RETIRED history teacher Christopher Longridge could receive a cash windfall for two Bronze Age gold earrings he found in a field.

He uncovered the ancient artefacts at Binsted, near Arundel, on a metal-detecting trip last August.

He had an agreement with the landowner that he could look for objects there.

They decided to share the proceeds of any finds and Mr Longridge had visited the site several times before.

onfirmed

A Worthing inquest heard that Mr Longridge, 53, of Park Crescent, Worthing, found the interlocked rings five inches under the ground.

He washed them under a tap at home and called Dr Sally White, curator at Worthing Museum.

The earrings were sent to the British Museum, who told Mr Longridge they dated back to between 1500 and 1300 BC and were 85 per cent gold.

They will be valued by auctioneers and British Museum experts in the next few weeks and the value of the find will be divided between Mr Longridge and the landowner.

Dr White said after the inquest: "Littlehampton museum is very interested and they will try to raise the money for them once the amount is decided. I notified them of the find and showed them photos

"If they were not able to acquire them, then we would be interested."

Mr Longridge said: "I have been metal-detecting for about nine years and go out once or twice a week.

"I thought these were gold milk bottle tops when I saw them.

"I do not know how much they will be worth. They are very old rings and had been damaged somewhat over the years. But it was a good find."

West Sussex coroner Roger Stone declared the objects were old enough to be called treasure. He added: "This is one of the smaller finds I have seen but every one is interesting."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.