A SUPERMARKET delivery man from York has been told he can keep the money he makes from the sale of a 1,000-year-old Viking ring which he found in East Yorkshire.

Peter Birkett, 39, of Moor Grove, found the silver ring on land near Wilberfoss, after asking one of his customers if he could go metal detecting on his farmland.

Mr Birkett, who works for Tesco at Askham Bar, found the 98 per cent solid silver ring lying one foot under the ground at the bottom of a field.

At an inquest in Hull, he was told that the find would be earmarked as treasure, and he would be entitled to the market value for the piece.

Mr Birkett, a member of the York District Metal Detectors Club, said he would share any money he makes from the sale of the ring with the farmer on whose land it was found.

He said: "I've been metal detecting for about five years now, but this is my biggest find by far.

"I only started this as a hobby when my wife bought me the detector as a Christmas present. The first time I ever used it, I found a Roman coin in the garden, and I have been hooked ever since.

"I have found plenty of Roman coins and a few other small things in the past, like a medieval casket mount from a church crucifix.

"Ideally, I would like this to go on show either at Hull Museum or in York. But it is now up to the British Museum as to what happens to it.

"Because of my job, delivering shopping to customers for Tesco, I get to meet a lot of people and when I deliver to farmers I ask them if I can search on their land.

"I couldn't believe what I had found."

British Museum Viking expert Leslie Webster said the ring probably dated from the ninth or 10th century.

She said: "This ring was probably made locally as it is similar to ribbon arm rings which have been found in East Yorkshire in the past, but this is the first ring of a similar design I have seen and in that respect it is unique."

Viking expert Elizabeth Hartley, keeper of archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum in York, said: "It is not really possible to put a figure on how much this ring will be worth, and the issue will be decided by an independent panel of experts.

"What I can say is that finds like this are extremely scarce and the item probably belonged to quite a wealthy Viking who may have had the ring for decoration or as a form of money.

"Of the 3,000 to 4,000 items people bring in to show us each year, we would rarely find anything of this importance."

Updated: 11:54 Tuesday, January 15, 2002