WHAT A CRACKER

While clearing away hedge clippings in his Norfolk garden the owner found this gold ring. ‘It was glinting in the sun. My wife thought it was from a Christmas cracker.’

At Norfolk’s Houghton Hall in 2001, expert Geoffrey Munn knew it was Anglo-Saxon, probably eighth century, and made of plaited wires of pure gold. ‘Gold is incorruptible. It emerged into the sunlight as if it was made yesterday. It will always be one of my most memorable Roadshow finds,’ he says.

VALUED AT: £10,000.

CURRENTLY: It could be worth double. Geoffrey adds, ‘This ring is an emblem of our national identity.’