FINGER RING

Treasure Case: 2011 T208 Colchester District, Essex: Post Medieval finger ring

Date of Discovery: 24^th February 2011

Circumstances of discovery: Whilst searching with a metal detector

Date: Post Medieval - 18th Century - 19^th Century

Description: Gold posy ring with shallow 'D' shaped cross section. The outside of the band is undecorated. The inside is inscribed 'Love virtue hate vice' with a makers mark WH (or HM) within a rectangle.

Dimensions: Diameter: 17.61mm Width: 2.78mm Thickness: 1.04mm Weight: 1.54 grams.

Discussion: The inscription does not appear in Joan Evans, 1931 or on any examples in the British Museum collections. Examples of similar makers' marks date to after 1800 (see Grimwade, pp224), also see British Museum collections for a mourning ring with similar maker's mark, dated from the inscription to 1813 (AF. 1633).

Comparable examples of the maker's mark indicate that this ring probably dates to later than 1711 and as such falls outside the provisions of the Treasure Act 1996.

Report by: Laura McLean, Essex Finds Liaison Officer, Colchester & Ipswich Museums & Caroline Barton, The British Museum

August 2011

Bibliography:

Evans, J. 1931. English Posies and Posy Rings, Oxford University Press, London.

Grimwade, A. G. 1976. London Goldsmiths 1697-1837, Faber and Faber, London.

Jackson, C (Ed. I. Pickford) 1989. Jackson's Silver and Gold Marks of England, Scotland and Ireland, Antique Collectors Club, Suffolk.