Gear for treasure hunters & collectors

You need less to start than the outdoor aisle suggests. This page lists only what genuinely helps outside — the same things our guides mention in passing. The links lead to amazon.de and are affiliate links, marked as ads: buying through them earns orecast a small commission and your price stays exactly the same. Prices and availability are shown on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, orecast earns from qualifying purchases.

Gold panning Ad

A pan, not an excavator: at the creek patience beats gear.

Concrete pick🥇Gold panning kitPan, classifier and vials — that is all a first afternoon at the creek needs.View on Amazon →💧Sluice boxWhen the pan is no longer enough: works many times the sediment per hour.View on Amazon →⛏️Folding shovelCreek bank, detector hole, feeding the sluice — folded it fits any backpack.View on Amazon →🧪Snuffer bottle & vialsGets the flakes safely off the pan rim and into the vial instead of back into the creek.View on Amazon →

Fossils & minerals Ad

Hammer, chisel, goggles — the basic kit of every splitting site.

Concrete pick🔨Rock hammerThe classic for spoil heaps and splitting sites — flat face and pick in one tool.View on Amazon →⚒️Stone chisel setFlat chisels split shale cleanly along the bedding — which is where the fossils sit.View on Amazon →🥽Safety gogglesRock chips fly further than you think. A must at any splitting site — for kids too.View on Amazon →🔍10× loupeReveals crystal faces and fossil detail the bare eye misses — helps the app's photo ID too.View on Amazon →

Amber & UV Ad

On the Baltic coast light decides: 365-nanometre UV makes amber visible.

🔦UV torch (365 nm)Amber glows under UV and many minerals fluoresce — the one trick that really works on a night beach.View on Amazon →🌊Amber netAfter autumn storms the net lifts the seaweed — amber included — out of the surf.View on Amazon →

Metal detecting Ad

Permit first — then the right machine.

Detecting needs a permit almost everywhere in Germany. How to get one: our legal guide.

📡Metal detector (entry level)For released areas with a permit — our legal guide explains how to get one.View on Amazon →📍PinpointerLocates the find in the dug hole to the centimetre — saves minutes on every signal.View on Amazon →

For every trip Ad

Two unspectacular things you miss every single time outdoors.

🧤Cut-resistant glovesSharp edges, rusty metal, nettles — gloves belong in every collecting bag.View on Amazon →🗃️Compartment boxSo the best find of the day does not crumble in a jacket pocket.View on Amazon →

Before you head out

Good gear does not replace permission. Collecting and digging are regulated across Europe and usually need the landowner's and often the heritage authority's consent — our guide Collecting: allowed or not? explains it. Suspected wartime metal finds: do not touch, mark the spot, call the ordnance disposal service.

🐺 For young treasure hunters: our picture book “Werner Wolf und der Schatz unter der Stadt” (German).

See where to use it — open the map →