A FATHER and son metal detecting duo from County Durham could be quids in if a national museum buys up their Bronze Age hoard.

David and Kevin Hopper have only been pursuing their hobby for five years but have already flogged a stash of similarly-dated items to Palace Green Library, in Durham City.

In their latest find the pair, of Bishop Auckland, stumbled across the Bronze Age hoard of 21 items and a rare late Bronze Age hammer.

They discovered the ancient objects while combing an area between Barnard Castle and Bowes in July last year.

David, 62, said: “We were in a reeded area and it was July so it was dry. Kevin had gone in the reeds and within five minutes a spearhead popped up. I went over to it and we ended up with a pit two feet deep.

“Once we found that we have little pointers - we popped the pointers in and we were digging with little hand shovels.”

Among the items unearthed last summer were 21 items including spearheads from the Ewart park Phase, estimated to date from about 900 BC.

British Museum concluded the date and found the items fitted the criteria to be designated as treasure.

The other item found in “conjunction” with the hoard was a Bronze Age, cast copper alloy, socketed hammer dating back about 900 to 800 BC.

The metal detectorists, who go out and about on the hunt at least once a week, are in talks with the British Museum over the find.

In 2015 they found another Bronze Age hoard and sold their finds to Durham University’s Palace Green Library for £800.

Retired highways inspector David said although the hobby had cost them about £5,000 in equipment, the pastime was “not about the money”.

“You try and relate what you find to the land and the history of the land,” added David. “We do a lot of research and it’s strange what pops up. We try to work out where there’s a settlement. You find something and wonder who the last person was who held it.”

The items were declared to the British Museum and an inquest to identify whether they qualified as treasure was held at Crook Civic Centre yesterday.

Dr Leslie Hamilton, assistant coroner for County Durham and Darlington, explained to the court the function of treasure inquests are to identify the finder, who owned the land it was found on and to confirm it as treasure.

The coroner also held an inquest into the discovery of 48 medieval coins found in the Lanchester area.

The court heard among the coins were 44 silver, long-cross pennies dating from the reign of Edward I, between 1239 and 13076, two coins from the reign of Alexander III, from 1249 to 1286, one continental sterling imitation and one coin fro the reign of Edward III, 1327 to 1377.

In both cases the sites and land owners were unable to be identified due to the risk of the areas being “over run” by members of the public searching for more items.