Amanda Parker wasn’t expecting much when she took her metal detector on a walk in a small Lancashire field one day in August 2024. But 20 steps in, her detector fired—and eight inches underground, she discovered a gold ring.
Its inscription included the name Ri Busby, which didn’t mean anything to Parker at first. It does now. The ring she found on that Catforth farm is headlining Noonans’ jewelry sale tomorrow in London, estimated to bring in several thousand dollars.
Turns out, Parker had discovered a ring dating to the late 17th century, made as a memorial to Richard Busby, headmaster of Westminster School from 1638 until his death in 1695. Busby is one of the most consequential educators in English history, and is buried in Westminster Abbey. His pupils included such future renowned figures as John Locke, Christopher Wren, Henry Purcell, Robert Hooke, and John Dryden. (Among their other accomplishments, Locke, Wren, and Hooke went on to become founding members of the Royal Society, Britain’s national academy of sciences.)
Busby had left money in his will specifically for the creation of rings “in the remembrance of me,” with clergymen, lay church officials, choristers, students, even bell ringers at Westminster Abbey among the designated recipients.
The ring that Parker unearthed is one of approximately 20 Busby memorial rings with a skull motif, in addition to floral engraving. Records from Westminster School show that 90 foliate rings were produced in total.
Parker said that after finding the ring, she sat alone beside the hole for 10 to 15 minutes, unable to process what she was holding. She learned about Richard Busby once she got home and did some online research, and later traveled to London to visit Westminster School. Staff there were delighted to see the ring—the school didn’t have one in its collection.
“I don’t do metal detecting for money, and this is the only find that I have put up for sale,” said Parker, who took up the hobby in 2022 after her daughter and son-in-law introduced her to it. “I do it because I love being out in the glorious countryside, the anticipation when digging a signal and turning over the clod to reveal a lost artifact, trying to imagine the last person to hold that item.
“I really enjoy trying to find out as much information as I can on any find,” Parker added. “I have learnt so much history since starting metal detecting.”
In Noonans’ June 23 sale, the ring is estimated at £3,000, about $4,000.
(Ring and Busby photos courtesy of Noonans)
Follow me on Instagram: @anniedavidsonwatson
- Subscribe to the JCK News Daily
- Subscribe to the JCK Special Report
- Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazine
- Follow JCK on X: @jckmagazine
- Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine
