A glint of gold beneath an English farm field led a veteran treasure hunter to a discovery with a possible Christian connection: a 1,000-year-old pendant believed to depict the “Hand of God.”
Nick Berry, 58, unearthed the hand-shaped artifact while metal detecting in Ashmansworth, Hampshire, near Highclere Castle, the mansion featured in “Downton Abbey,” Fox News reported, citing Bournemouth News and Picture Service.
“There were three of us searching, and I was in the middle,” Berry told BNPS. “I got a really good signal. I dug down and looked into the hole and saw straight away the glint of gold.”
After more than 30 years of searching, Berry knew this find stood apart.
“I just stared at it. I knew straight away it was something very different and could tell it was Anglo-Saxon,” he said.
Beneath the mud was a nearly pristine gold pendant believed to date to the ninth or 10th century. But its distinctive shape drew attention beyond its age and precious metal.
Julian Evan-Hart, editor of Treasure Hunting magazine, connected the design to historic Christian imagery.
“The hand has often been symbolically related to Christianity and features as the ‘Hand of God’ on several late Saxon/Viking period silver coins and later ecclesiastical artwork,” Evan-Hart told BNPS.
“In this case, it would seem likely that this too represents a ‘Hand of God’ manufactured in the form of a gold pendant.”
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That identification remains an interpretation. The pendant could have hung around the neck of a wealthy or high-status owner. With no other artifacts discovered nearby, BNPS reported that its owner could have accidentally dropped it.
Berry reported the discovery to a local finds liaison officer. The pendant went to the British Museum for examination and has been declared treasure, according to BNPS.
A museum acquisition could bring Berry and the landowner a payment based on its assessed market value. No confirmed valuation was provided.
Berry already has his own measure of its significance.
He called it “the find of a lifetime.”
“I will never find anything like it again,” he said.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
