Have you ever wondered what might be hidden underground? A metal detectorist can help with that!
Bruce Ratkowski is a local metal detectorist who travels the state finding homeowners who want their old property searched for historical objects.
Lake Effect’s Xcaret Nuñez spoke with Ratkowski about his love for metal detecting and what makes Milwaukee a special place to search.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
You've been doing this for 10 years now. Is there a certain item that really sparked your interest in metal detecting and made you wonder what else is underground?
Oh my gosh, there are so many items. The big item that people always want to find is gold. I found three gold items. I found two gold rings and a gold necklace that has a silver cross on it. My friend in the Milwaukee area found a $5 gold piece, which dates back to the mid-1800s I believe. And that's the prize, you know, you always want to find the gold, the hidden treasure. Another friend went over to England, and he found a gold coin that dates back to, I believe, the 1500s — so there's always the gold to find. But most of the stuff you pull out is trash: pop tops, cans, nails and things like that. But you're always looking for that silver coin or the gold ring or the silver ring, or if you're on an older property, just something to relate to that property that you can give to that owner and say, “Well, this looks like a handle from your door,” or something like that.
OK, say you find a golden ring, are you interested in it for the money or its history?
I’m definitely not in for the money. The story I like to tell is that somebody emailed me about losing her mom's gold wedding band. Her mom had passed away when she was seven, and her dad gave her her mom's wedding band. And she said, “I was at a family reunion, and I lost it. We tried to find it, but I'm out here in California, and the family reunion was in West Bend — could you try to find it?” And I told her, “Well, I've never found anything intentionally, but I'll recruit a couple of guys; do you have any idea where in the yard it might have been lost?” She sent me an overhead picture, and she drew where most of the people were gathering. We got there, and I had two guys with me, and my friend found it in 20 minutes. So she got her mom's wedding band back, and she was overjoyed. She said, “What can I give you guys?” We told her, you know, we don't want anything. Your happiness, that the ring has been found and returned to you, is more than enough for us.
So these items have a lot of sentimental value as well as historical value.
Yes, if we find something on a property that is sentimental, we always show it to the property owner, and we say, “You can decide if you want to keep it or not.” If it doesn't belong to them, they can still keep it, or they can let us have what we have found. And that happens sometimes. That's just part of our mantra, we always say, “If it's found on your property, I'm willing to give it to you. It was the joy of finding it. If we get to keep it, it's a bonus for us.”
You recently made a few posts on Facebook asking homeowners if you can metal detect their property. I'm wondering why you would metal detect on a private property instead of sticking to public places like Milwaukee's beaches?
The beaches have been hit hard by other detectorists. During the months of October through April, nobody's on the beach. Nobody's losing their stuff on the beach. From May till September, those beaches are populated, and people might lose their rings, their bracelets or their change. And there are a lot of detectorists who go there after those weekends. And they can be kind of territorial sometimes, saying, “Oh, this is my beach. Why are you here?” I don't tend to go to beaches very often in Milwaukee. I like to go to private properties, you know, places that other people haven't been to. You always ask for permission. There is never a time when I just go randomly into somebody's yard. That would be trespassing. That's illegal. That breaks the code of a detectorist. So that's why I put out those posts on Facebook, looking for those permissions.
Other than being untapped territory, is there something special about metal detecting the yards of homes in Milwaukee?
I love the old homes. Wisconsin was established in 1848 and has a great ethnic history, especially Milwaukee, where those old houses, like in downtown Milwaukee, just grew outward. And you had those neighborhoods where people congregated in their ethnic groups: the Irish, the German, the Poles. They had their stuff, and we sometimes find those things when we go to these yards, and we can relate it to those houses or to those communities. That's the history that we enjoy finding. We’re basically modern-day time travelers. What was happening when this 1848 coin was made? Who held it? How did it get dropped? You can think of all kinds of stories to make up about it, but you really don't know. You just know that it's there, and I found it.
If you’re interested in having Ratkowski search your property for historical objects, you can reach him at Thebruce1959@gmail.com.
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