A 10-year-old boy who discovered a rare Bronze Age gold treasure with his metal detector almost threw it away because he thought it was a bit of foil.
Patrick Hooper struck gold during a dig on land near Andover, Hampshire, but didn’t bother to mention it to his father Andrew, who was also metal detecting, believing it to be rubbish.
The schoolboy even put the ribbon gold in his ‘trash’ bag which his father usually empties straight into the bin when they return home.
Patrick Hooper struck gold during a dig on land near Andover, Hampshire, but didn’t bother to mention it to his father Andrew, who was also metal detecting, believing it to be rubbish
The youngster, pictured, was searching a field with his father using metal detectors
The gold ribbon, pictured, is believed to be up to 5,000 years old and could be worth several thousand pounds
But luckily IT salesman Mr Hooper, 47, tipped out the contents onto their doorstep and spotted the rare gold, which is believed to be between 3,000 and 5,000 years old.
It is now being examined and recorded as suspected prehistoric treasure which could be worth thousands of pounds.
The four-inch strip of gold is believed to have either been worn in women’s hair or to decorate a dagger handle.
It could be worth thousands of pounds, which will be split 50/50 between Patrick and the landowner, who has been notified of the ‘incredible find.’
‘It’s unusual for anyone to find any archaeological items of cultural significance and even more unusual for them to be found by a little boy,’ said Simon Maslin, Finds Liaison Officer for Surrey and Hampshire.
‘This is a suspected piece of prehistoric treasure which will be recorded under the 1996 Treasure Act. It is believed to be Bronze Age ribbon gold which is enigmatic as it was used for personal adornment.
‘The form, the shape and the decoration are all indicative of that time, and it’s not very common to find such a piece.’
He refused to comment on the value of the piece, which will have to be declared as treasure by the County Coroner.
‘I can’t believe that I’ve possibly found something so rare that it’s treasure,’ Patrick said. ‘I wasn’t even excited when I found it. I had a strong signal and dug the metal out but when I saw it I thought: ‘Oh it’s just a bit of gold foil.’
‘It looked like a sweet wrapper and I put it in the trash bag and didn’t even mention it to anyone as I thought it was rubbish.
‘Normally Dad empties the trash bag straight into the bin but this time he didn’t. It’s so lucky otherwise we would have thrown it away. I’ve told all my friends that I’ve found some treasure and they all think it’s cool.’
Patrick, who started metal detecting 18 months ago and was recently bought a £350 Nokta Makro Simplex as a present by his parents, discovered the ribbon on July 31.
He’d gone out on a dig with metal detecting club Soil Searchers on a piece of land – which they won’t identify publically – after getting the permission from the owner.
Patrick, pictured, will be entitled to a 50 per cent share of the gold along with the land owner
Patrick, pictured with his father Andrew, has been metal detecting for the past 18 months
‘It was a sunny day and I’d spent most of the day there,’ Patrick said. ‘I hadn’t had a very lucky dig and I found this at 4pm and thought it was a piece of foil. Dad was over the other side of the land and I didn’t even tell him about it.
‘It didn’t look like anything special. It was dented and had a little crack, like a twisted bit of foil. I just put it in the trash bag along with bottle tops and other bits of rubbish metal I’d found.’
It was only after his father realised it wasn’t rubbish after all, and posted a photo on Facebook for other metal detector fans to look at, that the family, from Fleet, in Hampshire, realised they might have found something of cultural – and monetary – value.
Patrick, who has found a gold coin and Victorian gold half-sovereign before, was excited when he was told his trash was probably treasure. ‘It was amazing to think how old the gold was and that I found it,’ he said.
His proud mum Carly Hooper says he’s told all his friends and family about the find. ‘It’s something special as he’s so young,’ she said. ‘There are lots of other people who’ve been metal detecting for years and years and have never found anything like this.
‘He is so passionate about metal detecting and burst into tears when he found the gold coin. It’s a fantastic hobby as it literally brings history to life for him.
In the past, the most valuable item Patrick recovered was a gold coin
‘He will find a Roman coin, for example, and go off and research everything about that age. He has a great collection of interesting things he’s found – but this is the most exciting so far.’
The British Museum, which is currently closed, and local museums will have the chance to buy the rare piece at market value otherwise it will be sold privately with the proceeds split between the landowner and the schoolboy.
‘I’m hoping that the landowner will think he’s only young and let him keep all the money,’ Carly, 42, a beekeeper who makes her own beauty range Beetufil (CORR), said. ‘He’d use it to buy more metal detecting equipment as he loves it so much.’
Patrick now plans to metal detect throughout the summer and is hoping to find a rare hammered gold coin. ‘I’ll never throw anything in the trash bag again without checking it carefully,’ he said.