The long, thin piece of metal looked like a scaffolding pole when Trevor Penny saw it on the banks of an English river last November. That would not have surprised Mr. Penny, who, while practicing his magnet fishing hobby, has unearthed household items, tools and other metal debris from the waterways near his Oxfordshire home. (Magnet fishing is pretty much what it sounds like: A strong magnet is attached to a rope, which is then tossed into a body of water.) But his find that day was much more dramatic: a rusty Viking sword that had been there for more than 1,000 years. The sword, found in the River Cherwell and identified by an archaeological group that tracks public finds, most likely dates to a period between 850 A.D. and 975 A.D. Mr. Penny said he handed it over to the Oxfordshire Museums Service this week, where it is expected to be put on display after restoration.

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Persons: Trevor Penny, Penny Organizations: Oxfordshire Museums Service Locations: Oxfordshire, Cherwell