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A hard-up farmer is celebrating after a Roman helmet dug up on his land by a treasure hunter made him a record £2.3million.

Eric Robinson, 56, thought the precious 2,000-year-old helmet would only fetch about £20,000 at auction when the unnamed student uncovered it his field.

But several mystery bidders at Christie's in London on bumped up the price and it sold in just three minutes.

The grandad, who works 70 hours a week on his farm at Crosby Garrett, Cumbria, said: "My legs went to jelly. When you've been farming for years and made no real money, it's a big amount.

"To think it has been in the ground all those years."

The sale was a disappointment to Cumbrian museum Tulie House, which hoped to land the helmet - described as "an extraordinary example of Roman metalwork at its zenith" - for £1million.