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Hi - My wife has said she would like a metal detector for her birthday in late April. I know nothing about them and would like some help so I can get her a really good one. I am willing to spend a few hundred dollars for one if that is what it takes, but I want one that will do a good job locating objects and is good quality. Thanks in advance!

A New Mexico multimillionaire wants you to get off the couch and go searching for hidden treasure. Forrest Fenn, 82, believes too many Americans spend their free time watching TV or playing video games. He hopes the bounty he hid — a chest filled with millions of dollars in gold coins, diamonds and emeralds, among other gems — will prompt some to explore the outdoors. "Get your kids out in the countryside, take them fishing and get them away from their little hand-held machines," he told TODAY.

A MASSIVE gold nugget that could be worth upwards of half a million dollars has been unearthed in Ballarat. See your ad here The nugget, weighing slightly more than five kilograms (177 ounces), was discovered by a local prospector on Wednesday morning, who rushed it to the Ballarat Mining Exchange Gold Shop. The exact location and the identity of the lucky prospector remain secret, but gold shop owner Cordell Kent said the nugget was found within 30 kilometres of the Ballarat CBD. It was found about 60 centimetres below the surface, with the prospector using a state-of-the-art detector worth more...

As the worst drought since 1956 gripped the nation last year, lakes and ponds slowly receded, revealing decades worth of dropped and discarded fishing tackle, pop cans and all sorts of flotsam. At Oak Lake in Lincoln, the debris included at least two guns. A person walking along the edge of the lake last summer spied a suspicious item and called Lincoln police, who found a handgun rusted beyond recognition. “That thing could have been in there for 50 years for all we know,” said Sgt. Ben Miller. After that gun turned up, officers Kevin Hinton and Jen Mullendore couldn’t...

Made from bronze and smaller than a ten pence piece, the coin depicts a man and a woman engaged in an intimate act. Historians believe it is the first example of a Roman brothel token to be found in this country. It lay hidden in mud for almost 2,000 years until it was unearthed by an amateur archaeologist with a metal detector. On the reverse of the token is the numeral XIIII, which experts say could indicate the holder handed over 14 small Roman coins called asses to buy it. This would have been the equivalent of seven loaves of...

The history of one of the world's holiest sites - sacred to both Jews and Muslims - is set to be rewritten, following a surprise discovery in a ritual bath beneath the complex. It proves that the Wall - supposedly built by Herod, the Jewish king who features prominently in the Gospels, was in fact built much later. Newly found coins underneath Jerusalem’s Western Wall could change the accepted belief about the construction of one of the world’s most sacred sites two millennia ago, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday....

A METAL detection enthusiast scouring the South Yorkshire soil unearthed a 14th century gold ring studded with a ruby and an emerald, an inquest heard. Metal finishing plant worker Paul McEvoy, aged 44, found the medieval finger ring just six inches beneath the surface . He had been using his metal detector to search a stubble field in Thurcroft, near Rotherham. Mr McEvoy, from Dinnington, told the Rotherham hearing: “I thought I had dug up a squash bottle top but it turned out to be a ring.” He said on the day of his discovery he had been metal detecting...

A MARRIED man who feared he had lost his cherished wedding ring has been reunited with the golden band after it was found by a newly-formed metal detector club. Edward Trendell, 64, of Hambridge, near Langport, was walking his dog in the fields behind his home last weekend but when returned home he discovered he had lost his ring. Despite the ring being a thick golden band neither he nor Marilyn, his wife of 37 years, could find it in the long grass. Mr Trendell then learnt of the Somerset Artifact Seekers metal detector club in a chance conversation with...

...The hoard of copper alloy coins, dating from the 3rd Century, was unearthed in Montgomery, Powys, several weeks ago. About 900 were found by a member of a Welshpool metal detecting club, with the rest of the discovery made with help from archaeologists. The exact location is being kept secret to protect the site. The Powys coroner will determine whether they qualify as treasure. Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT), which helped unearth the coins, said the discovery had the potential to reveal more about Roman life in mid Wales in the late 3rd Century. The find in Montgomery is a few...

Mention the words metal detector and you'll get completely different reactions from different people. For instance, some people think of combing a beach in search of coins or buried treasure. Other people think of airport security, or the handheld scanners at a concert or sporting event. The fact is that all of these scenarios are valid. Metal-detector technology is a huge part of our lives, with a range of uses that spans from leisure to work to safety. The metal detectors in airports, office buildings, schools, government agencies and prisons help ensure that no one is bringing a weapon onto...

MENDHAM -- Rick Pressl burst into the board of trustees meeting, a boyish exuberance overcoming his normally reserved temperament. The retired fire chief pulled aside Tanya Sulikowski, the executive director of the Schiff Natural Lands Trust, to show off a rusty, barely recognizable object. It was a Revolutionary War era stirrup, Pressl said, his first major find while excavating the nature preserve. He would soon have much more to show the board. Photo by Hilary Klimek/For the Star-LedgerRick Pressl, a retired fire chief, and students from Ridge High School have unearthed Revolutionary War era memorabilia in Mendham, including a set...

A very large and important find of a hoard of Roman coins was recently discovered by a novice metal detector user in the Shrewsbury area. This is probably one of the largest coin hoards ever discovered in Shropshire. The finder, Mr Nic. Davies, bought his first metal detector a month ago and this is his first find made with it. The hoard was discovered close to a public bridleway on land that Mr Davies did not have permission to detect on. All land is owned by someone and it is important that permission to search is obtained in advance. The...

An impressive Viking hoard of jewellery has made a father and son metal-detector team £1m, after being bought by two British museums. The find, which is the 'largest and most important' since 1840, was found in a field in Harrogate, North Yorkshire in January 2007. It had been buried there for more than 1,000 years. Valued at £1,082,000, the hoard was purchased by the British Museum and the York Museum Trust after two years of fundraising. The highlight of the collection is an intricately carved silver cup, estimated to be worth more than £200,000. It contains 617coins and various silver...

After seven years of combing fields and beaches with a metal detector, the only thing housewife Mary Hannaby had to show for her hobby was an old dental plate. But all those efforts paid off when her first proper find turned out to be a 15th-century gold treasure valued at £250,000 or more. The find is thought to be part of a high-quality reliquary or pendant, and depicts the Holy Trinity. Mrs Hannaby, 57, from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, heard her metal detector's tell-tale beep while out on one of her regular six-hour Sunday detecting walks with her son, woodcarver Michael,...

After seven years spent prospecting for gold as a hobby in the California desert, Terry Hughes of Moorpark hit the mother lode. On Memorial Day, the former Marine and disabled Vietnam veteran scored a “one-in-a-million” find: an 8.7-ounce gold nugget worth an estimated $10,000. “We’re all hoping to find the big one and Terry did,” said Patrick Keene, co-owner of Keene Engineering, reportedly one of the world’s largest suppliers of portable mining equipment. A nugget that big — about the size of an egg — is “extremely rare,” Keene said. Hughes purchased all his mining equipment from the Chatsworth company,...

A County Tyrone family could be in line for a reward after finding a rare Bronze Age gold bracelet on their land. Farmer Gary Sproule accidentally unearthed the precious artefact while ploughing over a field at Castlegore near Castlederg last April. The intricate item is believed to date from almost 1,000 years before the birth of Christ. An inquest was held yesterday in Belfast at which the item, which would have belonged to an important warrior or priest, was officially classified as treasure. Under the law, a ‘treasure trove’ inquest must be held by the coroner to determine the significance...

The largest hoard of prehistoric gold coins in Britain in modern times has been discovered by a metal detectorist in Suffolk, it emerged today. The collection of 824 gold staters was found in a broken pottery jar buried in a field near Wickham Market. Jude Plouviez, of the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service, said the coins dated from 40BC to AD15 and were thought to have been minted by predecessors of Boudicca - the Iceni Queen who spearheaded a revolt against occupying Roman forces. Their value when in circulation had been estimated at a modern equivalent of between £500,000 and...

An important discovery of more than 100 Roman coins has left archaeologists wondering whether Petworth has more to do with the Romans than first thought. The 103 coins, which equate to a third of a year's wages for a Roman soldier, were found on farmland in the area on November 24. Experts have previously believed Petworth to have been little affected by the Romans, but the discovery of the silver coins could mean there were wealthy people living there. The coins date from the third and second century BC to the Hadrian period of 132 to 148AD. Sussex Archaeological Society...

A hobbyist with a metal detector struck both gold and silver when he uncovered an important cache of ancient Celtic coins in a cornfield in the southern Dutch city of Maastricht. "It's exciting, like a little boy's dream," Paul Curfs, 47, said Thursday after the spectacular find was made public. Archaeologists say the trove of 39 gold and 70 silver coins was minted in the middle of the first century B.C. as the future Roman ruler Julius Caesar led a campaign against Celtic tribes in the area. Curfs said he was walking with his detector this spring and was about...

Three 700-year-old coins which were found in a field have been declared treasure by a coroner at Flint. The silver pennies date back to between 1307 and 1314, to the reigns of both Edward I and his son Edward II. Archaeology enthusiast Peter Jones, from Holywell, found a coin in 2006, then returned to the same spot a year later, when the other two were found. The coins were analysed by experts at Cardiff's National Museum of Wales who discovered they were 90% silver. Mr Jones regularly scours a field owned by his friend Ron Davies, for pre-historic items. He...