A rare gold ring that may have belonged to the leader of an Iron Age tribe was kept in a cupboard for nearly 30 years before being auctioned.
A private British collector bought an Iron Age gold ring for 36,000 pounds at Noonans auction house on November 16. Yorkshire Museum is talking to the buyer about displaying this artifact.
“The buyer was delighted that the rare and beautiful ring could be displayed for all to enjoy. We have an outstanding Iron Age collection and the ring would fit well alongside other other items,” said Andrew Woods, manager at the Yorkshire Museum.
A Knaresborough metal detector dug up the ring in a field in North Yorkshire in 1994, then sold it to a collector for several hundred pounds. The collector put the ring in a cupboard for 28 years before deciding to auction it this year. Initially, the collector believed that the ring existed from Roman or Anglo Saxon times. However, when he brought it to the British Museum for analysis, experts revealed the true age of the ring.
Dating back to around 100 BC, the ring may have been worn by a leader of the Corieltauvi tribe. Before the Roman invasion, the Corieltauvi tribe dominated parts of what is now the Midlands and Yorkshire.
The ring’s distinctive design is associated with the Iceni tribe, which once dominated a large area of present-day East Anglia. It is likely that the ring was brought to Yorkshire as part of a treaty between warring tribes. “There are no other rings of this style in existence. It is an extremely important piece,” said Nigel Mills, antique jewelery expert at Noonans.
