View Single Post
Old November 24th, 2008 #11
Alex Linder
Administrator
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 45,756
Blog Entries: 34
Default

Metal detector man's £350,000 Iron Age neckband

A metal detector enthusiast discovered a 2,000-year-old golden neckband worth £350,000 while out looking for bits of Second World War aircraft.

By Stephen Adams, Arts Correspondent
Last Updated: 5:44PM GMT 20 Nov 2008



Maurice Richardson discovered the Iron Age gold and silver choker, known as a torc, in a Nottinghamshire field near his Newark home.

Archaeologists believe the torc, the most expensive single treasure find since 1996, was made by the Iceni tribe, once headed by Boudica, which had its power base in present-day East Anglia.

Four other similar torcs have been discovered, but they were all found some 100 miles away in Norfolk.

Dr Jeremy Hill, head of research at the British Museum, described the Newark torc as "probably the most significant find of Iron Age Celtic gold jewellery made in the last 50 years".

It suggested the Newark area was not the Iron Age backwater it was widely considered to be.

"The person who owned an item like this was someone of tremendous power and wealth," he said.

He thought it might have been given to its Midlands recipient as a diplomatic present.

It was buried in a pit in a similar fashion to its East Anglian counterparts, he said, "possibly as an offering to the gods".

"It shows an incredibly high level of technological skill in working the metal and a really high level of artistry. It is an extraordinary object." he said.

It was "almost identical" to one found in Sedgeford, north Norfolk, he said, concluding: "I'm convinced they were made by the same hand."

Mr Richardson, 58, a tree surgeon, said of his 2005 find: "I dug down with a spade, and then used my hands and this beautiful necklace started to appear. It was as clean as the day it was made."

He made £175,000 when he sold it to Newark and Sherwood District Council, under a provision of the Treasure Act 1996 that ensures the finder receives half its estimated value. The land owner got the other half. Before 1996 the legal process for dealing with treasure was less clear.

The torc is by far the most significant object to have been dealt with by the treasure process in 2005 and 2006, according to the British Museum.

Other items include a gold and garnet Anglo-Saxon jewellery mount, acquired by Chelmsford Museum in Essex for £3,000, and a Roman coin hoard of 3,600 pieces found in Kent.

Barbara Follett, the culture minister, welcomed the finds.

She said: "Since the implementation of the Treasure Act in 1996 - which ruled that finders and landowners will be eligible for rewards for finds - museums have reported a ten-fold increase in the treasure items offered to them."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sciencean...-neckband.html