Metal detectorist cries tears of joy after finding rare 17th Century gold posy ring
A metal detectorist said he cried tears of joy after uncovering a 17th century gold posy ring - which he claims could have been thrown away after a “lovers’ tiff ”.
Robin Potter, 50, found the 400-year-old ring in a farmer's field and is now waiting to hear if the rare piece of jewellery will be claimed by the National Museum of Scotland.
Posy rings were given as tokens of love between the 16th and 18th centuries with a short poem inside kept a secret from all but the two lovers.
The name posy derives from thefrenchwordforpoem,and the ring features an engraving inside which reads: "Gife parted hearts in paine".
The word 'hearts' has been replaced with two overlapping heart symbols.
Mr Potter, from Helensburgh, believes the gold ring could have been discarded after a lovers' tiff or lost “in the heat of passion”, and that the find makes up for all the 'rubbish' he has found metal detecting the last four years.
Hesaid:"whenifounditiwas so happy I cried. It really is a thingofbeauty,anditisthefirst piece of gold that I have found since I started metal detecting around four years ago.
"When you find something like this you go through a range of emotions from shock to pure joy.
"Before detecting any field I check with the owner which field I can detect so I am not disturbing the animals while they are lambing or calving.
"It just happened that that field was empty that day.
"It is tiny with a diameter of 15mm and was either a woman's or girl's ring.
"Posy rings were only really given between the 16th and 18th centuries and are more often than not very, very personal with the inner inscription.
"A lot of them are plain on the outside so mine being engraved on the outer with flowers and a crisscrossed pattern
with entwined hearts on the ends even more special.
"There are also traces of blue enamel in the criss-cross pattern which again makes it rarer.
"Honestly, it's impossible to say how it was lost. It could have fallen off on a cold day, it could have been thrown after a lovers tiff or it could have been lost in the 'heat of passion', who knows.”
Mr Potter was legally required to report the ring, which he found in June, to the Treasure Trove Scotland, as it is more than 300 years old.
It will be returned to him if it is not claimed by the museum, and he plans to sell it and split any profits with the landowner of the farm in Helensburgh where he found it.
He said: "The day started off pretty normal. I had dug several
signals which turned out to be random bits of iron and then on about the fifth signal I wasn't going to dig it as it wasn't that strong but I went ahead anyway.
"I started to pull the soil apart and there it was, I could just see the side of the ring but I knew instantly it was gold.
"I slowly pulled the remaining soil away and could see the extent of the outer engrav
ing and then looked inside the band to see the inscription.”
He added: "I actually love the variety of items that can be found as well as being out in the beautiful countryside.
"Metal detecting has its plusses and minuses, the biggest minus is the amount of rubbish like tin cans and ring pulls that you find.”