Metal detectorist’s 20-year treasure haul being sold for nearly $14,000

An amateur metal detectorist dubbed “golden girl” for her knack of digging up valuables is selling her stash of treasure for $13,750.

Nettie Edmondson, 74, has been scouring fields looking for lost artifacts for more than 20 years.

She has dug up countless historical items – including rare medieval brooches and a Roman gold ring.

Since starting her hobby in 2005, Edmondson has found at least one golden trinket every year.

Her ability to discover buried treasures earned her the nickname ‘golden girl’ by other metal detectorists.

She is now selling her remarkable collection of more than 100 items at auction on Saturday, May 16.

Edmondson, of Wilden, Bedfordshire, said: “I am keeping a couple of bits back but other than that it is all going under the hammer.

“I had health problems a couple of years ago and realized I wouldn’t be doing this forever.

"My daughter isn’t interested, so I want my finds to go to a collector who shares my love of history.”

Hanson Ross Auctioneers is handling the sale and expect the entire collection to sell for a total of around $13,750.

Edmondson started her lucrative hobby in 2005 after spotting a metal detectorist searching farmland behind her home.

She asked him what he was doing and went out and bought the same detector and “never looked back.”

Over the past 21 years she has found treasures in Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Norfolk.

She said: “It is exceptional – but I have been lucky.

“The counties I visit – are really rich in finds because they were home to so many Viking, Saxon and Roman settlements and still have so many fields not built on.

“I’m also into history so researching about Romans, Vikings and what they did had also helped a lot.

“For example, many people would assume Roman villas would be up on hilltops for the views, but actually they’d be on the side of the hill.

“I can definitely look at the land and it talks to me and I’ll be like – OK I’m heading over there.”

Edmondson found her first medieval coin just weeks after she started detecting.

She said: “I take it really, really slow, in fact some people say I almost go backwards.

“I just love the stories behind all these things. You pull it out the ground and it’s just been sitting there for years and years.”

One of her most astonishing finds was a gold posy ring dating back to the 16th century she unearthed in a friend’s garden in 2016.

She said: “She had acquired a strip of land at the bottom of her garden when I saw it had been leveled ready for planting fruit trees I asked if I could run my detector over it.

“After five minutes I heard the ping and saw a glint of gold from a ring.

“When the soil was brushed away, I saw it was a rare gold posy ring dated 1550-1700 with inscribed ‘My hart and I untell I die’.

“I had just dug the find of a lifetime and flopped down staring at the exquisite object.

“I was in genuine shock. My friend came down to see if I was okay.”

Other pieces in her golden haul include a gold Roman intaglio ring, expected to make up to $1,875, and a medieval gold annular brooch worth around $1,000.

Edmondson says one of her favorite items is a 4th-century Roman coin, with the posy ring, which is expected to fetch up to $1,500.

She said: “It was another of those fantastic moments when you see the glint of gold.

“But there was a bit more than a glint with this one – I could see a chunk of gold.

“After washing the mud off I saw what I thought was a Roman ring and even more exciting was the fact that a lovely intaglio was still in situ and in good condition.”

Edmondson, who is tight-lipped about the exact locations of the finds, with several being around the nearby village of Bolnhurst, said: “It’s hard to describe what it’s like when you find gold.

“You are looking at something that has been buried for 2,000 years and there it is as shiny as when it went into the ground.

“I remember every site where I found gold – of course I always do the gold dance even if there’s only a cow watching me.”

Auctioneer Amanda Butler said: “The collection is nothing short of jaw-dropping – many detectorists go an entire career without finding gold but something about Nettie just seems to attract it.”

Edmondson’s treasures will be auctioned at Woburn Hotel on Saturday, May 16.