In a story straight out of a fairy tale, a 3-year-old boy in England has stumbled upon a 16th-century gold pendant worth an estimated $4 million, while casually playing with his father’s metal detector in a countryside field.
Little Oscar Mitchell, accompanied by his dad on a weekend hobby trip near their home in Hertfordshire, struck literal gold just minutes into the outing. The device gave off a strong signal, and after a bit of digging with a plastic spade, Oscar pulled out a mud-covered object — which turned out to be an exquisitely crafted Tudor-era gold pendant, likely dating back to the 1500s.
The pendant features intricate engravings, including a royal insignia believed to be linked to the court of King Henry VIII, along with tiny embedded rubies and emeralds. Experts from the British Museum, where the artifact is now being examined, have called it “one of the most significant private treasure finds in decades.”
Oscar’s father, Tom Mitchell, said he handed his son the detector “just for fun,” never expecting history to emerge from the soil. “I thought the signal was just another bottle cap,” he said. “Then Oscar held up this gold piece and asked, ‘Is this treasure, Daddy?’ I nearly fainted.”
The discovery has been officially declared treasure under the UK Treasure Act, and will likely be acquired by a national museum. Oscar and his family are expected to receive a multi-million-pound reward, split with the landowner where the pendant was found.
Social media is now celebrating the toddler as the “youngest treasure hunter in the world,” while historians are hailing the find as a window into England’s golden age. As for Oscar — he just wants more time with the “beepy stick.”
