Who among us, as a child, never organized, at least once, a treasure hunt? We thought of an adventure, we chose a place and we drew a map. Maybe we were hunting for particular clothes and objects that could recreate an even more intense atmosphere of true treasure hunters. But have you ever come across a real treasure? Do you think it’s not possible? This is not exactly true.
To demonstrate what we mean, we want to tell you the story of a 3-year-old boy who was lucky enough to find a treasure worth millions of dollars. Let’s have a look at his story:
On an ordinary day and quite by chance, little James Hyatt at the age of 3, found an almost priceless treasure. Out and about with his father and grandfather in the Essex countryside, the little boy experimented with the use of a metal detector. After a few minutes James and his companions began to hear a constant “beep beep” from the metal detector. They stopped at the precise point indicated by the detector and began to dig.
None of the three had expected that a 500-year-old object could be hiding under the mud. It was a pendant depicting the Virgin Mary on one side – or the figure of Saint Helena, according to later studies – and on the other side, a heart with 4 weeping eyes. All of the symbols seemed to refer to sacred images and origins. Furthermore, on the face of the medallion, the names of the three Magi (the Three Wise Men) can be read: Melcior, Iaspar and Baltasar.
The medallion was declared a national treasure and was sold to the British Museum, where it can still be admired today. The proceeds of the sale, about $ 4 million dollars, according to James’s father, was shared with the owner of the land where the object was found.
In all, there are three examples, including this one, of similar medallions. According to some studies, the pendant may have been made as a container for religious relics.
This was a truly lucky and unexpected discovery. After many years of exploring like this, the grandfather of the 3-year-old boy has never found anything like it, but his grandson, on his first try, discovered something of enormous value.
Congratulations to little James and his nose for treasure. He is certainly among the very few children who have made the treasure hunt game a stunning reality.
