David Booth Finds £1m Haul On First Treasure Hunt

by amyellensoden | November 4, 2009 at 10:04 am

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David Booth, chief game warden at Stirlingshire's Blair Drummord Safari Park has discovered £1 million worth of Iron Age gold jewelry on his first treasure hunt. Booth was interested in trying his hand at treasure hunting and went out to try his metal detector only to stumble upon ancient golden necklaces, or torcs, from the 1st and 3rd centuries BC.

This marks Scotland's biggest find of Iron Age gold to date. Booth obtained permission to try out his new metal detector by a local landowner, and within seven paces he'd found the torcs about six to eight inches underground.

He added: “I parked and decided I might as well start on some flat ground just behind the car.

“I had only gone about seven paces when I got a sound telling me that I may have found gold. I used a spade and found the torcs together only six to eight inches underground.

“Half of me thought I had found something very interesting and half of me thought it might just be children’s toys. It is absolutely unreal.”

Booth reported his find to the Scottish Treasure Trove website and they immediately began to research his discovery. Excavation of the area has shown further signs of an Iron Age building but no more treasure has been found.

The torcs were unveiled yesterday at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh where Booth spoke about his lucky find. Booth will receive the market value for the torcs as determined by the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel.

As for Booth, many are wondering if he'll continue to treasure hunt in the future and what he'll do with his money from his discovery. Booth remains humble and speaks about his girlfriend, Carolyn Morrison, who is expecting the couple's first child.