Finder of Staffordshire Hoard wants a quiet life

Oct 3 2009

But what they don’t reveal is the hours of painstaking searching - often lying flat on the floor in mud, in torrential rain, wind, intense heat and even violent thunderstorms.

There were times when Terry actually waved his arms about in case passers-by thought he might be lying dead in the field!

And he admits he was seriously afraid holding a metal detector in the middle of the field while lightning flashed around him.

Contrary to some reports Terry did not use a metal detector bought for £2.50 from a car boot sale. He saved up to buy a quality detector, which he has used for 14 years. And he partly attributes his success to really knowing and interpreting the signals which the White Eagle Spectrum gives off.

Terry spoke of the absolute relief of being able to hand over every last tiny fragment of the find to the experts for safekeeping. Realising he had found something unique he felt very protective over the find and was frantic about security for the treasure. He admits to being in a real panic, even afraid to leave the site.

When an expert looked wide-eyed at the items and told Terry their significance he said: “I could feel myself hot flushing. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and there was electric going up my neck!”

Now he is happy to leave the find to the experts to examine and theorise about.

A member of Bloxwich Research and Metal Detecting Club, Terry’s first finds were on Sunday, July 5.

He started at 11am, with the permission of the landowner, and his detector registered the first item at 12 noon - which Terry just presumed would be silver foil or scrap metal!

But on close examination he realised it was gold. Within half an hour he found five more.

He spent two or three hours a day on the Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Friday of that week - and the finds just kept coming, some of them visible on the surface of the ploughed field.

Chasetown-born Terry even wonders whether his find was meant to be. He said often he would fill in a hole which he had thoroughly searched - only to go back the next day to find more treasure on top of the hole!

One of the gold items he found when he leant on the ground and it stabbed him in the hand!

“Why me? I don’t know. Did the treasure always have my name on it?

Now, convinced he has the Midas touch, club members are rubbing his belly!

Eventually Terry had to call for help from the experts.

“I was not prepared for this,” he said. “I didn’t know what I was walking into. I was gobsmacked. “Just imagine if a dealer had found it - and smashed it to bits so it could be melted down.”

Terry continues metal detecting.

Two weeks ago he found a rare Roman coin.....