Two men who fell out over £3.3million after finding Saxon treasure could scoop another fortune – after more artefacts were found in the same field.
Terry Herbert, 57, discovered the ancient gold and silver haul on 68-year-old farmer Fred Johnson’s land three years ago.
Their find, dubbed the Staffordshire Hoard, was sold to museums after becoming an international sensation after the discovery on July 5, 2009 – leaving the men rich.
But the duo fell out over the cash, with Terry claiming Fred wanted it all for himself.
He even said his find of 3,900 artefacts – Britain’s largest ever haul of Anglo-Saxon treasure – was a curse and blamed it on ruining his friendship with Fred.
But yesterday (Tue) it emerged the pair, who have not spoken since their rift, are set to earn hundreds of thousands of pounds more after 90 gold and silver items were unearthed close to the original find.
Last month, archaeologists used metal detectors to find the items buried just 10cm from the surface in 5.5 hectares (13.69 acres) site in Hammerwich, Staffs.
Experts working on behalf of Staffordshire County Council and English Heritage made the discovery between November 19 and December 1 following the recent ploughing of the field.
The new collection includes a possible helmet cheek guard, a cross-shaped mount and an eagle-shaped figure.
Experts are currently examining the finds and South Staffordshire Coroner Andrew Haigh will rule at an inquest on January 4 if the pieces are part of the Anglo-Saxon collection.
If they are ruled to be from the same collection they will be officially declared treasure before being valued.
The proceeds from the sale of the treasure will then be split between Terry and Fred.
Speaking at the unveiling of the find at the Potteries Museum and Arts Centre in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs., Staffordshire County Council Leader Philip Atkins described it as “hugely interesting find.”
He said: “Although not on the scale of the discovery some 40 months ago it can provide a significant piece of the jigsaw.
“While it’s for the inquest to decide if it’s treasure it is part of the hoard. This is shining a search light on a period of our history about which little is known.
“Archaeologists working for Staffordshire County Council and English Heritage have made the discovery when they were on the site following the recent ploughing of the field.
“They’ve found approximately 90 pieces of gold and silver. Many of these items weigh less than a gram.
“The collection also included a possible helmet cheek piece.”
Stephen Dean, principal archaeologist for Staffordshire County Council, added: “We’ve always wanted to do some more work. The ploughing took place in November. The first phase involved a metal detector search.
“Doing that we recovered about 80 fragments.
“A lot of them were very small but some were very significant. One of them is what we think may be a cheek piece.
“We then carried out field walking. We walked the field intensively. That only uncovered one more small fragment on the top soil.”
