The life of a professional treasure hunter is often fraught with secrecy, danger, and challenges, but the rewards can be great. Sometimes the rewards are related to the recovery of a long-lost cache of gold or silver ingots or coins, but there can be a number of secondary rewards such as travel to and exploration in a foreign country, backpacking into remote areas where few have ever been, and a first-hand experience with pristine environments and unmolested wildlife such as few have experienced.
The dangers can come in the form of poisonous snakes and insects, tainted water, landslides, cave-ins, flash floods, lightning strikes, rabid foxes, bandits, and competitors.
Secrecy is important in this business. When there is a possibility you may be dealing with a million dollars worth of bullion or coins, the less people that know about it the better. This includes not only competitors, but also governments with laws that are designed to separate the treasure from the finder.
I remain somewhat secretive about my current hunts, but as a result of my best-selling books on lost mines and buried treasures, as well as consulting with film and television and subsequent interviews, I have become less anonymous and better known than I ever intended.
As I get older and spend less time in the field searching for lost treasures, the anonymity is not as important as it once was. Besides, it’s time for others to take up the challenge.
W.C. Jameson