Proud: John Ruggles with the 135million-year-old Plesiosaur's paddle bone he found in his rockeryTo John Ruggles it was just an odd-shaped rock.
After it turned up in his rockery he moved it around his garden as an ornament for nine years, before eventually settling on a place for it in the greenhouse.
But the rock nagged away at his curiosity until eventually he gave in and sent it to experts at his local museum to be identified.
Their reply left him staggered - his lump of stone turned out to be a dinosaur fossil from 135million years ago.
The startling discovery of part of a Plesiosaur's paddle bone from the Jurassic period was described as 'very rare' by experts, who also said it was in 'stunning condition'.
It has been so well preserved that blood vessels are still visible in the sandstone-like rock, which measures 12in by 8in.
Mr Ruggles, 75, who lives with wife Eileen, 70, in a bungalow in Downham Market, Norfolk, said it was lucky he never threw it away.
'When we moved in I thought it seemed different to any other rock I had seen but I didn't know what it was so I just left it in the garden,' he said.
'But we were curious about it for a number of years and I thought, "I'm going to find out about it". When my daughter read out the letter from the museum we just couldn't believe it, and the age of it as well - you just can't think of something being that old.
'To think it was just sitting in the garden for all those years!'
Survivor: The fossil is a Plesiosaur's paddle bone - the part which joins the fin to its bodyMr Ruggles, a retired British Gas meter reader, sent the rock to Lynn Museum in King's Lynn in December. They passed it on to experts at the Sedgewick Museum of Earth Science in Cambridge for testing.
He returned from a holiday in Florida with his family to find the letter with the experts' verdict. Mr Ruggles now plans to donate the fossil to Lynn Museum's permanent collection.
But first the father-of-two says he will let granddaughter Emily Ruggles-Brown, seven, take the rock to school for a show-and-tell.
'When it goes into the museum people will be able to go and see the bone but not touch it,' Mr Ruggles said.
'But it's the beauty and excitement of something so old that makes it really special. I have been handling it for nine years or more but other people haven't had the chance - but I'd never sell it. It belongs in the museum.'
A spokesman for Lynn Museum said: 'You can still see the blood vessels on the bone itself which is very rare. Usually it's just bone that is preserved rather than fleshy parts.
'It was a chance in a million that he found it in his garden and it's a very nice specimen indeed - we will be extremely pleased to have it in the museum collection.'
The Plesiosaur was a large marine reptile which fed on fish and smaller reptiles. It had an extremely long neck and tail and four flippers to propel itself through the water in a 'flying' motion.
The ocean dweller could grow to lengths of up to 40ft and is known to have lived from the late Triassic period through the Jurassic period and into the late Cretaceous period.
source: dailymail
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