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Treasure hunting has always been a thrilling pursuit for those eager to uncover history obscured from view. From passionate metal detectorists to dedicated explorers studying ancient maps and letters, treasure hunting has drawn people from all walks of life in search of lost relics. While the primary goal for many hunters is the wealth they might find, there are others (including some featured here) who are driven purely by archaeological curiosity, with the joy of discovering something forgotten in time being reward enough. Here are 10 individuals who found their treasure—and in a big way!
10. Philip Masters
Philip Masters passed away in the Bronx in 2007 at the age of 70, but the legacy he left was one of relentless perseverance. His efforts played a crucial role in locating the sunken vessel of history’s most infamous pirate.
By day, Masters seemed like an ordinary man with a diverse career. His job titles included cabdriver, jewelry salesman, and stockbroker. However, he applied his versatile skills and his knack for learning to his nighttime and weekend passion—tracking down the wreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, Captain Blackbeard’s notorious ship. Originally a French slave ship, it was seized by Blackbeard (Edward Teach) in 1717.
Locating a long-lost pirate ship was no small feat, but Philip was undeterred. He scoured 57 archival libraries for records and learned Spanish so that he could read primary sources without depending on translations. In 1987, he found a key lead in the rare book room at the New York Public Library—a book detailing a pirate’s journey and a report on a lost pirate ship from 1718, the same year Blackbeard’s ship went down.
Philip assembled a team of archaeologists, traveled to the site described in the book, and began searching for the wreck. In November 1996, they uncovered a shipwreck they believed to be the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Although there were no blueprints to compare with the wreckage, they found 12 cannons, anchors, a bell, and 25 other artifacts. Given the lack of other well-armed ships in the area, this was sufficient evidence to confirm that it had to be Blackbeard’s ship.
9. Dave Crisp
Dave Crisp had been using a metal detector in fields since 1988. After finding a few Roman coins in a field in Frome, England, he became convinced that there were more treasures hidden in the area. He returned to the same spot to continue his search, hoping to uncover a few more. What he found, however, far exceeded his expectations—52,503 coins, to be exact.
The coins were discovered in a single pot and dated from around AD 286–293, during the reign of Roman Emperor Carausius, who was the first to mint coins in Britain. A spokesperson from the British Museum suggested that the hoard was likely a religious offering.
In the UK, treasure discoveries are governed by strict laws: once a find is recognized as treasure, the discoverer has two weeks to report it to the British Museum. The museum then assesses whether it legally qualifies as treasure. If so, a market value is set, and museums may choose to pay that price to acquire the find for their collections.
After an archaeological team recovered the pot, the British Museum carefully counted and dated each coin, declaring it officially as treasure. The find was identified as the largest collection of Carausius coins ever uncovered and was named “The Frome Hoard.” It was valued at £320,250, a sum paid by The Museum of Somerset. The money was split between Dave and the landowner where the hoard was found.
Despite his monumental discovery, Dave’s passion for metal detecting didn’t come to an end with the treasure hunt.
The thrill of finding something remains just as exhilarating as ever. Even the most ordinary discoveries instantly take you back to the moment it was lost. Who was the person who dropped it, what did that loss mean to them, and what story lies behind it? It's always captivating.
8. Mel Fisher
After reading Treasure Island as a child, Mel Fisher made it his life’s goal to make a monumental discovery of his own. This aspiration led him to establish a diving business in the early 1950s, teaching people how to dive and broadcasting his underwater adventures on emerging TV networks. He would join various treasure hunts along the California coast, though his actual finds were few and far between.
A breakthrough came when Mel met Kip Wagner in the 1960s. Kip had been searching for the wrecks of the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet after discovering silver coins washed ashore on Florida’s east coast. The catch was that Kip lacked the crew, resources, and time to conduct a thorough search. Mel proposed joining forces, bringing his crew and agreeing to split any profits 50-50, an offer Kip accepted. Their partnership led to the recovery of over 1,000 coins from the sea.
But Mel’s ambitions didn’t stop there. In 1969, he shifted his focus to a new lead from Potter’s Treasure Diver’s Guide: the legendary Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha, a royal guard ship that sank off the Florida Keys while carrying 40 tons of gold and silver. The search would be grueling, but Mel was determined to find the Atocha.
Over the course of 16 years, Mel followed a treasure trail that eventually led him to its origin. In 1973, he uncovered a silver bar with the Atocha’s manifest numbers inscribed on it. In 1975, five bronze cannons were found. On Memorial Day 1985, he discovered 13 gold bars and gold jewelry. Finally, on July 20, 1985, Mel and his team uncovered the main hoard—1,041 silver bars and boxes filled with 3,000 gold coins each. The total value of the treasure was estimated at $400 million.
However, the pursuit of treasure wasn’t without its challenges. Along the way, Mel lost money, crew members, and faced mounting legal battles against the US Supreme Court, which claimed ownership of the wreck and its treasure. In response, Mel founded the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society to safeguard the artifacts, which found their home in The Key West Museum.
7. E. Lee Spence
Dr. E. Lee Spence, who had dreamed of treasure hunting since childhood, saw his career take off when, at just 12 years old, he discovered his first shipwreck. He eventually became one of the first individuals to earn a doctorate in marine archaeology and is considered a pioneer in the field. Throughout his career, Spence’s discoveries went beyond gold and gems—his impressive portfolio includes numerous historical shipwrecks, such as the Confederate cruiser Georgiana and various pirate vessels.
Among his most significant discoveries (by his own account) was the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, the first combat submarine in history to sink an enemy ship during battle. Dr. William Dudley, director of naval history at the Naval Historical Center, described the discovery of the Hunley as possibly the most important underwater archaeological find of the 20th century. Though the Hunley was valued at $12 million, Spence generously donated the rights to the discovery so the submarine could be raised and put on display for public viewing.
6. Reg Mead and Richard Miles
In the early 1980s, Reg Mead and Richard Miles’ treasure-hunting journey began after they heard a story from a farmer’s daughter. She told them that her father had stumbled upon silver coins while working his fields in Jersey. Eager to explore this potential source of wealth, Reg and Richard decided to investigate the area where the coins had been discovered.
However, there was a catch: The field where the coins were found was still an active farm. Reg and Richard were granted permission to investigate, but with strict conditions—they could only search the specific area where the daughter believed the coins had been uncovered, and they were allowed to dig for no more than 10–15 hours per year during the harvest. These limitations meant their progress was slow but steady.
In 2012, Reg and Richard’s persistence finally bore fruit. They uncovered 50,000 Celtic and Roman coins, with an estimated value of £10 million. However, just after the discovery, the UK government claimed ownership under the Treasure Trove law, but Jersey argued that the law no longer applied in the region. The issue arose because, without the UK’s treasure laws, Jersey was left without a legal framework for treasure claims, prompting the need for the island to create its own process to validate Reg and Richard’s find. As of September 2015, the hoard was still being analyzed and catalogued.
Once the legal matters were resolved and the coins fully documented, the landowner agreed to share the proceeds with Reg and Richard.
5. Miriam and Theo Siebenberg
Some seek out treasure, while others simply find themselves living atop it.
In 1970, Miriam and Theo Siebenberg moved into their new home in Jerusalem’s Old City. At the time, an archaeological dig was underway in the area, searching for buried artifacts. Curious about the possibility of relics under their recently purchased house, Theo inquired with the archaeologists. They reassured him that there was likely nothing to be found beneath their home.
Theo disagreed with the archaeologists' assessment, convinced that something must have been constructed where his house now stood. To satisfy his curiosity, the couple hired a team to dig beneath their home. After eight months of excavation, the team stumbled upon a bronze key ring, the first indication that something more might lie buried. A little more digging revealed a treasure trove—an ancient wall from a 2,000-year-old home, baths, arrowheads, and burial chambers dating back at least 2,600 years.
While the discoveries were undoubtedly valuable, Theo’s primary motivation for digging was to uncover his own heritage. Rather than selling the treasures, the couple transformed the bottom of their home into a museum, allowing others to view the dig site and artifacts discovered under their house.
4. David Whelan
David Whelan’s remarkable find began as a simple outing with his son on a farm field near Harrogate, England, in 2007. While searching for small items, their metal detector picked up an intriguing signal. Eager to investigate, they dug a little deeper and uncovered what appeared to be an ordinary bowl, just over a foot into the soil. According to British law, David promptly handed the bowl over to the authorities for evaluation as a potential treasure.
While the bowl itself was significant, it wasn’t the true reason why David and his son’s discovery sent shockwaves through the archaeological world. Upon further inspection, it was revealed that the bowl had been repurposed as a makeshift storage chest, containing a hoard of 600 Viking artifacts. The sheer size of the trove made it the most significant Viking discovery to date, and the objects within came from regions as far-flung as Russia and France, highlighting the vast reach of Viking expansion. It’s believed that the treasure was buried by a wealthy Viking leader for safekeeping. Valued at around £1 million, the hoard was jointly purchased by the York Museum Trust and the British Museum.
3. Paul Coleman
A dedicated member of the Weekend Wanderers Detecting Club in Buckinghamshire, England, Paul Coleman made a discovery that would go down as the club’s largest find to date.
The adventure began during the club’s end-of-year rally, held on December 21, 2014, in a field near Aylesbury. As Paul swept the ground with his metal detector, it signaled a major find buried beneath the surface. After some digging, they uncovered a layer of coins contained in a lead sheet acting as a bucket, buried approximately 0.6 meters (2 ft) deep. The moment Paul uncovered it, he realized the significance of the discovery.
As the bucket was being excavated, Pete Welch, the club’s owner for 23 years, inspected the coins and remarked on their exceptional condition. "They’re like mirrors, no scratches, and they were buried carefully in a lead container deep down," he said. "It seems like only two individuals have touched these coins—the one who minted them and the one who buried them."
The coins were sent to the British Museum, where it was revealed that the hoard consisted of around 5,000 coins. These coins, thought to have been buried for safekeeping, featured the faces of either Aethelred II (978–1016) or Cnut (1016–35). This places the burial around the time when Cnut’s reign was ending, circa 1035. The hoard was valued at approximately £1.3 million and is still undergoing analysis and cataloging at the British Museum. Various museums have already expressed interest, offering funds to acquire parts of the collection for their own exhibits.
2. Terry Herbert
Born in 1954, Terry Herbert embarked on his treasure hunting journey 14 years before making his legendary discovery. Armed only with a £2.50 metal detector and a hopeful spirit, he would often chant, "spirits of yesteryear, take me where the coins appear," each time he ventured into the fields.
Whether it was the spirits he called upon or just pure luck, Terry began to make remarkable finds in a Hammerwich field owned by a farmer named Fred Johnson. Over the course of five days, he unearthed more and more artifacts, though unsure of their significance, he decided to report his discoveries to a finds liaison officer.
The artifacts Terry uncovered were recognized as being of significant historical value. With permission from Fred, Birmingham Archaeology began a more thorough excavation, leading to the discovery of a hoard of 1,662 objects—the largest Anglo-Saxon treasure trove ever found. The hoard was valued at £3.28 million and was eventually sold to the Birmingham Museum and Potteries Museum.
While Terry and Fred initially agreed to share the payout equally, their partnership soured. Accusations of greed and dishonesty from both sides led to tensions, and Fred eventually had to ban Terry from stepping foot on his land again.
1. Tommy Thompson
Unlike the typical image of a noble treasure hunter, Tommy Thompson made headlines when he uncovered the wreck of the SS Central America. This steamship, launched in 1852, was tasked with transporting gold bars between New York and San Francisco during the California Gold Rush. In 1857, a hurricane sank the ship, taking its valuable cargo down with it—a treasure trove that attracted treasure hunters for years to come.
Inspired by the potential wealth, 161 investors contributed a total of $12.7 million to fund Tommy’s excavation. After successfully retrieving the gold bars, Tommy’s haul was appraised at $50 million. The investors expected to be repaid as promised. However, Tommy sold the gold and disappeared from public view.
Following years of legal disputes and an extensive manhunt, Tommy was eventually caught in a Florida mansion. He had 12 disposable cell phones, a secret bank account holding $1 million, and a book on how to evade the law, which he apparently had been following for quite some time.
