The largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found has been unearthed on farmland in Staffordshire by a metal detector enthusiast, archaeologists revealed today.

Terry Herbert, 55, from Burntwood, came across the huge treasure estimated to be worth more than £1 million as he searched a field near his home. The exact location of the discovery has not been disclosed but it is understood to be near the Lichfield border in South Staffordshire, in what was once the independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia.

Experts said that the collection of more than 1,500 military artefacts, including helmet, sword pommel and sword hilt ornaments possibly looted on the field of battle 1,400 years by a victorious warlord, may have belonged to Saxon royalty.

The hoard contains around 5kg of gold and 2.5kg of silver, far bigger than previous finds such as the Snettisham hoards. Some of it was lying in the open on top of the ploughed field.

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The South Staffordshire coroner held an inquest in Cannock today at which he officially classified the find as treasure. Now a Treasure Valuation Committee made up of independent experts will put a market value on the hoard, a process expected to take more than a year, and local museums will be given the option to buy it.

The hoard is being held in secure storage at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, but some items are to be displayed at the museum from tomorrow until October 13.

Staffordshire County Council, Birmingham Museum and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery have already discussed buying the treasure jointly. The money is paid to the finder, who usually gives half to the landowner — suggesting that both Mr Herbert and the farmer stand to receive a substantial sum.

At today's bullion prices, 5kg of gold is worth more than £100,000, according to gold merchants Baird & Co, but experts in historic artefacts said the hoard is liable to fetch more than ten times that. In 2007 the British Museum paid £125,000 for a single set of golden sword pommel and hilt ornaments inlaid with garnets, dating from the same period as the Staffordshire Hoard — around 650 AD, when Penda was king of Mercia.

Penda, a pagan ruler who was probably the most powerful Anglo-Saxon king of his age, was killed in battle in 654 AD by the Christian king Oswy of Northumbria, who then briefly usurped his throne until thrown out by Penda's sons.

Dr Michael Lewis, of the British Museum's Department of Portable Antiquities and Treasure, said that some of the items in the Staffordshire Hoard were unique and could not be compared to any earlier find in order to ascribe a value. He warned that it would be hard to identify who buried the treasure because so few writings survived from the Dark Ages, and most of what did related to Christian figures rather than pagan kings and fighters. But the richness of the hoard pointed to it belonging to a king.

Mr Herbert claimed that finding it with his 14-year-old detector was destiny. "I have this phrase that I say sometimes: ’Spirits of yesteryear take me where the coins appear’, but on that day I changed coins to gold," he said.

"I don’t know why I said it that day, but I think somebody was listening and directed me to it. Maybe it was meant to be, maybe the gold had my name on it all along, I don’t know."

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