A 15th century gold ring found in a farmer's field has doubled its estimate at Bonhams, as competing investors sent the price soaring.
The gold ring, which contains a naturally-pointed crystal and is inscribed in Gothic script with "amour mi tien" (love keep me), made £42,000 at the London sale, far surpassing its £20,000 top end estimate.
Metal detectorist John Stevens unearthed the item in a field in Fleckney, Leicestershire in July 2008.
Bonhams' Emily Barber told the BBC: "It's a wonderful find, an unexpected one, and a great result."
"It's very rare to have jewels from this period come up for auction, so when they do, they're competed over by collectors."
 This 15th century gold ring doubled its estimate |
The profits from the sale will be shared equally between Stevens and the landowner.
£1m worth of iron age jewellery was discovered in Stirlingshire, Scotland by a metal detectorist in 2009, including 3rd century BC neckbands.
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