The picture on this page could never show the beauty or historical significance of the lovely find made by Bob Acton & Ron Howse with their White's XLT's.
The torcs weigh an incredible 716g and 399g and were manufactured in the Late Bronze Age circa 1000-800 BC. The finders were rewarded to the sum of  110,000.
Bob & Ron first met in West Africa in 1975 while working as Oil Field Divers. They soon realised they had similar interests when they used to go diving in one of the rivers out there in their spare time.

The crew change vessels that used to run personnel and food out to the oil rigs were always damaging their propellers on a sand bar that stretched over the mouth of the river entrance.
This job used to be done a few miles up river where the water was clearer. The first time they dived to change a prop, they soon realised that there must have been some kind of activity there in the past as the river bed was strewn with all kind of goodies. They found out later that the area used to be a trading post going way back, according to records, to the 15th century. They recovered an abundance of old bottles, earthenware jars and the odd cap and ball muskets came to light among many other artifacts.

They started to metal detect while on home leave and decided this would be their winter hobby as in the summer they were very keen on diving.

Bobs first detector was a Whites 6/DBH Coin Master and Ron�s was an antique P I machine that picked up every thing including the metal toe-caps on his boots. Bob had many good years with his Coin Master then one day treated himself to an XLT. Ron was soon to follow.

They have both been detecting for over 20 years and really got hooked on the hobby. One farm they got permission to detect on about three years ago started out very dull indeed and after a few  days, they nearly walked away from it. But they started to see pottery and then the odd Roman grot started to turn up followed by brooches, pot mends and even the odd stater.

Needless to say they stuck to this field and slowed their searching down. They started to find many flints as well and realised they had an area that had been used over many thousands of years.

One of Ron's favourite modes with the XLT is 'All Metal' (Mixed Mode) whilst Bob tends to favour 'Coins & Jewellery'  They often call each other over to cross check signals.
It was one cold evening when they were getting ready to pack it in for the day. They were cross checking a signal that registered on 'All Metal' but not 'Coins & Jewellery�. They started to dig but had really had enough for the day and thought it was probably another piece of broken plough or large horse shoe so they tidied up and were glad to get home for a warm up.

The next day they were drawn back to the place and started to dig again. After going down about ten or so inches, they were getting a reading on 'Coins & Jewellery� and continued to dig. After a while they realised they were down too far and the signal was off to the side. Bob was actually in the hole by then and after widening it even more, he straightened up and thrust a handful of clay and what Ron thought was at first a brass bearing from farm machinery, it was not until he noticed one end of the object was flattened at the ends that he went cold and realised what they had.

Before Ron could get his head together, Bob had another one in his hand and Ron could see through the clay that it was bigger and thicker than the first one. What in fact they had discovered were two solid gold neck rings. At first they thought they were Celtic but the Curator of Weymouth Museum, Rodney Alcock, later told them that they were Bronze Age.
When they came to their senses, they tried for other signals but got no further readings. They carefully widened the hole looking for any signs of the remains of a container or perhaps stones that may have covered the objects but there was nothing but clay.
The Neck Rings were later to be declared treasure and were taken to The British Museum for assessment.

After over a year later, the Treasure Valuation Committee decided on a valuation of 110,000. and the Rings were purchased by The Dorset County Museum where they are now on display.  The BM reports that the smaller torc contains approx. 80% gold and the larger 86%. The large torc has a maximum diameter of 192 mm (approx 7.5) and the smaller torc is 172 mm max diameter (approx. 6.75) Wow!
We congratulate Ron and Bob on this immensely important find.