A CHANCE find in a North Yorkshire field has left a beginner metal detectorist a much wealthier man.

Lee Rossiter was out with his detecting club in April last year when he started to feel the cold so he walked back to his car to get his coat.

But on his way across his detector suddenly pinged – and moments later he found a golden ring that may have been in the ground for more than 500 years.

And now the Tudor “love ring” has been sold – to the jewellers used by the Royal family – for an undisclosed five-figure sum.

Lee, a 43-year-old technical writer, had only started metal detecting some18 months earlier when he bought a basic metal detector on eBay because he thought his daughter may like it.

It turned out that she didn’t – but he got rather interested in it instead and soon joined the Yorkshire Searchers Metal Detecting Club.

And on the day of his discovery – by Green Hammerton, between York and Harrogate – he had been hoping to find a couple of coins at the very best.

“I got really excited, so far I had only found the odd silver coin, but this looked like a proper piece of jewellery, which seemed to be made of gold,” he said.

“One of my friends said it was far too yellow to be real gold and looked like costume jewellery I should just throw away.

“But the ring was relatively heavy and I thought I better ask our dig organiser, Stuart Littlewood. Luckily he confirmed that this was definitely an antique ring, most likely Tudor Gold.”

Experts at the British Museum agreed, dating it to the 15th-century and identifying the two inset stones as a ruby and an emerald.

The ring was declared treasure trove, but although local museums were interested they could not raise the funds to but it.

After agreeing to share the proceeds with the landowner, Lee contacted auctioneer and valuer Mark Littler to help fund a buyer.

And he brokered a deal with Wartski in Mayfair – a firm that has supplied the Royal Family for generations.

“I was excited when Lee first approached me as medieval jewellery is more often found in museums, not fields, and I knew immediately that this was an important find,” said Mr Littler, who worked with Tennants of Leyburn before going independent.

Kieran McCarthy, director of Wartski, said: “We have a strong interest in medieval rings and were thrilled to have the opportunity of purchasing this one. Jewels of this calibre are extraordinarily rare and it is magical when the ground presents them as gifts to those who look for them.”