Amazing metal detector discovery: “There it was, a glint of pure gold, shiny as the day it was dropped”

53-year -old metal detectorist Malcolm Weale struck gold, quite literally when he stumbled across a 18th-century ring in a field in Norfolk last year that apparently has links to the British nobility.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr. Weale claimed: ‘I knew this was something very special and I did a bit of a dance.’ There it was, a glint of pure gold, shiny as the day it was dropped, six inches down in the mud. It’s very rare to put a name to anything you find.’

The ring was crafted about 300 years ago to commemorate a member of the British nobility, called Sir Bassingbourne Gawdy.

A hollowed-out part of the ring’s exterior depicts what’s thought to be a skull, while an inscription on the interior records his death date.

Mr Weale made the find in August (2014), but it has only just been declared treasure having being studied through the Portable Antiquities Scheme by experts at the British Museum.

It pays tribute to Sir Bassingbourne Gawdy, the 3rd Baronet of Harling, who died in a hunting accident in 1723, aged 56.

Dectorist for over 40 years

Mr Weale, who has been a detectorist since he was seven years old, said discovery of the historic ring ‘turned out to be one of my best days’.

‘Over the years I’ve found all sorts of treasures including a hoard of late Roman coins, gold rings and jewellery,’ he told the BBC.

‘Last year was a particularly good year for detecting as, thanks to the rainfall, the moisture levels in the ground were very high.

‘With metal detecting you can spend days, weeks or months searching, or sometimes just 20 minutes and make an amazing discovery.’

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