Win Cash at Estatesales.org

 

Estate sales.org is offering a monthly cash sweepstakes. This a good double whammy for treasure hunters. You can find estate sales in your area by checking the listing on the estatesales.org site, and win a sweepstakes at the same time. What I do is have my local estate sales emailed to me automatically, then as each weekend approaches, I can see if there are any promising sales nearby. Enter at http://estatesales.org It's all treasure! Good luck!

Silver Treasure Coming in Steadily

So far this year has been good for treasure hunting.  I have managed to keep a piece or two of silver coming in pretty steadily. The Garrett AT Pro detector I bought last Fall is very accurate on silver and nickels. Since I hunt primarily in suburbia, the parks, schools, ballfields and playgrounds are quite plentiful.  They get replenished also. They are never hunted out. I have to say that every school and park has at least one ring, you just have to hunt enough to find it, and believe that its there. 

Above is a nice heavy sterling cross I found alongside a baseball field a few weeks ago. It is heavier than the silver quarter next to it. Below is my ring box for 2012. I have now filled the 3rd row since taking this picture, with more than half being silver. Some real nice ones too. Love it!

Gold rings indicate same or close to nickels. For some reason I haven't been lucky enough to bring up a gold ring yet this year, but I'm sure they are out there. I certainly have dug a lot of nickels and pull tabs, so its just a matter of sticking with it. As Mel Fisher used to say, "Today's The Day!"

Success in 2012

Well, I've been getting out hunting a lot this Spring, seems to be slowing down a bit as Summer approaches . But I must say that since I got the Garrett AT Pro detector last October, finds have picked up dramatically. It is murder on quarters, very distinct readings. This past weekend I only got out once due to work, but I found a nice heavy silver religious medal. Already this year I have over $200 and 2000 coins found. The readings are so precise that I've basically quit digging new zinc pennies so I can concentrate on good stuff. 18 rings, 7 silver, no gold yet, although it is good on nickels also.  well, I'll get some pictures up shortly, sorry have been deficient on posting, as I've been helping my better half get her antiques business off the ground on weekends.
That's treasure hunting as well, and it's been going great also. Details to follow shortly.

Silver Coin Calculator From White's Metal Detectors

With the price of silver flirting with $40 per ounce, the helpful folks at White's Electronics have created a Silver coin calculator for us. White's is the maker of metal detectors, through which many silver coins are found. With the price of silver near all-time highs, this may be the time to sell. As you know from some of my previous posts, we tried our hand at coin roll hunting, with pretty fair success. It amazes me that a 1964 half dollar we paid 50 cents for is now worth over $13.00.  And yes, they do sell for that high on eBay.
You may not have found silver coins with a metal detector, but perhaps you have inherited a few that are stuck in the back of a closet in a jar.  Curious about what they might be worth?  This silver coin calculator is updated every 30 minutes at the spot silver price. It might be a handy reference to bookmark since you don't have to figure the amount of silver in each coin, then check today's silver price. Just enter how many coins of which denomination you have, and the calculator does the rest.  I have sold a few rolls on eBay recently, and I can tell you that what you see on this silver coin calculator is pretty close to what you can get on an eBay sale.  Good luck to you. This may be the time to turn that stored silver treasure into cash!  Aaargh!

Silver Coin Calculator 

Win An Ounce of Gold!

I wanted to share this monthly sweepstakes that I recently found.  This is a monthly drawing to win a 2011 Gold Eagle like the one pictured here.  Wow, that would be a nice treasure to put in this year's treasure chest.  With gold trading near $1,500 an ounce, this would certainly be the treasure of the year.  Enter at APMEX.com.  You can enter once a month per person.  Good luck!

Deep Blue Marine Locates 16th Century Treasure Ship

The Deep Blue Marine company recently uncovered a treasure ship from the late 1500's off the coast of the Dominican Republic.  So far, the company has brought up jade statues, along with silver and gold coins dating back to 1537. That would make the find one of the oldest in the New World, less than 100 years after Christopher Columbus sailed these same waters. The company feels that a lot more is still under water, as they have not yet hit the main wreckage from the ship.  The mirror in the photo above is actually a polished piece of iron pyrite that is discussed in the video below. Not bad for being over 400 years old!   Watch the short video below to see the dive team in action and visit the company's website to see additional treasure photos.  This is one recovery we will be watching closely to see what else emerges.
                                Deep Blue dive video        Deep Blue Marine website

It's Shenandoah Yard Crawl Time!

Yay! The annual Shenandoah County Yard Crawl is one of our "mark the calendar" events - hey, we're thrift-shopping pirates, what can I say?  It is a 43 mile long yard sale through several small country towns in the Shenandoah Valley in western Virginia.  This year marked our 4th year in a row we have shopped the Yard Crawl.  It was a lot of fun, and we did find some neat treasures.  The day was overcast and in the mid-80's, which was nice.  In past Augusts, it's been so hot, we were pooped by 11AM.  This year we were still going by 1PM, and that's saying something, since we hit the road at 5:30 to be at northern end of the sale by 7AM.

On the hunt!

We usually make our best finds in the first hour or two since everything hasn't been picked over too much yet.  This year it didn't seem like there were as many crawlers and we were still able to make some good finds later in the day.  Of course, it all depends what people are looking for.  There is a little of everything at the yard crawl, from furniture to antiques, clothing and every kind of toy and household item you can imagine.  There are a few dealers selling, but it's more like just people who have sheds or barns along the Valley Pike pulling their stuff out alongside the road.

Got some treasures!

In our case, we collect old holiday decorations, toleware, pewter, Carnival glass, jewelry, and what have you. To be honest, we have started many collections just because we found 2 matching items. Thankfully, we've come to our senses and cleared a lot of those collections out over the years. We do have a little antique booth, so we have an outlet to keep things moving on to those who will appreciate them.

  A lot of the fun of the Yard Crawl is chatting with people and moving on down the road to the next potential treasure score. It's a nice drive out in the country too, and the scenery is pretty.  I have to admit, there could be a few more bathrooms! LOL. We had a lot of fun and came home with a lot of nice finds.

Vintage Christmas treasures

Here are some neat old Santas and Christmas decorations we were able to come up with.  The red deer and sleigh in the middle are an old flocked set from the 50's or 60's.  The santa in the box is a really nice set that looks like it may never have been used.  He has a cloth outfit and beard, I don't know what the vintage of that is.  The old santa in the front left may be the best find of the day at 25 cents!  He is an old old cardboard Father Christmas made in Japan.  His beard is cotton and he is holding a pine branch in his hand. These finds will make nice additions to our vintage Christmas display.   

Assorted fun finds

Here are some other assorted goodies.  For some reason I attract Whiting and Davis mesh evening bags as you know.  Here is a more recent one for $2. The brass dipper is pretty old, the frame on the old picture must be from the 1800's (50 cents), the tole painted bucket is a nice old country piece for $1, and there's a silver bracelet up front that was $1 also.  We liked the black cat pitcher since we have two black cats.  We had to wait for someone who promised to be back by noon to get him, but she never showed, so we took him home for $1 too.  The sellers helped us count down the seconds till noon.  It was a good time.

All in all we didn't spend a lot, had a great day, and found some neat treasures.  I'm sure we'll head back up into the Blue Ridge Mountains again next year for year 5!