A 95-year-old British farmer’s lost Rolex, believed to have been eaten by a cow in the early 1970s, has been found half a century later thanks to a metal detectorist. James Steele lost the watch when its bracelet broke, and it was thought a cow might have ingested it with grass. The metal detectorist found the watch on Steele’s land at Treflach Hall in Morda, Oswestry, and returned it to him.
It now serves as a keepsake since it would “cost a bomb” to restore
“The cow could have eaten it with a mouthful of grass, the vet said,” the BBC quoted Steele from Shropshire as saying. The metal detectorist returned the watch to the owner of Treflach Hall in Morda, Oswestry, after discovering it on his property. Steele called the find a “stroke of luck” and said it was “amazing” after all these years. “I was quite pleased because I never thought I would see the watch again,” he said.
“But I have got it now. I only have half the bracelet – the other half must have disintegrated.
“I have the watch but it is not going. The face has gone greenish but it has not rusted up.” Steele, praising the metal detectorist who found the watch, said he could have quite easily not owned up to his discovery.
More valuables could still be found, the farmer said, encouraging the metal detectorist to keep working his land.
“But I have got it now. I only have half the bracelet – the other half must have disintegrated.
“I have the watch but it is not going. The face has gone greenish but it has not rusted up.” Steele, praising the metal detectorist who found the watch, said he could have quite easily not owned up to his discovery.
More valuables could still be found, the farmer said, encouraging the metal detectorist to keep working his land.