Charlie Clarke, a 34 year old cafe owner in Birmingham, England, was feeling down about losing his dog to cancer, so he went over to a friend's place in the countryside to take a stroll and get some fresh air. He brought along his metal detector gear for the new hobby he had picked up six months ago.
When he heard the unusually loud beeps emitted while he walked on his friend's property in Warwickshire, he thought he had probably come across a soda can. Instead, about a foot down the earth, he happened upon a treasure that has electrified researchers, and could very well change the course of his family's future.
Mr. Clarke pulled up a gold chain and heart-shaped pendant, adorned with symbols his friend recognized as connected to Henry VIII and his first wife, Katherine of Aragon. He thought it must have been from a costume, but it seemed far too heavy for that, he said in an interview on Friday.
He said that it was special.
The pendant itself was an ornate spectacle: The front was decorated with a pomegranate bush, an emblem of Katherine, and an entwined, double-headed Tudor rose, which was employed by the Tudors in 1486. On the other side, the letters H and K — for Henry and Katherine — were written in Lombardic script and connected by a ribbon.