Metal detector find dates back 1,500 years
Published Tuesday August 19, 2008
by Gerry Warren
When a Kent metal detecting enthusiast found something in a field of stubble he thought it looked interesting...and he was right!
The gold pendant he discovered dated back more than 1,500 years and has been declared treasure trove.
Fork lift truck driver Andy Sales, from Deal, found the ancient artefact near Worth.
A coroner has declared the item treasure trove after an expert from the British Museum examined and dated it to between 491-518 AD. In his report to the hearing, the curator in early medieval coinage, Dr Gareth Williams, said it was a gold tremissis bearing the image of the Byzantine emperor, Anastasius the First.
But he said the coin was actually not Byzantine but a later visogothic imitation.
Mr Sales, 43, has been metal detecting for 25 years. He said: "I have found all sorts of stuff including Roman and Saxon broaches and coins but nothing that has been declared treasure trove before. I still don't know if it's of any great value."
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Hmmm, I don't know about you, but on this view of the coin/pendant, it doesn't look like an emperor's image to me! For one thing, there are too many appendages...
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