Somerset detectorist strikes gold with ‘spectacular’ Roman ring find

‘You’re a little dumbfounded, really,’ Minto said of the find. ‘One of the boys I was with was screaming: “We’re rich, we’re rich.”’ Photograph: South West Heritage Trust View image in fullscreen ‘You’re a little dumbfounded, really,’ Minto said of the find. ‘One of the boys I was with was screaming: “We’re rich, we’re rich.”’ Photograph: South West Heritage Trust Somerset detectorist strikes gold with ‘spectacular’ Roman ring find Kevin Minto’s discovery near Ilminster, showing goddess Victoria, has been acquired with coin hoard for £78,000 When Kevin Minto, a lorry driver, former soldier and keen metal detectorist, came upon something glinting in a Somerset field, he thought at first it was a coin – potentially quite interesting, probably not amazing. But the object turned out to be extraordinary: a gold Roman ring, unusually large and exquisitely crafted, set with a finely engraved gemstone depicting the goddess Victoria driving a two-horse chariot. “It’s hard to explain what if feels like when you find something like that,” Minto said. “It was like being hit by an express train. At first I thought it was a coin, then a brooch, and then realised it was a ring. You’re a little dumbfounded, really. One of the boys I was with was screaming: ‘We’re rich, we’re rich.’” On Tuesday the South West Heritage Trust announced it had acquired the ring, along with a hoard of 297 Roman coins also found at the site near Ilminster, for £78,000, meaning they will remain in Somerset. View image in fullscreen Minto took up detecting as a way to keep fit. Photograph: Kevin Minto “I’m chuffed it’s staying,” said Minto, 68, who settled in Wiltshire after leaving the army and took up detecting as a way of keeping fit. “That seems right to me, somehow.” He said the landowner got half of the money. Minto split his half with a metal detecting friend he worked with on the find. He was able to pay his mortgage off and has cut down his lorry driving to four days a week. He may go to three next year. Minto first found Roman coins at the site in 2017. He kept returning and finding more coins scattered over a wide area, probably by ploughs. “The coins were all over the place,” he said. On another occasion he found a lead-lined coffin. Then in 2018, the ring was discovered. “The money was only paid out a couple of months ago, so it’s taken a long time,” he said. There was a complication, too, because the ring was found on the day of a military veterans’ detecting rally – and there was a dispute about who was entitled to the proceeds. “I’m glad it’s all finished now,” he said. Dating to around AD297, the ring weighs 48 grams. South West Heritage Trust, a charity committed to protecting and celebrating Somerset and Devon’s heritage, said it was rare in scale and artistry, and described it as an “unparalleled discovery for Britain”. Amal Khreisheh, senior curator at the trust, said: “The Ilminster ring is both large and heavy, with elaborate gold work and a beautifully executed i