A 1,700-YEAR-OLD Roman ring found in a field near Cirencester is the second rare treasure to be unearthed in Gloucestershire in the past few months, a coroner heard today.

The Roman silver finger ring – which measures 27 millimetres long by 18 millimetres wide and 19 millimetres thick – was found on farmland on August 2, last year by an unnamed person using a metal detector, an inquest at Gloucestershire coroner's court in Barnwood was told Senior Coroner for Gloucestershire Katy Skerrett said: "The silver gilt ring was found in a village in Gloucestershire, south-west of Cirencester.

"It has been examined by the British Museum who establish its age as being between 300 and 325AD.

"It is an oval hoop which is decorated and there is a flat, oval panel setting for a stone, but only the ring remains."

Ms Skerrett certified that the ring is Treasure and she said that the Corinium Museum in Cirencester had expressed an interest in acquiring the rare find.

Regardless of whether the Corinium Museum acquires it or it remains in the British Museum collection the finder and landowner will be paid its market value by the Crown when a figure has been agreed.

Only just over two months ago a 3,500-year-old well-preserved piece of gold jewellery found in a Forest of Dean field was also hailed a rare treasure.

The tiny gold bead said to be from the mid-Bronze Age was discovered by an undisclosed enthusiast using a metal detector in a field close to Newent on February 16 last year.

The British Museum expressed an interest in acquiring the bead, which was a dark, rose gold and is in remarkably good condition.

To be declared treasure an item has to be at least 300 years old and contain at least 10 per cent silver or gold.

Anyone with reasonable grounds for believing something they have found might be classed as treasure is required to notify the coroner within 14 days of the discovery.

Failure to do so is punishable by a fine or a jail term of up to three months.