A 400-year-old diamond ring unearthed by a metal detectorist in the Cotswolds has fetched £17,000 at auction after being hailed as a “once in a lifetime find”.
The Tudor-era piece, a gold diamond cluster ring thought to date from the late 16th or early 17th Century, was found in a field near Wormington in Gloucestershire, over the Oxfordshire border, in November 2024.
It was discovered by metal detector enthusiast Stuart Jones from Solihull, who told the BBC he was “absolutely overwhelmed with joy” when he realised what he had uncovered.
The ring went under the hammer at Noonans in Mayfair on Tuesday, eventually selling to a bidder on the phone in England for £17,000.
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Mr Jones said seeing it reach that figure was “beyond anything he could have imagined”, and has said he will share the proceeds with the landowner.
Before the sale, the 19.2 carat ring was assessed by specialists at the British Museum.
Jewellery expert Laura Smith explained to the BBC that the design matched the era’s taste for eye‑catching pieces, saying the fashion at the time was for “grand rings to make an impression from a distance”.
She described the jewel as having “a flowerhead bezel composed of a cluster of eight hogback diamonds – which is very rare – although two are loose.”
Mr Jones said it was satisfying to see the ring recognised as an important historic object rather than just a valuable item, calling it a “beautiful piece of Tudor jewellery, lost for centuries” that had now been appreciated by collectors and enthusiasts.
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He told the BBC: “From the moment the signal came through on my detector, I knew I had found something special, but I never expected the journey that would follow through the Portable Antiquities Scheme, the Treasure process, and eventually to auction.”
The find was recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme, a programme run by the British Museum and Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales, which encourages the public in England and Wales to report archaeological discoveries, often made by metal detectorists.
Reflecting on the experience, Mr Jones said: “The sale is not just about the value of the ring; it is about the history behind it and the privilege of being the person who helped bring an important piece of the past back into the public eye.”
The auction also featured 13 other detectorist discoveries, including a separate 17th-century gold ring bearing a memento mori skull motif, which had been found in a Lancashire field.
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