A MAN from Chard has unearthed a mysterious 200-year-old ring on a metal detecting day in a field in West Dorset.

Colin Spiller, 44, found the ring when taking part in the day with 50 other enthusiasts in a farmers field in Burstock.

The ring itself is almost exactly 200 years old and was made to commemorate the death of someone with the initials I.W.

Mr Spiller, who has been a metal detectorist for 12 years, said: “It is a fantastic find.

“I thought about keeping it but it would have stayed at the back of a drawer.”

The ring is expected to fetch up to £1,200 at Mayfair auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb when it goes up for auction on September 5 in London.

Colin will split the proceeds 50/50 with the farmer who owns the field.

Laura Smith, a jewellery specialist at Dix Noonan Webb auctioneers, said: “This ring is such a poignant find.

“Mourning rings were worn to commemorate loved ones who passed away and one cannot help but wonder who ‘I.W’ was and what sort of life he or she lived.”

The ring is a gold band decorated on the exterior with stylized foliage and a momento mori (reflection on mortality) skull relief decorated in black enamel.

Inside is a Latin inscription which translates as “I.W. died April 9, 1717, aged 71.”

The ring is in remarkably good condition given that it may have spent much of the past two centuries buried in a Dorset field.

Ironically it was on February 26 this year, almost exactly two centuries after the death of the person commemorated by the ring, that Colin Spiller went into the field accompanied by his 15 year-old stepson, Ashley Miner.

After an hour they received a strong signal on their detector and found the ring four or five inches below the surface.

Colin said: “To be honest, I thought it was a modern piece at first because it was black and I did not know that this is enamelling. Then, Ashley puts his finger through the middle of the ring to clear out the earth and we saw the date and we did a high five.

“I didn’t know exactly what it was until Laura Smith at Dix Noonan Webb advised me.

“It’s historic and the most valuable thing I have ever found. We have registered it with Taunton Museum at the Portable Antiquities Scheme and I will be splitting the money with the farmer.

“It has been a great experience and I am now looking forward to more days detecting.”