Living in hope of hitting pay dirt

I firmly believe our attitudes to finding treasure have their genesis in the wonderful story of Treasure Island. FILE PHOTO

I defy anyone who has ever tilled the land or even just moved aside a pile of soil or rock to deny they have had an occasional thought about uncovering a hidden treasure.

As country dwellers we have all done it, but few of us ever find anything of value.

Not so the English woman who came across a "strange object" when weeding her garden 30 years ago and shelved it until just a few weeks ago when she carted it off to a dealer on the BBC's Antiques Roadshow.

It was a rare hei-tiki carved from beautiful inanga, a pale shade of greenstone.

Unsurprisingly the English woman had no idea what the hei-tiki was and, although some Britons probably would you can't expect everyone on the other side of the earth to necessarily know our taonga.

Thankfully the Roadshow expert had a great grasp of his specialist subject and was able to identify what the woman had put before him and to give by all accounts a fairly accurate assessment of its worth - about $30,000.

The find of course begs the question how did such a unique object become lost, or discarded, in an English country garden.

That's a poser we are unlikely to ever know the answer to, although it would be safe to assume it was taken to Britain, perhaps gifted to someone living there and over the years simply became lost.

The find raises some other questions too.

Now that the tiki is back above ground who does it belong to and should it be returned to New Zealand?

I have no idea what English law decrees should be done with finds of historic value but I do hope whatever is decided over ownership and such matters is amiable.

Anyway, to return to the introduction to this editorial, I firmly believe our attitudes to finding treasure have their genesis in the wonderful story of Treasure Island.

The problem is the only times I have been digging deeply into mother earth and have turned up something different it always washes up to reveal an old button or a piece of broken crockery.

The upside of that is the government is unlikely to claim them but that won't help me when I finally come across that treasure chest of gold bullion.