Little boy's curiosity leads to discovery of rare gold bracelet

A little boy made an unexpected discovery while he was on a walk with his dog in the Pagham area of England two years ago.

12-year-old Rowan Brannan from Bognor, Sussex often picks up interesting items he finds. On this particular day, he was convinced that the dirty piece of metal was real gold.

Despite his mother Amanda's initial scepticism, Rowan took the item home and researched how to identify real gold. “Rowan has always been into finding all sorts of bits and pieces, he’s very adventurous and is always picking stuff up off the floor,” Amanda explained to SWNS.

“I’m forever saying, ‘Put it down, it’s dirty,’ but on this occasion, he kept holding this bit of metal, convinced that it was actual real gold,” she continued. “I thought it was just some strapping from a fence or something — it was very dirty.”

The boy insisted it was real gold. After some research online, they still were not sure. A stroke of luck came when a hairdresser visiting their home mentioned metal detecting. Rowan excitedly showed her his find. The hairdresser advised them to contact a Finds Liaison Officer, a specialist who helps identify historical artefacts found by the public.

The British Museum runs a program that records archaeological finds made by the public and Finds Liaison Officers assist with identification.

The officer confirmed it was a rare Roman bracelet, likely from the 1st century AD. These bracelets were awarded to soldiers for bravery and service.

“The Finds Liaison Officer was very interested in the gold, so we had to go up to Horsham to drop it off because it’s then property of the Crown while it’s going through all of these different processes,” Amanda said.

“It’s very exciting whenever we read an email,” she added. “We have been kept up to date throughout the whole process.”

“An armilla bracelet — our understanding is — was given to the Roman soldiers as a mark of respect and valor and service,” she said.

“It’s a portion, it’s not a full circular bangle. What makes it treasure is that it is over 300 years and a precious metal.”

Despite being over 300 years old, the piece was remarkably well-preserved.