Housewife finds gold treasure with metal detector after seven years of searching

After nearly seven years of searching in fields and beaches with a metal detector, housewife Maria Hannaby has found a rare treasure. The first time she saw the small tablet, however, she had no idea what it was actually worth. Eventually, it turned out to be a 15th-century object worth at least £250,000...

Every Sunday, Maria Hannaby (57) from Hertfordshire goes for a six-hour walk with her son Michael. They never forget to take the metal detector that keeps them company all the time. They have been repeating this Sunday ritual for seven years. In all that time, they've failed to find anything extraordinary until one day in July.

As usual, one Sunday, Maria and her son Michael went out for an afternoon of prospecting. After a few hours of searching, suddenly a strong signal came from the detector. Michael immediately started digging. He came across a small plate that was ten digits underground, despite repeated plowing. Moreover, this was not the first time they had both searched this field.

The small plate, measuring 2.8 x 2.3 cm, turned out to be an unusually rare object. It had been in the ground for nearly 500 years. Maria Hannaby told the media, "My hands tingle every time I hear the signal from my detector, but the chances of any extraordinary find are very slim. This time, however, luck smiled on us and I am glad that my son was able to remove the plate from the ground as it is a smaller object. This find is the one we have always dreamed of!"

Link to video of the news:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b_klOB8cro

Maria also offered to split the find with the landowner. She told him that she would split the amount in half. However, the big landowner wanted "only" 30% of the amount because he said that without Maria, he wouldn't have known about any treasure at all. Maria Hannaby hopes to be able to pay off the mortgage with the find.

After a thorough examination by British Museum staff, it was discovered that the mystery plate is one of only three similar specimens that have survived. A similar artefact was auctioned at Sotheby's for £1.3 million in 1986. The plate that Mary managed to find is worth about £250,000 and depicts the Holy Trinity (a common name for the God in the Christian dogma of three persons, namely the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who share a single divinity). It was probably originally used as a pendant.

Roger Bland (Director of the British Museum) said that he was very sorry that the poor financial situation did not allow the museum to buy this rare 15th century historical artefact.

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