 BRONZE Age gold unearthed by metal detectors in North Wales was yesterday officially declared treasure of international importance. It was the metal detectors' equivalent of winning the lottery, a treasure trove inquest heard. Three enthusiasts from Liverpool and the owner of the land at Rossett, near Wrexham, where the hoard was discovered, will be sharing the value of the find. A gold Bronze Age Ringlemere Cup, found in Kent in 2001, was valued at £270,000. The treasure, the first of its kind to be found in Britain, was described as "the find of a lifetime". Fourteen gold, bronze and ancient pottery artefacts were discovered. They are believed to date from between 1300-1100 BC - the Middle Bronze Age. The haul was unearthed by three friends who were scouring a farm field in the Rossett area in January. Peter Skelly, William May and Joseph Perry all work for Liverpool social services and are members of South Lancashire and Cheshire Metal Detectors Club. Mr Skelly said: "We have been detecting in the North Wales area for the last five years because we enjoy this area and the land owners are very friendly towards us. "In this case we just liked the look of the land. "We've had some very good finds but this was the find of a lifetime - the metal detectors' version of winning the lottery. "We've found silver coins before. I have found brooches and coins way back to the Romans but this is unheard of - going back 3,300 years." Mr Skelly told the Flint inquest: "We are hungry for history and read and watch everything on TV." The friends made three visits to the secret site, unearthing the major find in late January. Their sophisticated detectors first found a Bronze Age axe head about eight inches below the surface. Mr May got the first signal. A gold bead (pictured left) was then discovered.
 Iron debris had to be cleared away to avoid confusing the detectors. And then more gold appeared. "We started pulling up more pieces of gold and it was very exciting. We were spending about six hours a day there. We realised we had found a major hoard. We started to let our imaginations run wild. I said I bet there is a gold torc necklace here and 25 minutes later we found a gold torc necklace," said Mr Skelly. When the necklace was dug up the three "started dancing around patting each other on the back". | 
