Golden touch! Detector fan unearths 1500s ring
Paul, from Upton, Dorset, made the find while taking part in a dig with a group of fellow detectorists called the Metal Detectives Group.
They had been given permission to comb the site at Bampton, Oxfordshire, before it vanished under a building site.
The ring was smothered in mud but quickly came up looking like new.
It has since been examined by experts at the British Museum in London and is up for auction on November 26.
The design shows a knight’s helmet on a shield decorated with three birds’ heads. Above that is part of a castle battlement and another bird with lines on its neck, which experts say represent ruffled feathers.
The coat of arms is believed to be that of the influential Skynner family, who traced their origins back to the Norman Conquest when the Le Skiniers came from France.
A similar ring is already on show in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.
Mark Becher, who runs the Metal Detectives Group, said: “When Paul found it we all knew it was special.
“It is a high-end object that would have belonged to a person of importance.”
The ring has been voted Artefact of the Year by the group’s 1,000 members.
James Brenchley of auctioneer Hansons in Etwall, Derbyshire, described it as “a wonderful find”.