Through time stage hypnotists have shown us how hypnosis can be used as a form of entertainment. For nearly as long clinical hypnotists has urged us to this of hypnosis as something that can help you overcome problems of the past. So where does this question come from, that hypnosis could be used to find lost things?

Many different hypnotists have reported that the unconscious mind seems to hold all the information you have ever experienced. Richard Bandler has even claimed that a skillful can have a subject read you a book, that they flipped through when they weren't even old enough to read. I have no personal experience that would suggest such a radical belief, but then again I have never attempted to prove or disprove it (nor do I consider myself as skillful as Richard Bandler). I do however have personal experience to suggest that the unconscious mind hold a great deal of information that may not be consciously accessible. This is further supported by the use of forensic hypnosis, where witnesses can sometimes recall details of things they have seen, that can support the investigation.

In his book "Transforming therapy" Gil Boyne helps a woman who has lost a very expensive and important piece of jewellery. The woman has no conscious recollection of where this jewellery can be, but through hypnosis she is reminded that she hid it in her bathroom to avoid it being stolen. So the short answer to this question is: Yes, hypnosis can sometimes help you find things that you have lost, but you must be the one who "lost" it, consciously or unconsciously.