Some months ago I came across with a story about a girl that found a german Nazi gold ingot in a lake in Austria. She was just diving and having fun on summer holidays. I was stunned that so many treasures might be still hidden and ready to be discovered and how many people dedicates their time to try to find a gem that potentially could change their lives. That's what happened 5 year ago to this boy and his father. So to say that here in uk there is a real fever of detectorist (as they wanted to be called) gathering in clubs, offering talks about their practise and even with normative and legal regulations in every constituency.
Here is the Story:
A four-year-old boy unearthed a rare 16th century gold pendant which could be worth millions of pounds on his first ever metal detecting trip. James Hyatt was using his grandfather's metal detector in a field when he literally struck gold.
His stunned father Jason, 34, dug down eight inches into the mud and unearthed a gold 16th century religious pendant which could have been owned by a member of the royal family.James, who was three at the time of the discovery, could now become a millionaire because his discovery has officially been declared as treasure trove and similar reliquaries have sold for £2.5 million.
His father, a web designer, from Billericay in Essex, said: 'My son is one of the luckiest people ever.'If we go to the doctors he'll put his hand down the side of the sofa and pull out a tenner, so this is just the sort of thing that happens to him.
Mr Hyatt, who lives with his wife Rebecca, added: 'The metal detector was bigger than James.'We got a couple of little buzzes, things like nails and coins and it wasn't long before we got a strong buzz and we dug it up.
'It was about eight inches down, we could see the metal glinting so we gently pulled it out and there it was.'We dug down down and I saw this bright, glistening. I couldn't believe it. I was in disbelief, I looked around and thought it was some kind of prank.
'The soil came away quite easily and I could see it was gold. It was about the size of a 50 pence piece but thicker, it was a little box and the lid was crushed down.
'I think James was too young to appreciate what was happening. I was shocked and quite excited and he picked up on that. He knew something special had happened.
'Dad was blown away, in 15 years doing it as a hobby he'd never found anything like it.'
When the tiny mud-caked pendant was cleaned up it was revealed to be a religious piece of jewellery believed to date from the early 1500s and, due to the quality of the piece, is thought to have been owned by a high ranking clergyman or a member of the royal family.
The square pendant appears to be engraved with Mary the mother of Jesus clutching a cross and the shrine on the front, and five bleeding hearts of Christ on the back.
Around the sides it is engraved with the names of Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, the three kings who followed in the star to Bethlehem to witness Christ's birth.
Mr Hyatt contacted the Essex Finds liaison officer and the British Museum who look the locket in for further examination.
The tiny piece of jewellery, which measures 25 mm along the length, has undergone rigorous testing and has found to be medieval and made of up to 73 per cent gold.
The names of the three kings had been misspelled on the locket but the engraving was of a type popular in the 16th century.
A letter from the British Museum said: 'The back panel slides out to reveal a cavity, undoubtedly designed to contain a relic.
'Devotion to the wounds of Christ was one of the hallmarks of the late medieval piety.
'The letters of the inscriptions are of a type of Lombardic script in use in the sixteenth century. The reliquary pendant is gold and dates from the first half of the sixteenth century.'
'They have classed it as high status which I believe means it probably belonged to someone high up in the church, or royalty.
'Maybe they dropped it when they were out hunting. I've been told it's an incredible piece.'
The locket is in the safe keeping of the British Museum and is to go before the Treasure Valuation Committee to discover how much it is worth.
The British Museum and Southend Museum have both expressed an interest in buying the piece but until the valuation Mr Hyatt has no idea how much it is worth.
He said: 'I had heard about the jewel one, that had a big sapphire on the front of it, so it could be worth more than the one we found, there was an auction at Sotherby's last year when half of a locket sold for £38,000 - so I really don't know.
The locket, known as a reliquary, was used to contain supposed pieces of the crown of thorns Jesus wore at his crucifixion or a splinter of the cross he was killed on.
Plant material, which could be wood, was discovered inside the reliquary, and is being tested by scientists to discover what it is and how far back it dates.
In the 16th century reformists, like Martin Luther, opposed the use of relics as they suspected many were fake and so were destroyed, melted down and pulled apart, by the Calvinists.
Only three other reliquaries of this kind are known to have survived, including one called the Middleham Jewel, also found by a metal detector, which was sold at auction in 1986 for £1.3 million and later to the Yorkshire Museum for £2.5 million.
James's find was the subject of an inquest where it was deemed to be treasure trove so it can be sold on.
The proceeds from the sale will be split between the family and the landowner.
The find was made in Hockley, a small town near Southend, which has a church which dates back to the 12th century.
There is a also a 14ft high burial mound called Plumberow Mount which was excavated in 1913 and revealed a Roman coin and some Saxon pottery.
The exact location of where the precious locket was found is being kept top secret to protect it from unauthorised treasure hunters.
The landowner, who does not want to be identified, will be getting some of the proceeds of any future sale.
