Discovering Buried Treasure

Who doesn’t get excited at the thought ofwith my father or skill with a metal detector like my
discovering buried treasure? Can you imagine the thrillhusband, the thrill is the same. Once you make a
of finding a cache of coins, jewelry, or rare artifactsdiscovery, you will never be the same. You will catch
in a field?treasure-hunting fever and the more you find, the
Well, you are not alone. Legends of buried treasurehigher your temperature goes!
have fascinated us for centuries. From pirate galleonsThere is an incredible amount of still hidden, buried
loaded with ‘booty,’ to tales of treasuretreasure, and relics just waiting to be discovered.
scattered along pioneer trails and times of Cortez.Anything from old Civil War bullets, dog tags, bridle
Many years ago when my father was young man, herosettes, WWI and WWII dog tags, rare coins,
was walking in his grandparent’s field and kickedMedieval coins to – my personal favorite –
something up with his foot. He picked it up and put itjewelry.
in his pocket. He had just come home from the war,Some tips to ensure a safer, more efficient hunt, are,
married my mother, and they were living with hisfirst of all, never go onto someone’s private
grandparents on an old farm. He came in from theproperty without permission to treasure hunt. You
field and told my mother he had found something hemight start in your own back yard, and besides it will
wanted her to look at. Well. At the time they reallygive you some practice on using your metal detector.
did not know what they had. They asked around andHave a good pair of gloves, shovel or trowel, ground
no one knew of anyone that had lost anything, evencloth and a pouch or something to put your
his grandparents were puzzled. Some months later,treasures in, knife and some sort of tool for probing.
they had a jeweler look at. Turned out it was aOn July 20, 1985, the renowned treasure hunter, Mel
horseshoe shaped stickpin with diamonds all aroundFisher found over 40 tons of gold and silver that
the surface set in gold. It was appraised at overincluded 100,000 Spanish silver “pieces of eight
10,000 dollars. It has stayed in the family and will be(coins), emeralds, gold, and over 1000 silver bars. It
passed down to our children and grandchildren. Thiswas a 450 million dollar treasure from the Spanish
happened in 1947. There is hardly a memory I do notgalleon that sank on September 6, 1622 near Key
have of my father’s father without that stickpinWest, Florida in a hurricane. Every day Mel Fisher
on. He wore a suit everyday to work and alwayswould say to himself, “Today’s the
wore that pin on his tie.Day!”
My husband used to hunt for treasure using a metalLet today be your day! Start treasure hunting today
detector. He has found gold rings, silver, old coins andand who knows, you might discover something in
a few pieces of silver flatware. Whether it is luck likeyour own back yard!