Pirates once perused the "X" on the map that marked the spot. Miners in the Old West panned for gold. Others have combed the ground with metal detectors. And now, thanks to the hit PBS TV series "Antiques Roadshow," people are scouring estate sales, thrift shops and their own attics and basements looking for that next great find.

"It's always a treasure hunt," antiques dealer Gretchen Thiessens says about the career she and her husband, Rick, have enjoyed the past 16 years.

The Thiessens used to attend shows as dealers for many years but decided to begin promoting shows of their own three years ago. A recent show at the Davis County FairPark included nearly 50 dealers from Utah and several other Western states.

One of those dealers was Brek Anderson, an Avenues resident who divides his time between his career as a real-estate agent and his hobby as an antiques dealer of movie posters and music, film, and sports memorabilia.

Anderson's interest in this particular niche in the antique market began when he bought a large collection memorabilia years ago. Now, he boasts hundreds of items, including boxes of movie posters.

The wall of his booth at the Farmington show featured posters from several Western movies, including "The Oklahoma Kid," with Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Wakely's "Song of the Sierra," and "Utah Wagon Train." For those who like other movie genres, Anderson has scores of boxed film posters for them to peruse.

At this latest show, Anderson also sold Beatles albums, vintage photographs and magazines and a snakeskin hat that had a snake's head and fangs hanging over the brim.

During their years in the business, the Thiessens have seen many changes - not only in what people are looking for but in how they are using the antiques they purchase.

The business "fluctuates with the economy," says Rick Thiessens. "Antiques are actually a luxury, not a necessity."

Maybe that's why more people in recent years are collecting antiques to use in their daily lives instead of stashing them away or displaying them in cabinets behind glass doors.

"People [new to the antique business] are not collecting them, but living with them," Gretchen says. "They want things they can live with, things that they like, that they can appreciate."

Because people often collect their own personal memories, she adds, as the age of collectors has grown younger, what they collect has changed as well.

"What people grew up with has changed," Gretchen says. "It used to be very formal living rooms. The designers of [items in] the '50s and '60s are being collected now."

While "Antiques Roadshow" has stirred up much excitement about the businesses, the Thiessenses say the publicity has helped and hindered the trade.

The show "has educated quite a few people," Rick says, adding that the show also has caused some people to assume that their look-alike piece is worth as much as the one they saw on TV.

Gretchen says the show has been good for business, but she adds that the prices they cite for items on the show are a bit unrealistic. Most Utahns won't pay that much. But if nothing else, she points out, the show "has brought an awareness that everyone has a treasure."

Anderson has learned that most Utahns don't understand the value of certain posters, which can sell for many hundreds of dollars more outside the region. Still, he enjoys the hobby which allows him to relive some of Hollywood's greatest movie moments.

"I just have always liked them," he says.