Detectorist’s “magical” find goes to auction
Detectorist Chris Weir said his wife Lisa is his “lucky charm” when he found this medieval gold ring in 2018. Chris had taken up detecting to relieve stress but had never previously been accompanied by his wife as she thought the hobby was rather dull. The ring is up for sale Timeline’s auction of 4-8 June with an estimate of £5,000 – £7,000.
The Find
Chris and Lisa drove to a detecting rally in the Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire on Sunday, 16 September 2018. Chris spent the morning detecting while she sat in the back of their truck and watched. Chris tells the story:
“That morning was rubbish to be honest and all I found was stereotypical cans and bottle tops.
‘I wanted to pack it in at lunch but she actually told me to keep going. She said “we haven’t driven all the way here from Bristol for you to come back with nothing. An hour later, I was detecting near a path where there were lots of cans so I don’t think anyone else had gone to the area. I got a signal and dug down 2 inches and there was this glint of gold. You get used to a sense of disappointment as a detectorist but this time when I picked up the ring I could see it was special. I cradled it in my hands and ran back 50 yards to my wife in the truck. I said look what I found and she said ‘wow, that’s nice’.“
The Ring
The ring was recorded at the PAS as GLO-0BFB91 went through the Treasure process and was disclaimed.
The curious feature of the ring is the inscription. For one thing, it is not clear which way up it should be read. If you assume that the “V”s are unbarred “A”s then the inscription reads +NI ONAN NRIO ONIC / NIAI AINO ANIOI NAN.
As can be seen, all these letters can be read the other way up. The only guides are the Cross Potent, which presumably marks the beginning, and the orientation of the C at the end of the top line.
Even then it is not clear whether it has a romantic association or has magical significance.
A Timeline spokesman said “Many late medieval rings and brooches bear similarly meaningless inscriptions, perhaps due to the illiteracy of the engraver who nevertheless was aware that customers required an inscription, so provided one. Alternatively, since the text is composed from repeated sequences based on an open syllabic structure, the words may be intended as a chant or magical charm.’