Pocketful of posy

Mr O'Donovan, 64, of Devizes Road, Rowde, a self-employed digger driver, discovered the crushed 17th century posy ring six inches under the surface of a ploughed field at Roundway, near Devizes, in April 2002.

Traditionally, men presented posy rings to their lovers on New Year's Day or on Valentine's Day, or they were exchanged by couples to mark their engagement.

They were called posy rings because they were often inscribed with a short poem or rhyme.

At Chippenham Magistrates Court on Friday, Wiltshire Coroner David Masters recorded that the ring was treasure because of its age and its 86 per cent gold content.

Dr Paul Robinson, curator of the Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes, said despite its condition he is very excited about the find, because although posy rings were common they are rarely found in the county.

"We have only four or five in our collection and that's over a period of six or seven hundred years when they were popular," he said.

"Even a crushed posy ring found locally is of great note because they are beautiful things and they have got that human interest with the poem.

"We should very much like to acquire it if possible. Not many are recorded in Wiltshire and even in that condition it would be interesting."

Posy rings are referred to by 17th century playwright William Shakespeare in Hamlet, where a cynical Hamlet compares women's love to a posy on a ring, because they are both short in length.

The posy on the 3.2g ring discovered at Roundway was badly damaged, but by comparing some of the decipherable words with popular contemporary ditties, Dr Robinson said he believed the inscription may have read: "God forever, bless us together."

Mr O'Donovan discovered the ring when he was sweeping a field on Roundway with his metal detector. His son, Lloyd Early, 33, was positioned a few yards away from him with a detector of his own.

Shortly after Mr O'Donovan had picked up a signal on the detector and located the ring last April, Mr Early, a factory worker from Rotherstone, Devizes, contacted Dr Robinson and the British Museum to inform them of the find.

The coroner praised the men for their integrity in reporting their discovery, which was echoed by Dr Robinson.

"We're very lucky with Mr O'Donovan and Mr Early because they always let us have a look at their finds," Dr Robinson said.

Philip Nicholson, director of Carter Jonas, which acts as an agent for the Society of Merchant Venturers, which owns the land where the ring was discovered, said the terms of the licence agreed by Mr O' Donovan, Mr Early and the landowners means that the landowners are entitled to a 50 per cent share of the find.

Now that the ring has been declared treasure it will go before a valuation committee who will decide how much it is worth. When all parties have agreed a value it will be put up for sale, with first option to the British Museum and then regional museums.

The cash raised from the sale will be divided between The Society of Merchant Venturers and the finder, Mr O'Donovan.

This is not the first time the intrepid father and son duo have found buried treasure while scouring the Wiltshire countryside with their trusty metal detectors.

In December 1999, Mr O'Donovan was literally blown over when he discovered a small silver object in a field in Roundway.

A gust of wind caused him to fall, but as he tried to regain his balance the detector picked up a signal on the footpath where he was walking. The ring brooch was dated from around 1,300AD.

A report from the British Museum identified one of Mr Early's finds, discovered three months earlier, in 1999, at Roundway, as a 15th century silver strap end. He also found a post-medieval gold posy ring on Roundway in 1999.

Mr Early said: "We've found quite a few bits and bobs over the years, including silver coins, Roman brooches and pieces of Roman jewellery. "We go out with our metal detectors every weekend and we go to Roundway quite a lot because it's so close.

"We don't do it to sell our finds, we do it as a hobby. My favourite find was some gold half-sovereigns, which I turned into rings."

Mr O'Donovan has been metal detecting for 18 years. He said: "We've found posy rings in the past, but it's always nice to find anything. We don't do this for profit and we keep most of our finds. We have learnt so much about history from what we have found."

One of the biggest finds made by a Wiltshire metal detecting enthusiast was Seend man Martin Elliott's discovery of a hoard of Roman coins, worth £265,000, on his uncle's land in Somerset in 1998.

In 1997, the Portable Antiquities Scheme was introduced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, in a bid to encourage people to report archaeological finds. The scheme, which is part funded by the department and the National Lottery, is set to start in Wiltshire this August when a county liaison officer, who will divide his time between Devizes, Swindon and Salisbury, will start work.

The liaison officer's job will be to help metal detector owners or anyone else who makes archaeological discoveries to identify their finds.

Archaeologist Wendy Smith, who works at The Wiltshire Heritage Museum, in Devizes, and the Museum and Heritage Centre, in Chippenham, said: "In the past, people have gone into museums to have their finds identified, but now we will have someone with the specific task of identifying pieces.

"A lot of things people find don't necessarily have any intrinsic value, but may be priceless in helping archaeologists learn about the past."