LONDON (AP) -- An amateur treasure hunter prowling English farmland with a metal detector stumbled upon what has been described as the largest Anglo-Saxon treasure ever discovered, a massive collection of gold and silver crosses, sword decorations and other items, British archaeologists said Thursday.

One expert said the treasure would revolutionize understanding of the Anglo-Saxons, a Germanic people who ruled England from the fifth century until the Norman conquest in 1066. Another said the find would rank among Britain's best-known historic treasures.

''This is just a fantastic find completely out of the blue,'' Roger Bland, who managed the cache's excavation, told The Associated Press. ''It will make us rethink the Dark Ages. That's basically what it's going to do.''

The seventh century hoard, found by 55-year-old Terry Herbert on farmland in western England two months ago, consists of about 1,500 pieces of gold and silver, some inlaid with precious stones. So fine is the craftsmanship that experts say it could have belonged to Anglo-Saxon royalty.

Herbert, from the town of Burntwood, found the gold on a friend's farm on July 5 and spent the next five days scouring the field for the rest of the hoard.

''Imagine you're at home and somebody keeps putting money through your letterbox, that was what it was like,'' Herbert said. ''I was going to bed and in my sleep I was seeing gold items.''

The hoard was officially declared treasure by a coroner, which means it will now be valued by a committee of experts and offered up for sale to a museum. Proceeds would be split fifty-fifty between Herbert and his farmer friend, who has not been identified. The find's exact location is being kept secret to deter looters.

Bland said he could not give a precise figure for the worth of the hoard, but he said the treasure hunter could be in line for a ''seven-figure sum.''

Herbert said the experience had been ''more fun than winning the lottery,'' adding that one expert likened his discovery to finding Tutankhamen's tomb.

''I just flushed all over when he said that. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up,'' Herbert said.

The hoard is in storage at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Some of the items are due to go on display starting Friday.

''The quantity of gold is amazing but, more importantly, the craftsmanship is consummate,'' said archaeologist Kevin Leahy, who catalogued the find. ''This was the very best that the Anglo-Saxon metalworkers could do, and they were very good.''

Leahy said there was still much to learn about the treasure, its purpose, and its origins.

''It looks like a collection of trophies, but it is impossible to say if the hoard was the spoils from a single battle or a long and highly successful military career,'' he said. ''We also cannot say who the original, or the final, owners were, who took it from them, why they buried it or when. It will be debated for decades.''

Bland agreed, saying that archaeologists were still baffled by the function of many of the pieces they found.

''There's lots of mystery in it,'' he said.

Leslie Webster, an expert on Anglo-Saxons who used to work with the British Museum's Department of Prehistory and Europe, said the find was ''absolutely the equivalent of finding a new Lindisfarne Gospels or Book of Kells'' -- a reference to famous manuscripts produced around the same time.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/24/world/AP-EU-Britain-Anglo-Saxon-Gold.html?ref=world

For further info:
http://www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk/

I'd like to know more how he chanced on this discovery.

Same here, was it random? Was he looking for relic weapons and bottle caps or what?

I'm sure BBC has the film rights.

Dang I read the title and I thought it meant a working MG.

But wow what a find! This is what every kid dreams about.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Must be fun to live in Briton...old treasures like this are uncovered every few years. They actually had to pass a law that goes over the details of what happens when you find treasure in England, Wales, and North Ireland.

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

Yeah, the only thing we dig up around here are Indian graves and old bottles.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Wow old bottles! All I get is rocks....

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

You don't dig as much as I do.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

This just in, retailers report that metal detectors have been cleared off the shelves, completely sold out. Ammunition manufacturers have retooled some of their machinery to meet the demand.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

No the cost of ammo wont come down!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Folks with metal detectors just hope to find SOMEthing, kind of like fishing for FISH!

He would have been happy to find a seventy year old coin, Prolly!

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I read about the guy who found it saying that people would often honk at him and heckle him, "Hey, looking for pennies?" when he was looking in fields near roads.

One scholar told him that his find was like finding King Tut's tomb. He sorta liked that.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K