Finding Buried Treasure Is Possible

The idea of stumbling upon a massive wooden trunk full of a hoard of gold bullion is intriguing.  This is what typically comes to mind when people think of finding buried treasure.  Of course, this isn’t very likely to happen.  However, there is a lot of buried treasure out there that can be found.  Let's discover the idea further.

Think that finding buried treasure is impossible?  Think again. 

Prior to banks, there were not many places a person could safely store their valuables.  Many people resorted to storing their treasure inside mother earth.  Quite often, they would bury the valuables in a place they could easily find later like a landmark.  Typically, these landmarks would be large and unlikely to move or be relocated like an old oak tree, a massive boulder, or at the edge of the foundation of their homestead.  Those places however could prove too obvious and make the objects more susceptible to discovery by a third party.  Sometimes more complicated instructions or maps are recorded to assist in re-location of the items. Too complicated and even the designer could lose where they hid the booty – not to mention any heirs to their fortune.  Additionally, landmarks to change and maps and instructions get lost or destroyed.

In the video below, our very own Scrap Iron is fortunate enough to locate a small cache of coins someone had buried many years before with a metal detector.  Although not too awfully valuable, it is an awesome find. Check it out:

Likely the person who buried the treasure in the video was a young person in the 50’s or 60’s.  There was a fair amount of silver in the jar, some old Indian Head Pennies.  But notice how it was buried just beneath a big old oak tree. 

So, how does buried treasure get lost?  

We always think about a sunken treasure ship or a gang of bandit bank robbers stashing their loot while escaping the authorities.  But, sometimes people just forget about it or they simply forget where they buried it.  Sound strange and unlikely?  I’ve seen it firsthand.  As one of the Midwest’s largest metal detector dealers, we also rent them out for personal use.  One time a young couple came in to rent a metal detector.  Unlike most people who come in joyfully talking about what they lost and are trying to recover or the manhole they need to locate, this couple was oddly silent.  Very guarded about what they were looking for.  When they returned a couple hours later, their mood was much different and openly happy.  They then told us what they had been seeking with the metal detector.  Apparently, their mother had borderline dementia.  She was about to sell her home and move into assisted living housing.  She had mind enough to remember that she had buried a large sum of money, $10,000, somewhere in a barn behind her house.  It had been buried in a metal canister, but she couldn’t remember exactly where. When they brought the detector back, they were ecstatic and thanked us for our rental service.

Think about it.  Older people are the ones more likely to bury treasure – whether they are still with us or not.  Some had lived through the great depression and beyond.  People suddenly die and any memories of the buried valuables is gone forever.  Perhaps they lose their ability to remember like they once did, and they forget where they buried their valuables or even that they did so. 

The further you go back in history the more likely you are to find a society that buried their valuables.  The older the dwelling or establishment the better the odds of finding more valuable caches.  One thing is for certain – If you aren’t looking, you aren’t going to find it.  So grab a metal detector and a shovel and get out there and dig!

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