I Thought It Was Foil! Detector Boy Bins Priceless Gold Strip

A boy who found a strip of Bronze Age gold binned it because he thought it was sweet wrapper foil – until his dad realised the error.

- Karen Pasquali Jones

When metal detectorist Patrick Hooper, 10, dug up the priceless treasure he did not mention it to his father.

Instead, he innocently tossed it in to his trash bag which his dad usually empties straight into the bin when they return home.

But luckily IT salesman Andrew, 47, tipped the contents on to their doorstep and spotted the rare “ribbon gold”, thought to be between 3,000 and 5,000 years old.

It is now being examined and recorded as suspected treasure.