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Treasure Hunting -
Part 2
by Steve Gillman
Treasure hunting begins at home. People
regularly find famous old books and valuable antiques in their
attics, so get up there and look. One couple tore open their
walls while remodeling, and found them insulated with thousands
of old and valuable movie posters, put there by a theater owner
in the thirties. The couple sold $200,000 worth of posters, the
last I heard.
There are many more ways to go treasure hunting. I used to take
the old telegraph pole insulators form along train tracks, to
sell for $4 each at an antique store. They were otherwise being
shot to pieces by hunters over the years. The colored glass ones
are usually the more valuable ones.
Panning For Gold
For $10 you can buy a gold pan, and start prospecting. It's
easier to see the gold in the green plastic ones. Most federal
lands are open to prospectors without a permit. I've only seen
gold in my pan in Canada (there isn't much gold in Michigan),
but people have better luck in the mountain streams of the
southeast and southwest. It's a nice way to spend an afternoon
in any case.
Treasure Hunting With A Metal Detector
Metal detectors start under $200. I've found a few hundred
coins, but none of them have been valuable ones. When the city
tore up old sidewalks, a woman in our town used her detector to
find coins . She sold one to a local coin shop for $700. A
friend tells me that her husband and her have found many pieces
of gold jewelry at the beach with their detector. It's also
common to use metal detectors to find gold nuggets in the
southwest.
Treasure Hunting In The Streets
Collecting cans for 37 cents a pound is a tough way to make a
living. Here in Michigan and other states, however, there's a 10
cent deposit on every beverage container. During festivals I see
people with bags of hundreds of cans they collected in the parks
and garbage containers. Some travel here every year during the
Cherry Festival, just to collect returnable bottles and cans
that week.
I spoke to a man who went to the big concerts to collect beer
and pop cans in the parking areas. He said he makes over $100 in
a few hours (plus the time to take them to the store).
Collecting "returnables" can be an unpleasant way to make money,
but an old guy in town here tells me he pays the rent doing
this.
Treasure hunting is about having the right frame of mind. There
are treasures to be found everywhere. I once found a chest with
foreign notes and coins in the crawl space under our house.
Hotel owners report that visitors tuck money in the bedside
bible, and forget to take it with them. Sometimes you just have
to look.
About the Author
Steve Gillman has been studying every aspect of
money for thirty years. You can find more treasure hunting
ideas, and more interesting and useful information on his
website;
http://www.UnusualWaysToMakeMoney.com
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