detector. You might be thinking that metal detectors are only for old retired guys, but the beauty about this money-making idea is that anyone with a little bit of determination can have success with it.

If you live near a beach you have the perfect landscape to work with, but you can also try this out in a park or a field that has a historical background. Beaches are good because people will drop all kinds of things during walks on the beach or while swimming. There’s also always the possibility for rare trinkets to come in with the surf and be buried in the sand. Just look at the treasures one hunter has found! Fields or other open spaces are good for finding more historical items of value, such as old coins or even antique jewelry.

Your main investment for this venture will be the purchase of a metal detector. These vary in price range, depending on how high tech you want to get. You’ll have to do some looking around before buying one, but there are tons of blogs out there dedicated completely to treasure hunting and finding the right metal detector. If you’re not ready to buy a metal detector right away, you could try renting one. Rental services like zilok.com list metal detector rentals for low as $30.00 a day. 

After you’ve gotten your metal detector and learned how to use it, you’ll need to find a place to use it! You can try out a random area and hope for the best, but most metal detector hobby sites out there suggest doing some research first – history of the area, what kinds of artifacts have previously been found there, etc. It can greatly improve your chances of finding something of value.

You could get lucky and have some great finds on your first trip out, but more likely it will take some time. Once you’ve got some “treasure”, you’ll need to clean it up, and again do some research to find out about your artifacts. Many of the treasure hunting websites out there have forums that you can visit to find out more about what you’ve found and what to do with it. If you think you’ve got something good, you can list it on ebay.com and try to sell it, or hold on to it, start up a collection,  and see what value it brings in the years to come!

Metal detecting isn’t exactly quickest and easiest way out there to make money, but over time it can become a very fun and rewarding hobby! There are many good lists of tips and guides out there, so use them to help get you started. Good luck!

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