Ancient false teeth crafted with gold and hippo bone 200 years ago unearthed near Oxford

A bricklayer has netted himself a healthy potential payday after coming across an ancient set of dentures made from hippo teeth.

Gold dentures with “hippo ivory” teeth will be auctioned later this month after being dug up in a field near Oxford in central southern England.

The grim-looking false teeth are said to be 200 years old and are expected to sell for around $5000 to $13,000.

Metal detectorist and bricklayer Peter Cross, 59, made the unusual discovery in a field between Buckinghamshire and Oxford in southern England.

Peter Cross says he hopes the quirky find will be his unusual claim to fame.

He said: “I found them in March (2019) in a field near Waterstock Mill. Though that village is in Oxfordshire, I found them on a track across the river in neighbouring Buckinghamshire.

“I know this sounds crazy, but when I first pulled them up out of the ground, I thought they were sheep’s teeth.

“When I began to clean off the mud and clay, I could see there was a gold plate – and that they were human false teeth.”

The dentures feature several engravings, but it’s not clear what they mean.

Mr Cross added: “They would have belonged to a very wealthy person. They date back to between 1800 and 1850 and would have cost a fortune at the time.

“A dentist friend said the owner would have paid between $375 to $560 in the 1800s, and that would have bought half the houses in Brill back then – a very affluent village.

“I’ve shown the teeth to many people and consulted the British Dental Association and the British Museum. Everyone’s amazed – and everyone wants to take a photo of them. They’re unique.

“I’m only aware of one other slightly similar set of false teeth and they belonged to American president George Washington and date back to the late 1700s.”

The teeth within the dentures are potentially made of hippo ivory.

Mr Cross will split the loot with the property owner and a fellow metal detectorist.

They will go under the hammer at UK-based auction house Hansons Auctioneers on November 25.

Half of the money they make will go to the owners of the land where they were found.

Mr Cross will receive 25 per cent and his fellow metal detectorist Diana Wild will receive the other 25 per cent.

Unfortunately, the bottom set of the dentures is yet to be found.

Mr Cross has been back to the area multiple times to look for them, but there is not thought to be any metal in the bottom half so they will be much harder to find.

How the dentures happened to end up in that field in the first place is unknown.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.

How much do you reckon the teeth will fetch at auction? Place your bids in the comments below.