Can you still find treasure today?
Verdict summary
Yes. Treasure is still found every year, mostly by people with metal detectors and good research. Examples: coins from the 1715 Spanish fleet still wash up and are recovered off Florida's Treasure Coast (one family found gold coins worth about $4.5 million in 2015), the Staffordshire Hoard was found by a detectorist in England in 2009, and Forrest Fenn's hidden chest was found in Wyoming in 2020. England, Wales and Northern Ireland record hundreds of legally defined Treasure finds a year.
Most real finds are small: coins, rings, relics and caches near old homesites, camps and roads, not pirate chests. The finds that make news almost always come from research into where people actually lived, travelled and lost things.
Know the rules first: on US federal land, objects over 100 years old are protected; in England and Wales the Treasure Act 1996 requires reporting qualifying finds; shipwrecks in Florida state waters are state property and salvaged only under permit.
Sources: Florida Division of Historical Resources; Portable Antiquities Scheme and Treasure Act 1996 annual reports (UK); Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (Staffordshire Hoard); Archaeological Resources Protection Act.
What is the biggest metal detecting find ever? Some of the biggest metal detecting finds are in England: the Staffordshire Hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver (2009), the Hoxne Hoard of Roman gold and silver (1992) and the Frome Hoard of about 52,000 Roman coins (2010). In Australia, the Hand of Faith, one of the largest gold nuggets found with a detector, was found near Kingower, Victoria, in 1980.
Was the Forrest Fenn treasure found? Yes. Forrest Fenn's hidden treasure chest was found in June 2020 in Wyoming, about ten years after he published the poem with clues to its location. The finder was later identified as Jack Stuef.
How do you search for treasure? (How to locate hidden treasure) Search records before you search ground. Start with a documented loss (an old newspaper report, court record or mine file that names a place and says the valuables were never recovered), place it on old maps, check who owns the land and what the law allows, then scan the spot with LiDAR and aerial imagery before you go. Only then walk in, and only dig where you have permission.
What famous lost treasures have never been found? Famous lost treasures never found include the Lost Dutchman Mine (Arizona), the Amber Room (missing since 1945), the unlocated wrecks of the 1715 Spanish treasure fleet (Florida), King John's baggage train (lost in The Wash, England, 1216), the Copper Scroll's 64 hiding places (Dead Sea Scrolls), Montezuma's gold (lost by the Spanish fleeing Tenochtitlan in 1520), the Beale treasure (Virginia) and the Oak Island money pit (Nova Scotia). The 'Nazi gold train' in Wałbrzych, Poland was dug for in 2016 and nothing was found.
Primary sources cited
- Florida Division of Historical Resources
- Portable Antiquities Scheme and Treasure Act 1996 annual reports (UK)
- Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (Staffordshire Hoard)
- Archaeological Resources Protection Act