Best laid plans.

[cwilk]

I had my heart set on one more hunt this weekend. I picked out my spot and it was in use when I got there. I drove to the next nearest spot which was crowded. Not what I was in the mood for. I moved to the back of the park and encountered a large group of Hassidic Jews having a picnic. It was around 85 out and they were all dressed in wool pants and long sleeved shirts. I tried to stay away because they seemed to have a problem with my Lesche. One young boy kept inching closer and when I showed him a few coins he followed me around until his family left. Odd kid. Not much exposure to the "modern" world. Nice and polite, though. The only real incident was when I asked him to toss out some trash for me that we had dug. He would not touch it because he said it was dirty. He later asked for a few coins and I said if I had any clean ones I would happily give them to him but all I had were dirty ones. Fair is fair right? Last target was the Presidential Dollar so I quit. Never had one of those as my last find before.

I detected 13 1/2 hours of the 36 hours between 6 am Saturday and 6 pm Sunday. Lots of hunting and not much else besides eating, showering, cleaning my 2500, and napping. I dirtied about a weeks worth of detecting clothes too. I am 2036 coins from 10,000 coins in calendar 2008. I figure late September/early October.

Here is my question that I was thinking about on this hunt. Do you consider yourself a metal detector or a treasure hunter? I consider myself a metal detector. I use the word detectorist a lot but I don't think it's proper English.

Chris

 

[awhitster]

I am a detecorist. I am also a treasure hunter. Searching for hidden treasure is a common theme in legend and fiction, but real-life treasure hunters exist, and seek lost wealth for a living. Lost wealth to me is a penny up. Hence the reason I tell people I am a treasure hunter.

 

[jackintexas]

I am a metal detectorist. Sorry but a penny is not a treasure to me. Most people won't bend down to pick one up.....Jack

 

[weston]

n/t

 

[cwilk]

Detectorist is proper English. The spell check here does not think so but the OED does. I'll go with the OED.

Chris (Detectorist)

 

[Uncle Willy]

Detectorist is okay. We used to be known as TH'ers Coinshooter works. What we generally find hardly falls under the umbrella of treasure. Mel Fisher was a treasure hunter as is Charles Garrett and as was the late, great, Frank fish.

Bill.

 

[kickback]

I call myself and others detectorists.I consider pennies treasures like 1909-svdb.

 

[Graw]

n/t

 

[awhitster]

I am a metal detectorist. Sorry but a penny is not a treasure to me. Most people won't bend down to pick one up.....Jack

Well, that is your opinion. And you know what they say about them. Good, I'm glad they are to lazy to bend over. You see, years ago I didn't pick them up. Then one day I saw a guy I knew was a millionaire pick one up. I though t.........hmmmm....he must know something I don't know. Now I pick up all I find.

 

[awhitster]

Straight from the

 

[awhitster]

Detectorist is okay. We used to be known as TH'ers Coinshooter works. What we generally find hardly falls under the umbrella of treasure. Mel Fisher was a treasure hunter as is Charles Garrett and as was the late, great, Frank fish.

Bill.

And for years Mel Fisher, the greatest treasure hunter of all time found NOTHING. That's right, how many days did he go out searching to come up empty handed again. Does that mean only the day he found something he was a treasure hunter. NO. every time he and his crew went out hunting treasure made them treasure hunters. Any time I go out, I am looking for lost treasure. Whether I find it or not, I am a still treasure hunter.And a detectorist.

 

[jackintexas]

Maybe you are right....Jack

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

n/t

 

[Uncle Willy]

I think Mel looked about 16 years and lost a family member in the process but he wasn't exactly looking for pennies, dimes, nickels, quarters, pulltabs, rings. When Charles Garrett started out he wasn't looking for coins in the park and used a WWII mine detector as most early "treasure" hunters did. When coinshooting and coinshooters first came into existence they were looked down upon by the real treasure hunters as freaks and geeks. As you stated so eloquently opinions are like something else that everyone has one of.

Bill

 

[lazyaussie]

I treasure hunt all the time i look for gold, silver & gems. it"s funny if a detectorist looks for a lost 1kg bar of silver for lets say two years he"s a treasure hunter but if a detectorist finds 2kg of silver coins one at a time they"re a coin hunter. at the end of the day the real treasure of detecting is being out doing something you love & if you find something it"s a bonus.
lazyaussie

 

[awhitster]

I treasure hunt all the time i look for gold, silver & gems. it"s funny if a detectorist looks for a lost 1kg bar of silver for lets say two years he"s a treasure hunter but if a detectorist finds 2kg of silver coins one at a time they"re a coin hunter. at the end of the day the real treasure of detecting is being out doing something you love & if you find something it"s a bonus.
lazyaussie

Well said, at least someone gets it.