LAYTON — Jack Taylor is still waiting to see that “one cool thing” as he travels around the mountain states.
Taylor, an event manager with Treasure Hunters Roadshow, is at the Courtyard by Marriot in Layton this week. He travels through Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado appraising various items brought to him by hopeful owners. Before being assigned the mountain states, Taylor traveled through the northeastern part of the county.
“The coolest thing I saw there was a propeller off the Wright brothers’ plane,” Taylor said. “They had the paperwork to prove it was authentic.”
Throughout the Northeast, Taylor said, he saw a lot of colonial items, which are scarce in Utah.
“I haven’t seen any Civil War items out West,” Taylor said.
In the last 14 months, traveling through his four assigned states, Taylor said he mostly saw coins, scrap gold and scrap silver.
That was the case Tuesday morning as well, when 25 people were waiting to have their items looked at and appraised.
Chris Anderson, 28, of Ogden, and Caitlan Ernest, 21, of Clearfield, brought in an old Morgan silver dollar that belonged to Ernest’s grandfather. The pair plans to get married in September and will put the money they get for the coin toward their wedding.
“I wish we would have gotten more, but it’s better than we had,” Anderson said.
They plan to go back to see Taylor sometime this week with some other items that could be worth more money. Taylor will be meeting one-on-one with people between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. today through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Anderson said everyone probably has unused things around their homes that they could sell.
“This will give someone else a chance to enjoy it,” Anderson said.
Treasure Hunters Roadshow has a huge database at its headquarters in Springfield, Ill., that helps Taylor when he looks at people’s items and then tells them how much Treasure Hunters Roadshow will pay for those items.
“We also have different auction houses, and we check and see what’s selling at the auction houses and for how much,” Taylor said.
He said gold and silver usually go for a flat rate, which is whatever the rate is at that time. However, sometimes the coins are more collectible, and they will go for more money.
Matthew Enright, vice president of media relations for THR & Associates, said the company holds close to 4,000 events per year throughout the U.S., Canada, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.
“We get to see some really cool stuff, and it’s really neat to have so many shows across the world, because what we see is phenomenal,” Enright said. “Some people have no idea they are sitting on a $24,000 penny.”
Taylor is hoping to find that unknown treasure.
“I haven’t seen that big item yet, but somebody’s going to bring it in,” Taylor said. “I’m still waiting.”
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