Grandmother mistakes medieval gold cross for costume jewelry before learning its five-figure value
A grandmother recently discovered a medieval gold cross while metal detecting in a farmer's field — and it could be worth tens of thousands of dollars.The cross was found by 58-year-old metal detecting hobbyist Shelley Couzins in August, news agency Southwest News Service (SWNS) reported.The discovery was only recently publicized.Couzins, a grandmother of five who took up metal detecting four years ago, told SWNS she was out with a group on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent in the United Kingdom when, after five hours of searching, she found nothing but "rubbish."MYSTERIOUS FIND BENEATH FIELD LEADS MAN TO MASSIVE TREASURE HIDDEN FOR CENTURIESAround lunchtime, her metal detector suddenly began beeping, prompting her to dig roughly 12 inches into the freshly plowed soil."It was quite quiet all morning, and then I heard this beep," Couzins recalled.Shelley Couzins unearthed a medieval gold reliquary cross after spending five hours searching a freshly plowed field in southeastern England.
(Shelley Couzins/SWNS)She soon unearthed a gold cross — but initially dismissed it as costume jewelry.It wasn't until she returned to the group's main tent that fellow hobbyists told her the cross was made of real gold.REAL-LIFE EXCALIBUR? MAN ON A HIKE UNCOVERS GOLD SWORD RELIC HIDDEN UNDER TREE"It is like a metal detectorist's dream," Couzins told SWNS. "You only find something like this once in a lifetime."The medieval gold reliquary cross discovered in England can be opened to hold religious relics, though its finder chose to leave it sealed.(Shelley Couzins/SWNS)Couzins was searching with a group called Medway History Finders, which has withheld the field's exact location over concerns about illegal treasure hunters.The cross, which weighs 10.6 grams, was subsequently reported to a Finds Liaison Officer under England's treasure reporting process.MYSTERY DEEPENS AFTER 2,700-YEAR-OLD BRONZE SWORD EMERGES STANDING UPRIGHTThe grandmother said she was "absolutely gutted" about having ...