Gary Drayton: Wiki Bio, age, wife, kids, career, net worth.

Gary Drayton has an innate knack for finding things. From small items like watches, and rings, to treasures that have been buried away for centuries. A real-life treasure hunter, Drayton is one of the cast members of the reality TV series, The Curse of Oak Island. Gary employs metal detection techniques to sniff out treasures. Combining cutting-edge technology with his keen eyes, Gary is a perfect fit for the cast. Even though Gary seems like a chip from the old block, he uses unorthodox techniques to search for treasures. The approach has brought him a considerable amount of success over the years, and Gary is in no mind to change them.

Gary Drayton is a famous English treasure hunter and TV celebrity. He is best known for his appearance on History Network’s treasure-hunting show, The Curse of Oak Island, where he is the metal detecting expert. He has found many valuable treasures, such as Spanish coins, gold rings, emerald jewelry, and bronze ship spikes.  He has also published several books on treasure hunting and metal detectors. He has an estimated net worth of USD $3.2 Million.

Early Life:

Gary Drayton was born on May 30, 1961, in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England. He grew up alongside three siblings in England where he also began his schooling. He grew up mud parking for old artifacts around the riverbanks in his hometown and became interested in metal detecting.

Career:

For a long time, Gary worked as a bottle digger in the UK. He used to dig old Victorian trash pits and was also focused on Mudlarking. He would often find coins, old bottles, clay pipes, doll heads, and marbles, dating back to the 1600s. Gary has had success right from his early years. His oldest find was a Roman perfume bottle dating from the Roman Civilization.

After enjoying moderate success in Lincolnshire, Gary moved to South Florida. On a seemingly normal day, Gary took out his old army metal detector and set to the beaches of Florida. On his first day, Gary dug up a Spanish Silver Piece of Eight. Months down the line, Gary uncovered a 1715 Spanish Fleet Gold and Emerald Ring. This led to the discovery of the 1715 fleet, which had been underwater for centuries. After the find, Gary’s fame shot to the skies and the man has been hunting for treasures ever since.

In the years that followed, Gary dug up hundreds of Gold Rings, Jewelry of all types, Coins, Silver, Rolex, Bronze Ship Spikes, War Artifacts, and Spanish Treasure. An unorthodox beach hunter, Gary is credited for having the 3P’s of treasure hunting, Patience, Persistence, and Preservance.

Television Career:

Gary Drayton’s television career began when his Spanish treasure finds caught the eye of Hollywood producers. He is a regular cast member on The Curse of Oak Island a reality series that follows the Lagina brothers and their team as they search for historical artifacts and treasures on Oak Island, Nova Scotia. He joined the series in 2016 and appears as the resident metal detecting expert. He has made 137 episode appearances until 2023.

According to imdb.com, Gary Drayton’s other television appearances include:

• Expedition Unknown (2015-2017): He appeared as himself in 4 episodes of this adventure series that follows explorer Josh Gates around the world.
• Caribbean Pirate Treasure (2017): He appeared as himself in 1 episode of this series that follows Philippe and Ashlan Cousteau as they investigate stories of lost pirate treasure.
• The Curse of Oak Island: Drilling Down (2017-2021): He appeared as himself in 8 episodes of this companion series that features interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and special guests related to The Curse of Oak Island.

Technique:

One of the best things to describe Gary’s techniques is, out-of-the-box. The man uses unorthodox techniques that are often mixed with instinct. Apart from actively hunting for treasures, Gary is also an author and an instructor. A huge fan of the Minelab detectors, Gary’s first Minelab metal detector was the EXCALIBUR. Over the years, Gary has used a wide variety of Minelab including, GPX 5000, Equinox 800, and CTX 3030. Regardless of the situation, Gary prefers to have a Minelab by his side at all times. As he puts it,

“As any long-time Minelab user will tell you, the only way to beat a Minelab is by using another Minelab so I always have other specialist tools in the old tool shed.”

Taking pleasure in his work:

We can not deny Gary is an expert in treasure hunting which has been a source of income for him for many years. Nonetheless, there is more to his profession than what meets the eye. Describing one particular incident from May 26, 2014,  Gary wrote:

“I returned home at 7 pm last night after a fun day with the wife and girls at a Palm Beach water park. Checking my emails after returning home, I had just received a message from Adam in Boca Raton telling me his wife had lost her 18K ring inside the water a few hours earlier. Adam had googled treasure hunting and gold rings, no prizes for guessing who’s new website he came across. I got changed and met him at the beach in Boca and within an hour of his initial email I pulled out this honking big 18K ring with 1 + carat rock out of the water. It was high tide and getting dark when I found the ring, no CNN cameras, or bottle of champagne for this treasure hunter, just the satisfaction of making a nice married couple very happy.”

Authorship:

Gary Drayton is an author of treasure-hunting and metal-detecting books.  He has published several books on these topics, such as The Shallow Water ‘Hunter’s Guide to South Florida’ (January 1, 2010), ‘Metal Detecting for Spanish Treasure’ (January 4, 2011), ‘Hardcore Beach Hunting’ (December 30, 2012), ‘The CTX 3030 Beach and Water Hunter’s Guide’ (January 1, 2014), etc. He has also written a book called ‘How to Read the Beach and Water’ (January 1, 2013), which is a guide for beach and water hunters. He sells his books on his official website (garydrayton.com), where he also offers treasure-hunting lessons and merchandise.

Social Media presence:

Gary Drayton has a strong social media presence, especially on Instagram and Facebook. He has 59.6K followers on his Instagram account @gary.drayton, where he posts photos and videos of his treasure hunting adventures, his family, his merchandise, and his TV appearances. He also has 53K followers on his Facebook page Gary Drayton, where he shares similar content and interacts with his fans. He is very active and engaging on social media and often responds to comments and questions from his followers.

Personal Life:

Wife & Kids:

Gary Drayton is a happily married man and a father of two daughters. He has been married to Jennifer Gail Sauve since December 17, 1996. They dated for several years before tying the knot in Las Vegas, Nevada. They have two daughters, Anya and Katya  Drayton. Gary and his family enjoy treasure hunting together and he calls his daughters “trainee pirates”.

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Gary is very proud and supportive of his family and often shares photos of them on his Instagram account. He also follows Christianity and is of British origin. He has said that his family is his real treasure and that he values them more than anything.

Physical Traits:

Gary Drayton’s physical traits are not very well known, as he does not reveal much about his personal life. However, based on his photos and videos, he appears to be of average height and weight, and his eyes color is blue. He often wears a hat and a vest when he is metal detecting. He also has a distinctive British accent and a cheerful personality. He is 62 years old as of 2023.

Wiki/Bio Facts

Name	Gary Drayton
Age	62 years old
Birthdate	May 30, 1961
Birthplace	Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England
Nationality	British American
Ethnicity	White
Parents	Neil Drayton
Siblings	Three
Career	Television personality, Treasure Hunter, Metal Detecting Expert
Net worth	$3.2 Million
Wife	Jennifer Drayton
Children	Anya Drayton, Katya Drayton
Social Media Handle	Facebook, Instagram