Spanish Treasure and Silver

It has been very dry here but we got a nice overnight rain, so I wanted to get the metal detector out for a spin. I just bought a Garrett pro-pointer on my Florida trip, so wanted to try that out as well. I went to a local school and found 20 or so coins on the playground, then tried another schoolyard in an older part of the county. Started off slow, the ground was still quite dry below an inch. Dug a few pulltabs down 4-6" deep. This particular school has not given up a ring yet. I'm convinced that there is at least one at every school. Since this school is from the late 1950's I'm sure there are a few. Anyway, I like the pinpointer, it reaches a good 2" or so through the soil. Got a good repeatable signal at 6" and out popped a shiny silver dime, dated 1964. Ahhh, that was nice, its the first one this year, and boded well for the hunt. A few other coins started popping up. I have to go back there and work slowly when the ground is wet this Winter. After a bit, I got another strong signal at 2 to 3 inches, and out popped this big copper coin. It is a Spanish 10 centimos, dated 1878. Wow, Spanish treasure! That's the oldest coin I've found in this area. Great treasure day. Aarghh.

Florida Treasure Hunting

OK, I promised I would come back with some news after my trip to Florida. On this trip, I was with family, doing the obligatory parks and such. It was fun....but tiring. And though I couldn't dedicate time to moneywalking, I was still able to come up with 7 coins over the course of the weekend. I've found that airports are a good place to look since people are lounging around while waiting, spending money at food and souvenir stores, and on carpeted surfaces a lot, which deadens the sound of a dropped coin. So that was OK, something new learned.

I was able to get out for a spin through some thrift stores also. I like the Florida stores. They have a different class of clothing, more Summer stuff of course. And since the population is older, a lot of people donate stuff when they are downsizing or moving. And there is some older stuff. There is always different stuff in thrift stores in other parts of the country, or in other countries. That makes thrift store treasure hunting a lot of fun. You just have to go in with the mindset that there will be something good in there, you just have to sift through until you find it.

So, here is a selection of some cool treasures found. The black candleholders are handpainted tin, old and really nice for $3 the pair. I have a collection of old pewter so at $1, the Reed and Barton candleholder was a steal. The old jewelry box I think was $1 also, and the McCoy vase was $2. Nice! In the other pics, the clay pitcher is new but goes with other colonial stuff I have, $3. Finally, the yellow planter is a 1941 Nelson McCoy piece, nice find. I had to leave a big McCoy vase, since I was traveling by plane. Picked up a couple other items too, a lot of neat treasure finds! My other half has a little antique booth and this gives us a legitimate reason to treasure hunt, and keeps the treasure moving on its journey to someone who will be thrilled to find it. So I feel we are just middlemen in these items' trip from treasured at one time, to hidden junk, to found treasure, and finally back to treasured. The treasure cycle continues. Aarghh!

What Motivates me to be a Treasure Hunter?

The pursuit of treasure can take many forms, as you see from title on top of my page. When I get tired of one, whether it be moneywalking, sweepstakes, metal detecting, or whatever, I just go on to the next one. I've found that I can get remotivated for treasure hunting by checking what other people are finding at Treasurenet.com. This is mostly a metal detecting site, but they have a little bit of everything. What's motivating about it is that the treasure hunters there post pictures of their finds, and the site is very active. That means that there is a lot of treasure being found on a daily basis. Some of it will blow you away. Either click on any of the pictures in the banner across the top, or go to Today's Finds. Amazing.

I haven't gotten the detector out since a beach trip in August, which was pretty good. One silver toe ring and about 225 coins. I was surprised when a half dollar came up from about 9" down. Not an old one, but still definitely treasure.

Here are a couple of other pieces I was able to score this Summer through sweepstaking. The bracelet was won in a department store giveaway. The minor league baseball championship ring is a replica that was given away in a sweepstakes in the local paper. Can't argue with that bling. The stories behind them are in an article I posted below on August 26, How to Win Local Sweepstakes and Giveaways. I just hadn't gotten the pictures posted.

I'm off to Florida this weekend, not sure what form of treasure hunting I'll be doing there, but I'll let you know in a few days.

Small Moneywalking pickups

I was away over the weekend but kept an eye out for treasure opportunities...Because treasure is everywhere, as I've often said. Sure enough, the first item I spotted was a sterling silver chain necklace in a parking lot. The clasp is broken, which is probably why it was laying there. Nice. I also came up with 2 dimes, one in a parking lot and one under a parking meter. It's something.

The Street Gives up a Chance at Stardom

...In the form of a Mega-Millions ticket I found on the sidewalk yesterday. If I hit the $252 Million jackpot on a ticket found money-walking, I'd have to be crowned King of the Scroungers, right? Oh, the waiting was agonizing! Ah, but it was not to be, not worth a sawbuck, a fin, or even one slim samoleon. So today, back I go to the office, and out for a walk at lunch, where I found a shiny penny under a parking meter. And so it goes...

Back from the Black!

Wow, its been a long time since I have been here, got offline for a couple of months, but now I have returned, just like General Black Jack Pershing. When he led the American Expeditionary Force to France in WW1, he said "Lafayette, we are here." That was a reference to the Marquis de LaFayette having provided French support to the US during the American Revolution. It helped that we were fighting the British...but I digress. Anyway, I've returned and will try to actually hang around this time. I may make a few changes to make this blog more sustainable, but we'll see how that works. It'll still follow the same general theme of sweepstaking, treasure and passive income.

OK, here are 2 new Sweepstaking articles I wrote that I want to share:

--How to Find Sweepstakes With the Best Chance of Winning - 5 Ways

--How to Win Local Sweepstakes and Giveaways

Good luck and let me know when you win something!
Twincapes

Addicting Sweeps Game

Chiquita Smoothie Sweepstakes - This is a sweepstakes for a tropical vacation to Jamaica. It is one entry per person, but once you are registered, you can get additional entries by playing an ADDICTIVE matching game. It is fun but hard to quit. There are backup prizes like blenders and smoothie mix. Have fun!