The 2,000-year-old artefact was discovered in a field by an unemployed graduate in his early 20s. The £2.3million will be split between the finder and the landowner.
It prompted a five-minute frenzy of bidding at Christie’s in London before it was bought anonymously on the telephone for eight times its pre-sale estimate.Six bidders fought for the helmet pushing the price steeply from its original £200,000-£300,000 estimate up to £2,281,250.