Detectorist's Saxon discovery is brought to life in museum display

New illustrations reveal how a Saxon pendant unearthed in Leeds once looked as the ancient treasure is displayed for the first time in more than 1,200 years.

- by Andrew Hutchinson

The pendant was found by a metal detectorist

The beautiful early medieval pectoral cross has gone on display this week at Leeds City Museum alongside hand-drawn images showing how it could have appeared when it was possibly worn around the neck of a church official in the eighth century.

Believed to have once been a badge of office and a sign of religious identity, the silver, gilded pendant was discovered by a metal detectorist with one of its four arms broken and its central stone missing.

The new drawings, by archaeological illustrator John Prudhoe, show how the complete cross could have looked with its thin layer of gold leaf shining and a beautiful central garnet.