The historic find of a 3-year-old child is worth $4 million, but here’s how he is rewarded. As a child, everyone dreams of finding treasure. We have all seen movies where buried treasure is found by a rag-tag group of friends. But this little boy lived that dream.
The father and son duo struck literal gold and made an incredibly historical find. Three-year-old James Hyatt was out hunting treasure with his dad, Jason Hyatt. His dad has been searching for treasure for 15 years. Jason was with his father and son were in a field in Hockley, Essex using their metal detector.
This was one of the first times James had accompanied his father on one of his hunts. James was using the detector when it started beeping, indicating that the metal was under where it was aimed.
“He went beep beep beep,” younger James recalled of the event. His father began to dig. When he dug down to about 6 to 8 inches, he struck gold, literally.
“We dug six to eight inches down and lo and behold, we got a gold flame.” I moved the dirt and brought it to the surface and there it was,” said Jason Hyatt.
“Then we dug in the mud. There was gold there. We didn’t have a map – only pirates have treasure maps,” three-year-old James explained to the media.
They discovered a pendant about an inch in size. At the time, they had no idea that the pendant they discovered was so valuable. When experts appraised it, it turned out to be a 500-year-old pendant of the Virgin Mary, which is estimated to be worth around $4 million.
The pendant was found to be 73% gold and is believed to be a reliquary. A reliquary is a container containing religious relics associated with religious figures or objects with which they are associated.
The diamond shaped pendant has various inscriptions including the name of the Three Wise Men. Their names “Jaspar, Melchior, Balthasar” are written on the pages of the pendant.
On the back of the pendant you can see a cutout and four symbols in the shape of crying eyes. These inscriptions are believed to represent the five sacred wounds worn by Jesus Christ. Experts believe the medal is from the Henry VIII era and could have belonged to a member of the royal family.
For two years after it was found in 2010, Marilyn Hockey was responsible for preserving the relic. The back panel of the hanger opened to reveal the contents inside. The interior contains flax fibers that experts believe must have been planted on the site at some point. It is not known whether these linen threads had any significance or were deliberately placed inside.
A coroner’s inquest declared the find a treasure which has now had a permanent place in the British Museum’s medieval gallery since 2012.
While the estimated value of the pendant was $4 million, the family only received £70,000 for their find. The money was paid with donations from the Humanitarian Fund and Friends of the Museum. The money will be split between Hyatt and the landowner.
But the big payout is still the biggest payoff Jason Hyatt has ever seen from his hobby. He says his son is extremely lucky!
“My son is one of the luckiest people ever.” “If we go to the doctor, he will put his hand on the couch and pull out a ten,” said the satisfied father.
What a wonderful story about how children sometimes make amazing discoveries.
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