A detectorist has made the ‘discovery of a lifetime’ after unearthing a nugget of gold shaped like Britain.
Jonathan Needham, 54, found the gold on the Staffordshire and Derbyshire border and believes it was formed naturally beneath the ground there.
The nugget – shaped like England, Wales and Scotland – is almost 3cm in length and over 1cm wide and weighs 10.3 grams.
Retired tree surgeon and treasure seeker Jonathan says his ‘Holy Grail’ find on November 1 is his ‘most interesting ever’.
He is now in the process of confirming whether the piece of gold is natural or smelted.
The nugget as scrap could be worth around £800 – but if it is evidence of gold mining in the Midlands in the past it will be worth much more.
History buff Jonathan said: ‘I really could not believe it. I have dug gold before but I was not expecting to find a nugget of gold.
‘When you are detecting in England to find a nugget of gold is exceptional.
‘When I dug it I could see it was gold coloured and I knew straight away that it was gold – but I thought it could have been some bit of jewelry but it is not.
‘It was quite funny – when I started cleaning it and turned it around I thought ‘that looks just like England’.
‘It is rare enough to find a piece of gold but to find one that looks exactly like England is crazy.
‘The jury is out whether its natural or whether its part of a smelting process and the gold was smelted and then dropped.
‘People are saying it’s natural – if it is natural then I found this on the Derbyshire Staffordshire borders. It could open up a whole can of worms.
‘Some experts are going to have to look into it and if it is natural gold it is going to be worth a lot more money than scrap gold.
‘I am hoping it is a natural nugget and if it is it would be extraordinary because not many get found in this country.
‘If it is natural gold it will be one in a life time.’
He is now hoping to return to the same area to see if he can discover more similar finds there.
He added: ‘I will be checking out the area very carefully to see if I can pull any more out – it is an amazing find.’
Last year Jonathan discovered a ‘one in a billion’ Bronze Age artefact after finding a 3,000-year-old dress or cloak fastener on a patch of land in Staffs.
Jonathan wanted to be a treasure hunter decades ago after watching TV about finds.
He is passionate about ancient history and loves watching The Detectorists.
But he was always too busy working, so had to wait until after arthritis forced him to go part-time to take up the hobby.
And now his hobby has turned into a profession.
‘This is what I do. I am a treasure seeker I don’t do anything else – this is my job,’ concluded Jonathan.
He now runs a YouTube channel where he shares his metal detecting adventures called The Detector-hist.
THE TREASURE ACT OF 1996
Under the UK’s 1996 Treasure Act, finders of potential treasure are obligated to report their discoveries to the local coroner within a timeframe of 14 days.
The British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme works to advise treasure finders of their legal obligations alongside writing reports for coroners on each individual discovery and running the administration for the Treasure disclamation process.
The Treasure Act facilitates the purchasing of finds by both national and local museums for the public benefit — with a reward from such typically given and split between the finder and the landowner.
The size of the rewards are equal to the full market value of the finds, as determined by the Secretary of State, following guidance from an independent panel of experts called the ‘Treasure Valuation Committee’.
The act also helps to guide what is and isn’t considered as treasure — with the final determination for individual items made at an inquest.
At present, the following, for example, are defined as treasures:
- Finds of two of more 300-years-or-older coins from the same location, unless they contain less than 10 per cent gold or silver, in which case there must be at least 10 in the find to qualify as a treasure.
- Two or more prehistoric base metal objects found in association.
- Any non-coin artefact that is at least 300 years old and contains at least 10 per cent gold or silver.
- Any object found in the same place as another treasure.
- Deliberately hidden objects whose owners or heirs are unknown that are less than 300 years old but are made predominantly of gold or silver.
However, following a public consultation last year, a new definition is to be developed in the future — one which will account for the cultural and historical significance of a find, rather than just its material qualities.
