Man finds £20,000 Tudor ring in a field in Gloucestershire
Summary
A metal detectorist is enjoying a huge windfall after finding a rare gold and diamond ring dating from the late 16th or early 17th Century that is expected to sell for between £15,000 and £20,000 at auction later this month. The diamond cluster ring was unearthed in November 2024 in Wormington, near Evesham, by Stuart Jones, 42, from Solihull.
Details
It will be offered for sale by Noonans on 23 June as part of a jewellery auction. Stuart, a welder fabricator at Jaguar Land Rover, discovered the ring while searching alone in a field he had never previously explored. He said: “I have been metal detecting for several years and am a member of multiple detecting groups.
I have always been fascinated by history, archaeology and the possibility of finding treasure. What first inspired me was watching videos of people out in the countryside discovering historical coins, artefacts and relics.
Seeing those discoveries made me want to get involved in the hobby myself.” Describing the day of the discovery, he said: “The location where I found the ring was somewhere I had never detected before. Although there had been a dig there several months earlier, I did not attend that event. On the day I found the ring, I was detecting on my own.
I had been detecting, with my Garrett ACE 400i fitted with a Tornado coil, from around 9am until approximately 4pm. The find came during the last hour and a half of the day. The weather was slightly warm but overcast.” Stuart said he immediately realised the significance of the find.
“When I recovered the ring, I was absolutely overwhelmed with joy. I was over the moon. Everyone around me was congratulating me and taking photographs while I held the ring.
One of the club administrators suggested that I take home all the soil from around the find spot in the hope of locating the missing diamond, so I carefully collected the surrounding dirt to search through later. “Without any doubt, the ring is the best find I have ever made. I describe it as my ‘once in a lifetime find’.
Like many detectorists, I have always dreamed of finding something truly special, but I never imagined I would discover an item of this significance.” The ring’s condition presented an additional challenge. One diamond became detached when the ring was recovered and a second stone was missing from its setting.
Report source: Gloucestershire Live