Treasure Wiki

David Cowley asked:


Not every buried treasure has been discovered.  There still is a remarkable quantity of quality treasures still in Mother Earth, including the semi-precious stones to be found at Gem Mountain in North Carolina.  One of the biggest draws to Gem Mountain is aquamarine treasure hunting.  You find it – you keep it.  It’s as fun and as simple as that.

Aquamarine Cut

Aquamarine is a transparent gemstone variety of beryl.  It is closely related to the emerald and the most common color is a delicate blue or turquoise that will remind you of the sea.  Other colors can vary from yellow to rosey pink.  The more intense the color the more valuable it is and can fetch from $120 to $500 a carat.

Rock hounding

One of the more popular of hobbies for Americans and Europeans is called rock hounding, or treasure hunting.  You can hunt for any kind of treasure from gold coins, artifacts or semi-precious stones.  Although metal detectors are used in other aspects of treasure hunting, they won’t be of much help with aquamarine treasure hunting.  You need small pneumatic drills, picks, shovels and brushes … and a good pair of eyes.

Not only does aquamarine treasure hunting combine the thrill of the hunt with a practical skill, you get to meet lots of other people and often get to go traveling in beautiful outdoor locations.  Gem Mountain, for example, is located in the outdoors of beautiful Mitchell County, North Carolina.  Admission is free and all tools are provided.

Rough Aquamarine

Myth And March

If you were born in March, then you will have a special reason to go aquamarine treasure hunting, because it is your birthstone.  It is also the stone to give as presents on your 16 Th and 19 Th wedding anniversaries.  Legend has it that wearing or keeping an aquamarine on your person not only kept you safe at sea, but kept you from seasickness.

Over the years, aquamarines are said to give whoever wears them courage, happiness and the ability to see into the future.  It is also supposed to make your smarter and to make you more appear more youthful.  During the Middle Ages, it was thought to be an effective antidote against poisons, which is not currently recommended.  However, the pale blues are often very calming and have been used to help anxiety.

According to ancient Indian and Tibetan healing systems, the body has seven centers of energy called charkas.  The throat charka is said to be a blue color, and so blue or blue-sh stones like aquamarine are said to help the wearer not only with throat problems, but in help being able to communicate what they really feel.

Bushy Creak Mine

Whatever your reason for aquamarine treasure hunting, you are sure to have a fun time at North Carolina’s Gem Mountain.  Tools needed to hunt in the mine query are provided by the mine operators if available.  Should you want to bring your own tools be sure to include a shovel, shifting screen, safety goggles, gloves pick, rock hammer and something to carry your treasures in.  They will also inspect all of your gem stones you unearth at no extra charge.  Gem cutters are on hand to cut and polish your gemstones.  If you are unable to get to North Carolina then you can mining buckets ranging from $15 to $120.  

Happy Treasure Hunting.

David Cowley asked:


Fossil Fish

If there is anything that truly unites us to the past, it must be fossils.  They are a record of how life not only existed thousands and millions of years ago but there is a record of how that life was shaped and formed over those years.  Anyone interested in treasure hunting may have a particular interest in any type of antique or special find, but for some, there is no substituting the hunt for elusive fossil fish.  While you may assume that you need to travel to some far-off and exotic land and become a full-fledged Indiana Jones to find this type of treasure, in reality many have been able to come across these ancient fossils in whatever local area they live, including parts of the central United States, as well as in Germany, China, Italy, and other such areas.

To find fossil fish you of course need to get off the beaten path a bit.  Areas that are developed and suburbanized are probably not going to have many fossils readily found as the construction needed for a city or suburb is going to disturb the ground well below for the foundations of buildings.  Most of these ancient fossils are found in areas that are not quite civilized such as in deep caves and caverns or even the dessert.

Fossil Fish

For instance, the state of Wyoming has yielding some amazing finds recently when it comes to fossil fish.  Stingrays and mioplosus are common finds.  The Green River Formation in southwestern Wyoming seems to contain a treasure trove of these ancient fossils from many different geological times.  The city of Kemmerer welcomes fossil treasure hunters from around the world as they too search for their finds.  There are some three million acres of public lands at which you may do some digging, and of course when you get tired of treasure hunting there is a wealth of other activities available to you as well.  At Fossil Butte National Monument you can do some exploring on your own, or if you’re new to the hobby you can take a tour with a local ranger or guide.  Even children can get in on the action as they find and clean their own fossils and other treasures.

Some of the tools you will need are safety glasses, hammer, chisel and a crow bar.  The quarry area is littered with flat slabs or plates of sedentary rock that was formed on and ancient lake bed.  When the fish or plant life died they fell to the lake floor and were subsequently buried with mud and silt.  Pick up the slabs of rock and split them endwise to release the fossil treasures.

Some of the rarer fossil finds have commanded up to a quarter of a million dollars.  The fossil’s value is determined by its rarity of the specimen, the size, and the quality of the bone definition.  Wyoming is considered the fish fossil capital of the world.

Of course there really is no area of the world where you absolutely cannot find fossils.  Many have literally stumbled across very valuable finds when just out fishing or hiking or rock climbing.  While searching for fossil fish may be a bit difficult for those who are new to the activity, with the right guide and research manual you may find that this is a hobby that is well worth the pursuit.

Happy Treasure Hunting.

David Cowley asked:


Sapphires have captivated people for thousands of years.  They seem so encapsulate wisdom somehow, or perhaps our own potential.  Somewhere in a pile of dirty gravel, there is a shining gem just waiting to be uncovered.  Sapphires come in a wide variety of colors, including blue, pink, orange, brown, clear, yellow and purple.  Why no red sapphires?  Well, they are called rubies.  There are many reasons to go sapphire treasure hunting.



Rubies are today still more valuable and rare than even the top quality colorless diamonds. One 16 carat ruby recently sold for $227,301 per carat in 1988.  A Ruby of five carats or more are particularly rare.  Ruby is composed of the mineral corundum, one of the most hardest minerals which exists.  It has a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale and is also extremely tough. It is even used as an abrasive.

Blue is considered the normal color of sapphires but they are also found in the full range of the color spectrum.  Trace amount of impurities like iron, titanium and chromium can give sapphires their blue, yellow, pink, brown, purple, orange, green and even black coloration.  Vary rarely some sapphires are found completely transparent (white).  Heating sapphires to 1800 Celsius for several hours can improve or enhance the natural color.  In the case of hazy or cloudy stone, heat treating will clean it up.  $20 per carat for cutting and polishing in addition to the $5 per carat for heat treating marginal stones is well worth the added expense.

Clear, cut and polished sapphires less than one carat with good color can be sold for $100 to $1,000 per carat.  One to four carat gemstones can go for as much as $2,000 to $5,000 per carat.

Logan Sapphire

The Logan Sapphire from Sri Lanka is one of the largest faceted gem-quality blue sapphires in the world and it weighs 422.99 carats.  It is currently on display at the Natural Museum of Natural History.

Star Sapphires

A sapphire that exhibits a star like light pattern when viewed with a single overhead light source is call a Star Sapphire.  These gemstones contain intersecting needle like inclusion that cause the appearance of the six rays, star shaped pattern.  The value of a star sapphire in dependent on the intensity of the star pattern in addition to the standard 4Cs grading system.

September Stories

If you were born in September, then you have a special reason to go sapphire treasure hunting.  That’s because any sapphire variety is your birthstone.  It’s also traditionally considered the birthstone for those born under the sun signs of Taurus, Pisces, Virgo and Sagittarius.  It is also the traditional gift for your 5 th and 45 th wedding anniversary.  If somehow you make it to your 65 th wedding anniversary, then the traditional gift is the rare and pleasantly peculiar star sapphire.

Perhaps you would want to go sapphire treasure hunting to attain the magical and healing powers that have been attributed to these special stones.  Sapphires are said to help a person’s latent abilities for astral projection, telepathy and clairvoyance.  Not only are they reputed to do that, but are also said to be helpful in curing colic, helping rheumatism, reducing fever (blue stones only) and easing various mental illnesses (no color preferences for that one).

Rock hounding

If you have ever wanted to uncover buried treasure, you are not alone.  There is a huge growing hobby called rock hounding or treasure hunting.  Some rock hounders will search for anything they can find, while some prefer to find particular things.  Many rock hounders use metal detectors, but they will not help you for sapphire treasure hunting.  You need screens, tweezers, picks and perhaps a magnifying glass. 

Spokane Bar Sapphire Mine

If you go to Spokane Bar Sapphire Mine in beautiful Spokane, Washington, then your chances for a successful sapphire treasure hunt are high.  This mine is extremely rich in sapphires.  If you can’t make it to Spokane, you can order a bucket of mine gravel from their website and can go sapphire treasure hunting in the comfort of your own home.  They guarantee a sapphire in each bucket.

All colors of sapphires have been found at Spokane Bar Sapphire Mine, including the rare rubies.  The most common color found is a blue-green.  Other semi-precious stones have been found occasionally, including topaz, citrine (yellow quartz), garnets and diamonds. 

For those of you who can’t make it to Washington, the sapphire mine transports sapphire gravel via UPS across the world.  We will dig, package and ship your own bucket of sapphire gravel to ‘mine’ from the comfort of your own living room.

Happy treasure hunting.

Steve Gillman asked:


It is true that treasure hunters know a few things the rest of us don’t usually know. They are familiar with common hiding places where people put their valuables and money, for example. They know the usual locations for buried treasure. More generally, they know that we humans like to hide things far more often than most suspect, and that many of us die without ever revealing to a soul what we have hidden or where.

Still, there is more to being a treasure hunter than having a bit of special knowledge. So if you want to start your own hunt for hidden and buried treasure, don’t think that reading a few books on the subject will be enough. You also have to develop the right mind set. Patience is a requirement, for example, or you’ll never dig up those fifty almost-worthless pennies just to finally find one old and valuable one.

You also have to think a certain way. You’ll need the ability to mentally put yourself in the past and also in the head of the person who hides something, in order to guess where it is buried or otherwise hidden. It will also help to habitually think about how to apply and expand what you learn from one treasure hunt to the next ones.

Secrets Of Treasure Hunters

To help along those lines, here are some of the ways to find treasure, the “tricks of the trade.” These examples each suggest something useful to apply in other areas. They are essentially short lessons from and for treasure hunters.

Hidden In Rivers

When we were children, my friends and I occasionally saw bicycles in rivers. We never really knew why they were there, but I later learned it was because rivers are easy places to hide things, very useful knowledge for thieves. They were likely stolen and dumped there. Criminals throw things off of bridges routinely, because it is a fast way to get rid of incriminating evidence.

I have read about one treasure hunter who makes a living from this criminal habit. With magnets and other tools he retrieves guns, money, and other things of value from the bottom of murky rivers. Using a tube with a window at the bottom (his own design) and a waterproof flashlight strapped to the outside, he pushes it down into the water to see clearly what is at the bottom. Someday you might see a person with a strange reverse periscope floating in his rowboat, and it may be this man.

To develop a treasure hunting mentality, you should be thinking about where you can try this and what else you can learn from the story. Perhaps a good waterproof metal detector could be used to locate valuables in rivers (most are waterproof up to a certain point anyhow). You should expand on the idea and ask yourself what other things get dropped in water and where – whether or not on purpose. Lake bottoms near docks might be a good place to search, for example.

Coffee Can Treasures

It has been and probably still is common to bury things in coffee cans out in the yard or behind the barn or wherever. You probably have heard of this, but have you ever thought about how to use that knowledge to find such stashes? Here’s one way: If you’re looking around an old house or homestead look for empty coffee cans in sheds or barns. They were possibly being saved to bury things in. Consider too that although paper money can’t be detected with a metal detector, the cans can be.

Then, as you look around the target area, consider where you would bury a can full of cash. Note where you could dig without being noticed, or where the ground is easier to dig up? What locations could be more easily remembered? Consider these things as if you are the one burying the valuables, and you’ll start to develop an intuition about where to search.

There are many more secrets to learn, but also develop the patience to keep searching. Mel Fischer searched sixteen years to find the “Atocha Mother Lode,” valued at $450 million dollars, so you can try for sixteen more minutes before setting down that metal detector. Learn your lessons from each search and think about how to apply and expand on what you learned. That’s how you develop the mind set of a treasure hunter.