Rights Holder: National Museums and Galleries of Wales
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Unique ID: NMGW-9DEB70
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published
Description of object: Gold finger-ring with a D-shaped cross-section. Externally undecorated, the flat inner face is engraved in Gothic textura (black-letter) script. The engraving appears inexpert (or corrected) in the centre, and so the reading is not clear.
All interpretations agree on the first letter as i and the last two as lt. It seems most likely that it is in English and is to be read leelt, 'loyalty' (leelte is an attested Middle English spelling). It may be that the engraver perhaps intended to embellish the 'ee' with a truelove-knot, resulting in the untidiness in the centre of the inscription.
Another possibility is a garbled version of i foelt, 'I wish it', where the V of voelt has been written as an F (common in Welsh), and the O and E have been elided. Other possibilities are 'I felt', or a scrambled INRI, though this requires the 't' to be interpreted as an unusual cross.
The hoop has an internal diameter of 17mm; band width 3.2mm. Weight 2.4g.
Metal Content: Analysis of the metal composition of the ring by Mary Davis using CamScan MaXim 2040 analytical scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) found an average composition of 76% gold, 14% silver and 10% copper.
Discussion: The finger ring from Dinas Powys has a form which is long lived, and were there no inscription, it would probably have been given an 18th - or 19th-century date. For a 15th-century silver ring with comparable D-shaped cross-section, engraved externally, see Dalton 1912, no. 882. The letter forms, three of which are confidently formed, are in a late medieval style. To judge from comparison with lettering on seals, the fine close black-letter script dates to the second half of the 14th and 15th centuries (c. 1350-1500; Kingsford 1929). The legend, if correct, may indicate that it is a love or marriage ring, and may be compared with 'me plet' (Dalton 1912, no. 972). However, this is not certain.
Notes:
The ring is of 15th-century date. It is my opinion that as an object which has at least 10 per cent by weight precious metal, and which is at least 300 years old, the ring is treasure under Section 1 (1) (a) of the Treasure Act 1996.
Inscription:
leelt
Current location of find: National Museum of Wales
Subsequent action after recording: Acquired by museum after being declared Treasure
Treasure case tracking number: 2007W8
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1350
Date to: Circa AD 1500
Quantity: 1
Width: 3.2 mm
Weight: 2.4 g
Diameter: 17 mm
Date(s) of discovery: Monday 1st January 2007
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Treasure case number: 2007W8
Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 10 metre square.
Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dalton, O.M. | 1912 | Catalogue of the Finger Rings in the British Museum: Early Christian, Byzantine, Teutonic, Medieval and Later | British Museum | ||||
Kingsford, H.S. | 1929 | The epigraphy of English Medieval Seals |