Camilla Lundin was walking through a field in the village of Gudhem in southern Sweden when she came across a pretty gold ring. It loops around itself once, so when she first found it she thought it was a spiral leg band for a chicken. Her husband didn’t think much of it either. It was her brother who identified it as an ancient artifact after she sent him a photograph of the ring.
“When he told me it was an ancient gold ring, it felt like a gift from the underworld,” Lundin told The Local. “It was my magnificent ring. I didn’t want to give it up.”
Because Swedish law requires that any potential archaeological artifact made out of gold, silver, or bronze must be reported to the state, Lundin reported the find to the Swedish National Heritage Board. The finder can keep anything more than a 100 years old, but the state gets first dibs on objects made out of precious metals. If the Board determines that it’s of sufficient historical significance to be of interest to them, the state pays the finder fair market value and keeps the artifact. Lundin didn’t want the money, though. She wanted to keep the ring.
The Board found the object was a 2,000-year-old gold ring from the Roman Iron Age. They wanted to explore the discovery site to see if there were any other pieces from the period in the field.
Lundin discovered the trinket in June 2011, but due to planting seasons the Board was unable to investigate the field until autumn. The research and paperwork took more than two years, but for Lundin it all paid off. After searching the farm for similar artefacts on two separate occasions, the state offered Lundin 11,000 kronor ($1,672) for the ring.
“I guess I knew right away it was special, but I had no idea just how valuable it was,” said Lundin, who confessed she still felt slightly disappointed to lose the ring. “I haven’t decided what to do with the money yet, but it will definitely be something special. Maybe I’ll travel somewhere.”
I love how she grudgingly took the money for it because the state compelled the sale but the treasure was worth so much more to her than its monetary value. In her place, I’d feel exactly the same way.
$1,672? – she won’t be travelling very far from home. Not unless she’s carried by native bearers or something … 😆
…read somewhere that it actually was quite common in those days to carry gold in coils instead of ingots. As you normally cannot bite off from an ingot but you can easily cut from a coil, it might well be that someone paid a short trip with it (diameter like a ‘spiral leg band for a chicken’).
That seems like a low-ball amount for a 2000 year old gold ring… I’d be doubly disappointed: Not having the ring and a relatively paltry recompense.
I bet she could commission a jeweler to make her an identical ring for that amount, since she’d rather have the ring than the money.
A gift from the underworld that she didn’t want to give up? DOES THAT SOUND FAMILIAR TO ANYBODY ELSE?
:ohnoes:
Yes, “one pathetic bit of spiral money to rule them all and in the darkness bind them”
That ‘Preciouzzz’ might in fact be older than Roman Iron Age. How did the Board find out about the hoard ?
Anyw…Arrr… We wants it, we NEEDS it !!!
Normally I think having a board or a similar construct (like Great Britain’s Portable Antiquity Scheme) is a good idea, because it allows documentation of finds without criminalizing detectorists. But I agree with Davistele; that is a really low-ball bid for an item that, after cataloging, MAY wind up as a tiny sideshow in a larger exhibit, where a facsimile would do just as well, or gathering dust in a museum’s archive collection. She should be able to bid against the museum where the item is to be displayed, and see if taxpayers are really willing to pay so much for a tiny item of such limited interest.
Cast it into the fires of mountain Doom!
History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge. Until, when chance came, the ring ensnared a new bearer.
😆
When I was 50 an old, grey hatted wizard came to my hole. After a series of events that involved riddles with a coughing creature, a dragon, the breaking of a fellowship, walking trees, the destruction of an evil spirit, and the return of a king; I have learned one thing. 2000 year old rings that the owner does not want to give up cause problems.
Is it for sale? 962 79 7774477
No.
Unfortunately , anyway I can offer a good money
My god the legends are true she found the ONE ring
One Ring to rule them all, One ring to find them; One ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them.