Imagine you're walking across an English countryside field with a metal detector, hoping to maybe find an old coin. Instead, you find a solid gold ring worn by a Roman nearly 1,700 years ago. That’s precisely what happened to Kevin Minto, a 68-year-old British lorry driver and ex-soldier who took up metal detecting to keep fit after leaving the army. Now his story is circulating among American audiences who just can't stop talking about it.
According to the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme, the UK has a legal system requiring anyone who finds hoards of gold, silver, or ancient coins to report the find to a coroner, so items like this can be studied and, in many cases, acquired for public museums instead of vanishing into private hands. But it's exactly that kind of system that allowed Minto's ring to end up somewhere people can actually see it.
From "just a coin" to a museum-worthy masterpiece
Minto had a history with this particular piece of land. In 2017, he first found Roman coins scattered around the site, probably spread by ploughing over the years, and he kept coming back. On one occasion, he even brought up a lead-lined coffin. Then, in 2018, while detecting with a group of military veterans at an organized rally, his detector picked up something different.
