A metal detectorist in southern England has uncovered a remarkably well-preserved gold pendant, thought to be around 1,000 years old. One expert believes its hand-shaped design may represent the Christian “Hand of God.”
Nick Berry, a 58-year-old father of two from Northampton, was searching farmland near Ashmansworth in Hampshire when he found it. The site is close to Highclere Castle, the stately home known to many as the setting for Downton Abbey.
Berry said he spotted a flash of gold after digging into the ground. “There were three of us searching, and I was in the middle,” he recalled. “I got a really good signal. I dug down and looked into the hole and saw straight away the glint of gold.”
He said he felt unusually emotional as he lifted the object from the soil. After more than 30 years of metal detecting, Berry said, he had never come across anything like it. He recognized it as Anglo-Saxon almost immediately.
The pendant is thought to date from the ninth or tenth century and may have been worn around the neck by someone wealthy or of high status. Its gold surface is shaped like a hand, with several small indentations.
Berry suggested the hand may have carried symbolic meaning, and thought the pendant was likely worn as a talisman. No other objects were found nearby, raising the possibility that it was simply dropped more than a thousand years ago.
After Berry reported the find to a local finds liaison officer, the pendant was sent to the British Museum for examination. It has since been declared treasure. If a museum or other public institution acquires it, Berry and the landowner may receive a payment based on its value.
The pendant weighs 1.6 grams. Berry said he did not know what it might be worth, though its color suggested to him that it was made from high-carat gold. The discovery could be valued at tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Julian Evan-Hart, editor of Treasure Hunting magazine, said the design likely depicts the “Hand of God,” a Christian symbol that appears on some late Saxon and Viking-era silver coins, as well as in later religious artwork. He said the gold pendant may have been made to represent the same symbol.
Berry described it as “the find of a lifetime” and said he doubted he would ever discover anything like it again.
Metal detectorists have made several notable discoveries in Britain recently. Earlier this year, two friends found three Bronze Age gold bracelets near Carlisle. A detectorist also helped archaeologists uncover a large Roman settlement in the Cotswolds after finding two ancient cavalry swords.
