A 10-year-old boy found a 13th century church seal using a metal detector (5 photos)

In England, in Suffolk, Paul Henderson and his ten-year-old son George went on a trip outside the city. The man was an avid lover of instrument search and even introduced the boy to this business. Arriving at one of the fields in Woodbridge, Paul gave George a metal detector and the two of them began combing the field.





Within ten minutes the device reported a target under the coil, this was the first signal here. The boy began happily digging it up and at a depth of only about 12 centimeters, George discovered a small, flat, oval-shaped object with pointed corners. He didn’t know what it was, but when he showed the find to his father, he simply shocked him.



Ten-year-old George Henderson discovers an extremely rare 13th century copper seal

This story happened during a charity festival on instrument search in which many people took part. Paul Henderson has been involved in this hobby for a long time, and his son has been going with him since he was five and also loves metal detecting. The man admits that George had previously managed to find interesting artifacts. However, as he himself admits, this discovery of his son “surpassed everything that he had found over the years of instrumental search.”





Rare 13th century copper seal depicting the Virgin Mary holding a child

The boy himself didn’t even know what it was, much less could imagine how ancient and valuable a find he had made. Paul, as a history and archeology buff, immediately recognized the copper piece as a medieval seal. But even he did not yet know about the value of this find. It depicted the Virgin Mary with a baby in her arms (a very popular subject for the Middle Ages, which was depicted not only on icons, but also on seals), and along the outline there was an inscription in Latin, from which one can understand that this is the seal of the Batley monastery , Adam's canonical order. According to Paul, the boy was, of course, happy about the find, but took it quite calmly.



Outline text in Latin stating that this is the seal of the monastery of Batley, Adam's canonical order

Upon arriving home in Sutton-in-Ashfield, father and son went to the coroner, a finds specialist, to determine the value of the seal. It should be clarified here that the charity festival took place in the area of Batley monastery, founded near Woodbridge in 1171. Adam, who is mentioned on the seal, served as rector there from 1219 to 1235, which means the relic dates back to the same years. The coroner with whom they consulted informed them about this, from which both, of course, were in complete shock. The expert also assessed the relic as an artifact of “regional importance,” at least as it is recorded in the PAS database.



According to British laws, a find is not classified as treasure, so the right to dispose of it belongs to the finder. The decision was made to sell the print. The 13th century seal went under the hammer at the Hanson auction for £4,000, which at that rate was more than 300 thousand rubles. Ten-year-old George and the farmer who owned the field on which the seal was discovered shared the proceeds.

Paul Henderson later admitted in a media interview:

"The historical significance of the seal, not the value, is what's important to both me and George. This is the most exciting find either of us has ever made."