Milk Bottle or Ancient Relic?

[Gil]

AN ANCIENT relic worth thousands of pounds was recently dug up on an Aughton farm – by a man who thought it was a milk bottle top.



Metal detecting enthusiast Tim Pearson, of Denaby, found the gold Saxon aestel, which has the appearance of a four inch bottle, back in January this year and had no idea what it was.

"I've been going to that farm for six years and the only things I'd ever found was a Roman coin," he said. "I was off work at the time because I'd smashed my fingers. It was boring being at home so I decided to do some metal detecting. I was all ready for packing up when I heard the machine beeping."

Tim found the 9th century artefact eight inches beneath the surface. At first he thought it was a milk bottle top, then a Victorian pendant, but once he got it home he found it was much more interesting.

In fact his find is so unique, he's had trouble finding similar pieces with which to compare it.

"There was nothing like it in all my books at home, but I eventually found one like it in a museum in Norway."

"I found out it was an aestel – it would have been used by people as a holder for a stick used to turn pages of religious books because they weren't allowed to touch them."
"I found other examples on the internet – two were priceless. One went for £102,000 and one for £42,000. I couldn't believe what I'd found."

"If I knew what it was at the time I found it I would have had a heart attack, but because I discovered gradually it wasn't such a shock."

Under the law, Tim had two weeks to hand over the 'treasure' to the authorities and when that time was up he took it to Rotherham Museum.

"The guy who filled in the report seemed excited but some of the workers weren't as impressed as I thought they might be. I think interest in it will grow once people know how special it is," said the 39-year-old. "They ran an x-ray on it and found it was 86 per cent gold, which is amazing."

"Rotherham Museum staff then sent it to the British Museum. It's still there now but they haven't put it on display."
"I hope it comes back to Rotherham so I can go and have a look at it from time to time."

When any treasure is found, the finder has to take part in an inquest to determine what should happen to the piece.
In a hearing at Rotherham Police Station on Friday, coroner Stanley Hooper declared that the aestal was a treasure.

This means Tim has to give the piece to a museum, who will then give him and the landowner the full market value between them as a reward.

"Mr Hooper was really impressed by the piece and kept asking me lots of questions about it and congratulating me," said Tim.

"I'm pleased about the outcome because it means I don't have to sell it myself – I wouldn't know where to begin."
It has been a lengthy process for Tim, who trains people in gas fitting at Hellaby, and it's not over yet – he still doesn't know how much cash he is in line for.

The aestel will have to go before the UK's official valuation committee within the next few months, but he is hopeful for a tidy sum.

"Something similar in silver was found in 2002 and that was valued at £15,000 so I'm hoping for more than that," said Tim.

"I have been back to the same farm since but I haven't uncovered anything else. I think it's just going to be one of those 'once in a lifetime' things."

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