Celtic ruler's ring goes under hammer for £36,000 at auction

The ring is believed to have been worn by a Celtic tribal chieftain

A 2,000-year-old gold ring believed to have been worn by a Celtic ruler could go on display in York after being sold at auction for £36,000.

The "jaw-dropping" jewellery was bought by a British private collector on Wednesday after it spent the last 28 years in its previous owner's cupboard.

The Yorkshire Museum is now in talks with the buyer about displaying the "rare and beautiful object".

The Iron Age ring was unearthed in a field in North Yorkshire in the 1990s.

Dating back to about 100BC, it was thought to have been worn by a chieftain of the Corieltauvi tribe, which ruled parts of what are now the Midlands and Yorkshire before the Roman invasion.

Auction house Noonans had expected the ring to fetch between £24,000 and £30,000 on Wednesday.

Nigel Mills, specialist in ancient jewellery at the firm, said: "We were delighted with the result of this beautiful ring."

He added the auctioneers were "so pleased" the item was staying in the UK and said the buyer now wanted to loan the ring so the public could view it.

The ring was dug up in Knaresborough in 1994 and sold to a collector

Andrew Woods, senior curator at the Yorkshire Museum told the BBC he "would be delighted to be able to display this rare and beautiful object for audiences to enjoy".

"We have an outstanding Iron Age collection and the ring would sit very well on display alongside our other objects," he added.

The artefact was dug up by a metal detectorist in Knaresborough in 1994 who then sold it on to a collector for a few hundred pounds.

'Jaw-dropping'

The collector, a 66-year-old man who wanted to remain anonymous, kept the ring in a cupboard for nearly three decades before deciding to get it valued this year.

He previously told the BBC: "It's jaw-dropping. It's not quite King Arthur's ring, but it's the next thing down."

The ring's distinctive abstract design has been linked to the Iceni tribe, which once ruled a large part of modern day East Anglia.

It is thought it could have ended up in what is now Yorkshire as part of a treaty between feuding tribes.

Mr Mills said: "There is no other ring of this style which exists. It's an incredibly important piece."