Ancient ring declared treasure trove

Submitted by Anonymous on Friday, 20 August 2004 Page Views: 1327

A piece of an Iron Age torc which has inspired treasure hunters for decades was declared treasure trove yesterday. The ornate gold and silver alloy ring, which was discovered in a field at Snettisham in April, is believed to be the missing piece of a torc which was found in 1965.

The ancient relic, which is made of ornate strands of twisted gold and silver wire, was missing one of the two terminals which held the strands together and helped the wearer take it on and off.

The ring remained lost for almost 40 years, despite numerous painstaking searches.

Then on April 14 it was discovered buried in just a few inches of soil by retired lecturer Stephen Hammond, who was out in the field with his metal detector.

At the time, co-director of the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (Sharp) Chris Mackie described the discovery as being like "suddenly finding the arms of the Venus de Milo".

Yesterday an inquest at King's Lynn heard that analysis of the find by scientists based at the British Museum revealed the terminal matched the broken end of the torc.

Coroner William Knowles said that investigations showed it was 55pc gold.

"Having seen the evidence I have to declare that the torc terminal is treasure," Mr Knowles said.

When relics containing precious metals are discovered and their owners cannot be traced it must be reported to the coroner.

The coroner normally asks the finder to take the object to a local museum which is then required to report it to the British Museum. If a museum wishes to acquire the object the coroner holds an inquest to decide whether it is treasure trove, meaning of interest to a museum.

But if no museum wants it the coroner returns it to the finder.

It is hoped that the terminal will be reunited with the rest of the torc, which is on show at the British Museum.

North-West Norfolk is renowned as an area rich in Iron Age relics.

In the 1940s farmworkers ploughing the lavender fields around Snettisham began discovering gold torcs - in two decades almost 200 torcs were found.

The reason that so many have turned up in that spot is not known, but one school of thought believes they were left as an offering to a pagan god.

Another thinks they were hidden to stop them falling into the hands of warring tribes.

Source: EDP24 20 August 2004

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