This article was written by the staff reporter at News North Wales.
A MAN struck gold twice when he found rare decorative rings which could date back more than 3,000 years.
John Adamson, 42, discovered two Bronze Age lock-rings just a few feet apart in a field in Rossett.
The rings date from about 1000BC and are only the fifth and sixth of their type ever found in Wales.
They may have been buried as gifts to the gods by their ancient owners, experts said.
Mr Adamson found the first ring while hunting for treasure in the field in June, 2012 and sent it to the National Museum of Liverpool, before later reporting his find to the Coroner’s Office when it was deemed it might be treasure.
Then while on another hunt in the same field nine months later in March, 2013, he found a second lock ring just a few feet from where he found the first.
At an inquest to determine whether or not Mr Adamson’s finds were officially treasure at Ruthin County Hall yesterday, John Gittins, coroner for North Wales East and Central, said the decision was an “easy call”.
In order to satisfy the conditions for treasure, finds must be more than 300 years old and have a precious metal content of more than 10 per cent.
A report compiled by Adam Gwilt, curator in later pre-history at the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, said both rings were more than 70 per cent gold, with small amounts of silver and copper.
Because of their composition and age the coroner was satisfied they could be classified as treasure.
He added the Wrexham Museum and Archives Service would acquire the rings using money from the Heritage Lottery Fund after they were independently valued.
Compensation for the find would be split between Mr Adamson and the landowner in Rossett.
The exact location of the find cannot be revealed, but Mr Adamson, of Runcorn, told the inquest he decided to visit Rossett as it had earlier proved a fruitful spot for the discovery of Celtic hoards.
After the inquest Mr Adamson said: “I was overjoyed when I found the second one. Over the nine months after finding the first one, I’d gone out there again about 12 times.
“I thought ‘there’s one, so there’s bound to be another’.”
