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On 7/7/2013 I dug up what I thought was a very small child's silver ring, I could see writing on the ring but with no glasses I was unable to read it.

Back at the car and with reading glasses I could make out the name : 'HVGH PORTMAN' so I assumed the ring was for a child of the same name.

On closer inspection at home I made out the inscription : 'RETORNE TOO HVGH PORTMAN'

The ring was not for a child but a silver hawking ring (vervel) and would have been attached to the lord of the manors Hugh Portman hunting bird.

The ring was shown to the landowner then handed in to the FLO.

The ring was declared Treasure and I attended the inquest where Michael Rose the county coroner showed great interest in the ring and the old English spelling on the ring.

Subsequently I have been informed by the TVC (Treasure Valuation Committee) that they have put a value on it of £1,700 but I did leave it to the farmer to decide if this was a fair price for the item.

He was more than happy with the valuation.

Very nice again , i'm sure you said when you joined the forum " i do the odd bit of detecting ;)" hahaha! Very unusuall

£1,700 seems fair to me ;) Good digging Doug :)

That is a great find and does seem a fair valuation. It is nice when an item can be linked to an individual from earlier days. Well done.

Wow very nice doug like  that very much

very nice find well done :D

Cracking find  :)

that's a great  bit of local history there find. great

Very nice m8, well found  ;)

Nice one Doug, that really is a beauty

awsome doug mate ,very nice  ;)

A good outcome .... 8)

Thank you for your kind comments and views.

This photograph shows the moment I found it and how tiny the ring is.

That's and incredible find Doug there are not many that are so personal that you can research the actual person, I wonder if Hugh ever found out what happened to his hawk.
The valuation was a good one too given the actual size ;)

Thanks Geoff.

The provisional valuation I had before Christmas was £2,000 so it was not far out from the TVC.

This is the man.

"Sir Hugh Portman, 4th Baronet (died 1632) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in two parliaments between 1625 and 1629.'

Slightly off topic.

Treasure Hunting magazine May 2014, one was disclaimed and sold at auction for £7,260, that one was a slightly different design to mine but still had named person on it.

nice one doug, wow its tiny :o

Great find very small too  ;)

wow what a find.good on you mate

Fantastic find - the size, the history and everything else - thanks for sharing.

Now, why can't stuff on this side of the water go through the process quicker?

Timeline :

Time scale for Post-Medieval silver vervel which went through the Treasure act of 1996.

Found 7th July 2013

Handed in to FLO 22nd July 2013

22nd July 2013 FLO informs County Coroner of Potential Treasure item with a specialist report to follow.

11th November 2013 County Coroner receives specialist report from the BM.

21st November 2013 I attend an inquest.

14th February 2014 a letter from the BM, the County Coroner declares the item to be Treasure.

TVC met on the 14th March 2014 to value the item.(TVC only meet every quarter)

27th March 2014 BM writes to offer £1,700 for the hawking ring.

I met with the landowner the following week to let him decide if the offer was acceptable, he was happy with the offer and a joint letter was sent by me to the BM to accept their offer.

 5th May 2014, BM requested bank details for payment.

Timeline: (and this isn't by far the worst case here)

Items found Dec 2012

Reported to museum within 24 hours

Handed to museum within 7 days, with everything identified and weighed, with diagram indicating find positions, plus photographs of find site.

Report apparently written in draft (maybe) end of 2013 / beginning of 2014

Archaeological investigation of site November 2013.

No coroner in Cardiff - no date set.


I know of cases over here lasting 3 or 4 years.

In my case I feel bad that the farmers don't have any visibility as to what is happening beyond what I've been able to find out.

Not quite sure why an archaeologist would want to visit the site?

In relation to where the item was found all I give is the minimum requirements to stay within the law.

Our local FLO and the two coroners that I come under, different farms fall under two different area coroners, I can't praise them enough.

i think you did superbly mate.i found a hawking ring which i thought at first was a washer without my glasses.looking at it with a magnifying glass it said tho(thomas) salwey-reverse of throckmoreton.i was paid after an inquest £ 500.00pounds by the museum to be split with the landowner.so i think you've done very well my freind. ;)

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Not quite sure why an archaeologist would want to visit the site?

In relation to where the item was found all I give is the minimum requirements to stay within the law.

Our local FLO and the two coroners that I come under, different farms fall under two different area coroners, I can't praise them enough.


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Well given that it was a hoard and there might have still be items there as no 'pot' was found. I've got no problem with our local FLOI should add - and also given that with a similar case in north Wales they were out the next day doing and investigation......