We all have dreams of finding buried treasure, whether it's stumbling upon a treasure map in the leaves of an old book, or tracking down a hoard of gold coins with your metal detector. The romantic image of that once in a lifetime find keeps us going through our daily grind.

In fact the latest hoard of gold and silver coins was discovered in England only last month. The total worth is said to be over one million pounds sterling. Just to rub salt into the wound, the detectorist is said to have bought the second hand metal detector he used, at a car boot sale for a few pounds.

Meanwhile, the rest of us just have to admit to the reality of the situation. We will never find a gold hoard or win the lottery. We will just go on building up our collection of old iron nails, and aluminium can tags. If you detect in Scotland, your chances are even more reduced, as hens have more teeth than Scotland has hidden gold hoards.

In that case, we just have to find a way to increase our chances of finding those silver hammered coins, and the odd gold hammered. Purchasing a metal detector, which is capable of discriminating against iron, is your first priority.

There are many different metal detectors out there, and just as many opinions about them. Read a report on a detector by one person, and I can guarantee you will find three other reports deriding that detector.

The best thing you can do is find a local club and get advice on the detector you fancy buying. A detecting club will also advise you on the other equipment you need to buy, and are willing to give you advice on any finds you make. Most clubs also organise outings to fields, which will get you into the swing of things.

Back to that buried treasure though. If you are getting into metal detecting to find buried treasure, then forget it. Spend the money instead on a bundle of lottery tickets; you may have a higher chance of getting something of value then. You get into the hobby of metal detecting because of the fascination of researching history, and finding every day items that people in the past dropped.

The items you find won't be worth much, but that isn't the point. You will realise this the first time you find a 17th century buckle, and it occurs to you that the last time anyone saw that buckle was 400 years ago.

If you find buried treasure, then that's great, and I'm happy for you, but the majority of detectorists are in it for the joy and fascination that finding connection with past lives give you. Don't think that this means that if I find a gold hoard at the next club outing I'll be re-burying it. I will have it dug up so fast; my little arms will be a blur.

Learn more about this author, Mo Bruce.
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