We just read a terrific article, “50 Metal Detecting Tips that Find Gold,” on the Discover Detecting blog. It’s jam-packed with great advice on how to use a metal detector to find much more gold on every outing you make.

Whether you’re new to metal detecting or an experienced user, you will want to read this article, which contains advice from experts who really know the ins and outs of using detectors. Here are some of the tips and insights from the post – some of them unusual – that can dramatically improve your experience as a user of a detector.

Where should you turn for advice if you have gold or gold scrap you would like to sell?

Here are some options, with our expert advice on how and when to use them.

Small Pocket-Size Gold Testing Kits

These small, pocketable kits are widely available. They have a small abrasive stone and several small squeeze bottles that contain testing fluid. You rub the piece of gold or scrap you want to test on the stone, squeeze some testing fluid onto it, and get a quick reading on whether the item you are testing contains gold, and in what karat (purity) rating.

Most people own at least one piece of jewelry that has broken. Do you?

I happen to own a watch that is damaged. One of the watch’s four lugs (the little bars where the watch band attaches) has broken off. I contacted the company that made the watch and a customer service representative told me that I could send it in and pay a $75.00 service fee to find out how much it would cost to have the lug soldered back on. But since the watch is not worth much more than $100.00, I just put it away, and there it sits.

What valuable metals can be found in scrapped cars?

If you ask the man in the street that question, chances are he will tell you, “There’s gold in the electronic components and platinum in the catalytic converters.”

And your man in the street friend is telling you the truth because those are two places where gold scrap and platinum scrap can be found and extracted for recycling. But what your friend is not remembering is that other metals and materials can be profitably recycled from cars.

Silver is currently trading for over $20 per Troy Ounce on the London Fix. That seems like a ridiculously low trading price when you consider the trading prices of Rhodium, palladium, gold, and platinum.

It is tempting to say, “What, 20 bucks an ounce? Why even consider investing in silver?”

But don’t cross silver off your list of potential precious metal investments. The fact is, there really is a simple strategy for making a good return trading in silver:

You can find gold, silver and platinum objects in estate sales, in garage and yard sales, in old buildings, in your yard or on the beach – in lots of places. But there are other discoveries you can make when you are hunting for precious metals and precious metal scrap – discoveries that can dramatically increase the amount of money you can make from the objects you find.

Did you watch the show Meteorite Men on the Science Channel? It was on the air from 2010-2012 and it was fun and educational. It followed the adventures of Steve Arnold and Geoffrey Notkin, two adventurers, as they went hunting for meteorites in Canada, Chile, Poland, Sweden, as well as in Utah and other U.S. States.

Metal detector enthusiasts in the British Empire have been making remarkable discoveries lately. In Kent, England, a pair of treasure hunters found a horde of gold coins dating from the 14th century that are worth about $20,000. And just last week in Suffolk, England a butcher with a metal detector discovered about 750 Roman-age coins buried in a field. Their value? Priceless.

Whether you have bought beef, gasoline, milk, or home appliances lately, you already know that prices are going up. Inflation is very much in the news. But what effect will it have on the trading prices of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and other precious metals?

The law of supply and demand is always exerting a force on the price of gold and other metals. To boil it down to its simplest truth . . .

When the demand for gold remains strong but the supply is limited, the price goes up

It has been a while since we have written a post about finding hidden treasure. But today, we would like to explore the topic again.

Why? Because news stories about finding buried treasure never seem to go away. Earlier this month, a treasure was found near Santa Fe that was buried decades ago by an eccentric man named Forrest Fenn. People have been searching for this hidden box of gold for decades. And the search was clearly worth the effort. The man who found it reported that the box contained gold and jewels valued at more than $1 million.

When a community pool reopened in a suburban town a few weeks ago, a pool service was called in to service the filtration system. Usually, servicing the pool is pretty routine. But this year, the technicians found more jewelry in the system than usual – jewelry that swimmers had lost last year. There were two platinum engagement rings, a bunch of earrings, and pieces of costume jewelry. And when the technicians removed a perforated drain cover from the floor of the pool, they found still more jewelry.

Over the years, people have created a story – dare we say a myth – that it is possible to reclaim gold from plants and animals.

That legend usually goes something like this . . .

“The plants and animals that live around natural sources of gold like gold-containing streams and old gold mines absorb quantities of gold. If you harvest sufficient quantities of material from them, they contain gold that can be profitably recycled.”

You have items lying around your house that contains valuable precious metals. Other people in your community have them too.

So, here’s a simple idea for a way to help your favorite cause – whether it’s a school, a religious institution, a hospital, or your favorite charity . . .

If you are replacing the central air conditioning in an older home, apartment building or factory, here’s something important to keep in mind . . .

Don’t toss parts of your old system that contain gold, silver, or valuable non-precious metals like copper and aluminum

Did you just see a ring or an earring disappear down the drain in a sink, a bathtub or a shower? You know where the lost item is hiding, and now you need to retrieve it.

And sometimes, you are not the person who lost the items. Maybe they were dropped there by a previous occupant of an apartment or a house. The bottom line is that the older a sink or a shower is, the greater the likelihood that some piece of gold, silver or platinum jewelry will be down there awaiting your discovery.

So, how are you going to retrieve those items?

Your son or daughter will graduate high school or college in a few weeks. And you’re thinking, “Wouldn’t it be nice if I gave that grad an old item of family jewelry that’s been sitting around for years?”

It could be grandpa’s old gold pocket watch, or a wedding ring that once was worn by your mother. Well, aren’t you being generous? Yes, you are. But before you make that generous gift, here’s a piece of advice:

Did you know that Queen Victoria, who ruled Great Britain from 1837 until her death in 1901, was buried with a lot of her favorite pieces of jewelry?

She personally selected the items of jewelry that she wanted to be buried with her. They included pieces of jewelry that had been given to her by her late husband Prince Albert, as well as a number of bracelets and other items that held personal value for her.

How much were these items worth? We don’t know. But we do know one thing about them . . .

Frankly, we do not completely understand why the Metropolitan Museum in New York, one of the greatest art museums in the world, has chosen to host its annual Met Gala. The coverage of the event is extensive, with news crews outside the museum shooting video of some of today’s biggest celebrities as they arrive and walk up the staircase into the event. But why is this happening at an art museum? It doesn’t have anything to do with art really, so it must have something to do with money. And sure enough, the event raises money for the Museum’s Costume Institute.

As spring arrives across North America, more and more of us can head into the great outdoors to prospect for gold. Here is some new equipment that can help precious gold prospectors find more gold in the summer months ahead.