A WELSH gardener struck gold while planting potatoes and a few miles away a treasure hunter turned up more gold from centuries ago.
The discoveries were investigated at two inquests in Wrexham yesterday, when deputy coroner John Gittins declared both were treasure, being more than 10% pure and at least 300 years old.
The first inquest heard that Robert Hulse, who was unable to attend the hearing, found a part-worked ingot while digging his garden at Trevor, Llangollen, in April last year. Staff at the National Museum in Cardiff said the finger- shaped piece had been hammered to a semi-square section................
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They thought it might come from a period from the sixth to the tenth century, although similar pieces had been dated as far back as 950-800 BC.
The second inquest concerned a gold ring from Nercwys, Flintshire, dug up by metal detecting enthusiast David Robinson from Garden City on Deeside.
He said he was with a friend Philip Rogers using their detection equipment in a farmer's field. His machine gave a high-pitched whine
and he dug down four inches to find the gold ring. It was 90% pure metal and had decorative fluted marks around the edge.
"It's my best find in 20 years," he said.
He told the landowner Richard Jones and reported his find to the museum in Cardiff where experts dated it to the medieval period around the ninth and tenth centuries.
The coroner said, "I know this hobby of yours is not about making money. It's all about history and archeology, but I hope the valuation panel make it worth your while."
The finds are now in Cardiff but Wrexham's museum hopes to display the ingot.
