Two very interesting decorated gold finger rings, found locally last October, were the subject of separate treasure inquests heard by Mr. Michael Howells, a Coroner for Wales assigned to the Pembrokeshire district, sitting at the Town Hall, Milford Haven, on Wednesday.

The first item, referred to the coroner's court by the National Galleries of Wales, was a slightly incomplete ring, dating from somewhere around the 14th-16th centuries, found with a metal detector by a young boy, Nathan Duffield, about five inches deep in arable ground.

To avoid less scrupulous persons from investigating the Pembrokeshire site, the coroner declined to give the exact location.

The ring itself, estimated to be worth in excess of £1,000, was described as having a fine, narrow edge and having been made to form a two-stranded twist.

The second item was considered to be of a similar value, dating from the late 16th or early 17th centuries, and not unlike other rings found in Glamorganshire and East Yorkshire.

Found by a Mr. Jeff Beckett in the garden of a property in South Pembrokeshire, it had originally been seen by the curator of Colchester Museum and was said to be made of gold, silver and copper with cross sections of a repeating floral pattern and engraved 'Keep faith to death'.

Under the Treasure Act 1996, which covers everyone, including archaeologists, such finds must be declared to a coroner within 14 days.

Finders will normally be asked to take their find to a local museum or archaeological body.

If the museum curator or archaeologist believe the find may be treasure, they then inform the British Museum or the National Museums and Galleries of Wales.

In these cases, Tenby Museum has expressed a wish to acquire the rings, but could not do so before the coroner had held an inquest and decided that the items were in fact treasure.

Any find of treasure that a museum wishes to acquire is first valued by independent experts.

The rings were found using hand-held metal detectors of the type which display the targets on screen and also give out an audible warning.