Gold engagement ring from 17th Century discovered lying in field by pensioner with metal detector more than 300 years after it was lost

A gold engagement ring from the 17th Century has been unearthed by a pensioner with a metal detector - more than 300 years after it was lost.

Tom Ross, 69, was sweeping his metal detector over a ploughed farmer's field near Newtownabbey in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, when he stumbled across the item.

The rare 'posy' ring, which dates back to the late 1600s and is 85 per cent gold, bears the Old English inscription 'I noght on gift bot gifer', or 'Look not on the gift, but the giver'.

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