The Detectorist's Guide to Planet Earth

Let's get down to the facts: each entry in this astonishing list begins with a number of bullet points, detailing the name of the treasure trove, the rough date it was supposedly last accounted for, its last recorded location, its contents and an estimation of value. So we find that on 20 November 1511 the Portuguese ship the 'Flor de la Mar' disappeared in the Straits of Malacca. On board? Well amongst other trinkets, about 55 thousand kilos of gold bullion. Estimated worth of the whole cargo today? Over £2 billion. Does the treasure lie in the murky waters of the Straits - or was it stolen by Afonso de Albuquerque, the man who added Malacca to the Portuguese Empire? The Kruger Bullion is a treasure that was allegedly hidden at the request of the South African President Paul Kruger (1883-1902) to ensure it didn’t fall into British hands during the Second Boer War (1899-1902). In 1947, Mr H. Lessing found a portion of the treasure near the Eswatini border, equidistant from Pretoria and Maputo, Mozambique, after following a map within a Bible given him by his father. The hoard was described as 'broken ammunition boxes filled with Kruger sovereigns, other coins and rotting Kruger bank notes'. But that doesn't account for much of the £250 million that went missing.

It's not just gold of course. There are Faberge eggs out there, and Michelangelo's marble mask of the head of a faun...