Detectorist’s “disbelief” in finding Roman gold
Nick Bateman tells of his disbelief in finding a Roman gold earring. It has now been declared treasure an will go on public display
The Find
Nick had taken up metal detecting in earnest again during the first lockdown of 2020. He went out detecting in a filed in south Norfolk on Christmas Eve 2021, “I’d done all the Christmas stuff so I thought I’d go out for a sneaky hour or two“. He continues the story of the find “It wasn’t the best signal in the world but I dug down three or four inches and saw what I thought was a gold metal bottle top, but when I cleared off the mud I realised I’d found gold and sunk to my knees in disbelief“.
The Ear Ring
The find was recorded at the PAS as NMS-538775 where it was examined by Adrian Marsden.
Photo: PAS CC By SA2.0
The ear ring is made from two sheet of gold which have been soldered together. Each side appears to have been struck from the same die.
Adrian said “when I looked closely I could see a laurel wreath and an eagle and that’s exactly the sort of thing you get on Roman objects“
The hole would have been used to suspend another object; there would have been another hole in the missing piece to attach it to the ear. The PAS report says “This pendant can perhaps be paralleled by several broadly similar examples, although none are identical.“
Public display
It has been reported that the ear ring will now go on display at the Diss Museum.