Metal Detector Users Are Finding Lost Treasures and Helping People this Summer
On your trips to the beach, chances are you’ve seen people using metal detectors. They’re often out there in the early morning or early evening hours, looking for items that people have lost.
What do these modern-day prospectors do after they have found something – a piece of jewelry, a watch or maybe a small stack of coins? That depends. For some users of metal detectors, the enjoyment comes from the “joy of the chase,” meaning that what they really like to do is hunt for valuables using their high-tech equipment. When they find something, they turn their discoveries in at the lost and found counter if they are hunting in a town or public beach or post a notice on a bulletin board.
Other metal detector fans are really out to make money from their hobby. If they find something valuable, they will sell it online, ask a jewelry store to buy it or sell it for them, or even take the items they have found to a pawnshop. Then there are others who store up the items they have found and then call a precious metals refinery like ours. They then send us their discoveries for testing and refining.
Metal Detector Users Who Like to Do Good
Over this July 4th weekend, several stories have been reported in the news about metal detector users who jumped in on beaches and selflessly helped people recover items they had lost. (The July 4th weekend, after all, is a time when tens of thousands of people across the United States hit the sand, increasing the chances that people will lose valuables.)
One such story, reported on Local 12 News in New York, reports that when a woman named Gina Bopp lost her wedding ring in the surf in Rockaway Beach, New York, she called in a company called Metal Detecting NYC to help. After some unsuccessful hunting, the owner of Metal Detecting NYC called in some amateur metal-detector users to help out. After about 40 minutes one of them, a woman named Tracy Behling, found the ring, and returned it to the owner. That saved the ring from a possible trip to a pawnshop or precious metals refinery and made its owner very, very happy. Incidentally, the News 12 story reports that Ms. Behling and Metal Detecting NYC donated their services for free – but that the ring’s owner gave them a reward anyway.
A Community that Exists around a Hobby
As that story shows, metal detector users are part of a hobby that connects them, and which can help people in the communities where they enjoy their hobby.
By the way, new metal detectors are coming out every year that are more powerful and cost less. If you haven’t checked them out or upgraded your old detector, this could be the time. You have the rest of the summer to enjoy prospecting.