Norfolk treasure-hunter puts finds down to 'beginner's luck'

Mel Hollwoger, the "lucky" detectorist, with images of her first piece of treasure

A woman who inherited a metal detector and found two rare Anglo-Saxon items within three months said it was a case of "beginner's luck".

Mel Hollwoger, 54, unearthed a sword scabbard mount and rare gold band in fields near her home in Aldborough, Norfolk.

The mount was valued at £25,000 and both have been declared treasure.

Ms Hollwoger only took up the hobby to accompany her partner who used to hunt with his late father.

She inherited his metal detector and three months after finding her first piece, unearthed the gold, gem and cut-glass band.

It was declared treasure earlier this month and described as a "curious piece".

"It was a huge joke at first when I found the scabbard mount - a case of beginner's luck - but finding a second piece, it's really hard to believe I've actually found two," she said.

Pyramidal mounts date from the mid-sixth to later seventh centuries, according to the Portable Antiquities Scheme

Ms Hollwoger was a guest with the Norfolk Recovery Heritage Group (NRHG) when she made her finds in 2018.

"Most of us could go a lifetime detecting and not come close to finding one item of this importance, but to find two items as rare and important from the Saxon period and from different sites is almost unheard of," said NRHG's Rick Child.

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The band, which resembles a ring, is expected to be valued at a price similar to the early medieval cast gold and garnet pyramidal mount, which failed to reach its reserve price at auction recently.

Historians are unsure what the band was used for, with possibilities including metalwork for a religious cross or maybe a sword hilt.

The magnificence of the gold band was revealed shortly after the mud was washed off

Norfolk Museums Service wanted to buy the mount but had to withdraw following its valuation by the British Museum.

Ms Hollwoger hopes a benefactor might eventually buy it for the county.

"To my mind it belongs to north Norfolk. It's our history, everybody's history. And it just would be a shame [for it] to be sat in someone's safe or something," she said.

The lucky detectorist said she was hoping to find "something Celtic" next.