Jeremy's treasure

It is remarkable for its pristine condition and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery has expressed an interest in purchasing it from Mr Rudge, aged 47, from Burntwood.

The ring was declaired treasure by Staffordshire South coroner Andrew Haigh yesterday at a hearing where he heard a report written by the curator for the medieval collection at the British Museum, JP Robinson.

It described the ring as dating from the late 14th or 15th century. To qualify as treasure, it would have to be at least 10 per cent precious metal and more than 300 years old. The treasure ruling means the ring is in possession of the British Museum, but the finder has ownership and can be paid a reward fee.

Mr Rudge has been metal detecting for five years and is a member of Bloxwich Research and Metal Detecting Club, was delighted treasure status was bestowed on the 2007 find.

The owner of Jeremy Rudge saddlers in Aldridge will now await a valuation and offer from the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.

He said: "It is very difficult to predict a value as yet but I don't metal detect for the money, I do it for the interest.

"It is about touching the past and retrieving something that may otherwise never have been found. There is no indication as to why it would have been there in what is now a ploughed field.

"It would have belonged to a lady of high status, perhaps on a hunt or out riding. The pristine condition suggests it would have been fairly new. I should have thought she would have beed distraught when she lost [it]."

A piedfort - similar to a coin but much thicker, thought to be a reckoning counter used by important officials in the calculation of accounts- was also declaired as treasure at the hearing.