The treasures of civilization that don`t end up displayed in museums, stashed in homes or tucked away in safe-deposit boxes most likely will end up buried somewhere, whether intentionally or not. The treasure could range from a watch or class ring lost yesterday to coins dropped 100 years ago.
For a certain group of people, just knowing this drives them wild. You can seem them on the hunt, slowly scanning the ground with their metal detectors, inching along like high-tech zombies. But zombies they are not;
this treasure-hunting is lively and infectious.
”More metal detectors are sold here in the Midwest than any other part of the country,” said Scott Warner, a hobbyist who went on to found Warner Distributing in Mundelein, a company that sells detectors. ”Eighty-five percent of those purchased are made by three manufacturers. Most are in the hands of amateurs. It`s kind of like fishing, in a way. Even when you don`t catch anything, it`s still fun. The fresh air, and the anticipation of a possible find have drawn more and more people to the ranks of the hunters.”
The metal detector has been around since its first patent in 1931. At that time it was used to search out ore deposits. During World War II the Army used them as mine detectors. Since then, they have been refined in size and made available to the public.
The climb of gold and silver prices around 1970 triggered a surge of interest. At that time the machines would beep at just about any metal, but over 20 years they have been refined to the point where they can discriminate between junk metal and the finer varieties, so a hunter won`t be distracted by, say, bottle caps.
Detectors, weighing 4 pounds or so, range from $100 to $900. They operate on AA batteries at a cost of 30 cents an hour or so. Some are designed specifically for prospecting and thus are sensitive to small objects such as nuggets. ”Single coins will signal up to 12 inches deep,” said L.C. Williams, general manager of Warner Distributing. ”A cache of money will be audible up to three feet. One machine is coveted by treasure hunters. It hunts large targets and will beep its find 25 feet deep.” The detectors ”see”
through blacktop, brick, stone, unreinforced concrete and, of course, dirt and sand.
Larry Muellemann, owner of L&D Detector Sales, 209 N. Genesee St., Waukegan, said one of the best places in the Chicago area to hunt is the Chicago shoreline, especially spots such as Oak Street Beach. ”The place is packed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” he said. ”Then on Monday morning the people with metal detectors come out.” He said they find primarily jewelry and money.
George Giese, a Lincolnshire police officer who has been ”hunting” for eight years, said, ”There`s a certain electricity when I dig up a coin that appears just as it did when it was dropped. A silver coin that was new over 75 years ago will still have the shine it did then. Knowing I can unearth these and wondering about what the world was like when it was lost, well, it`s exciting.”
A cache of finds by Warner and Williams is on display in glass cases at Warner Distributing, 1238 Allanson Rd., Mundelein. Inside are tin Cracker Jack toys from the 1940s, old coins, car parts from autos long obsolete, wagon parts from pre-auto days, dogs licenses from the 1920s and `30s, and lead bullets from a Civil War training ground and POW camp in southern Illinois.
Among the most interesting finds are two shotguns found by Ernie Bocanegra of Glen Ellyn in the Glenview area that were found wrapped in rubberized material. The wood stocks had rotted away, and the bolts and identifying marksings had been removed.
Warner often is called in to find objects. Recently he retrieved a $6,000 ring from the Fox River for a woman who had lost it while boating. ”We charge either an hourly rate or a percentage of the value of the found object,”
Warner said.
In another case, a Louisville, Ky., family called in Williams to look for money that a father had buried in his yard before his death. Before he died, he told his children he had buried $20,000 in four metal-lidded glass jars out in his yard. The family found three of four jars, but the last one was a mystery. In came Williams. ”They asked me to find the final container. Didn`t take too long to search it out, but somehow the old-timer had been confused about where he buried it.”
Occasionally hunters will stage a treasure hunt, salting a field with coins and turning their machines loose on the money. One such hunt was held this month at the Green Meadows Family Resort, between Volo and Round Lake.
At the hunt, which was part of an open house for hunters sponsored by Warner, dealer Michael Joseph of Burton, Mich., said, ”It`s the only hobby in the world that once you make the initial investment will pay you back as long as you`re willing to use it.”
