Tim Pearson, a metal detectorist and amateur treasure hunter (aren't we all?) found what he thought was a milk bottle cap back in 2005. Pearson was detecting in a South Yorkshire field that he had combed over for more than six years. In the past the field that had yielded nothing more than a Roman coin for him, but this time, there was something special waiting.
What Pearson found is a relic now known as the "Yorkshire Aestel" and is the only one of its kind held by a private owner. It's a hallow "cast pointer" that would have been used by monks as an aid to reading manuscripts. Auctioneers claim -that King Alfred (who ruled from 871 - 899) commissioned several of these aestels to made for his bishops to aid the translation of Pope Gregory I's Regula Pastoralis.
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