FINGER RING

The bezel and shoulders of a Roman cast copper alloy finger ring with enamel. The bezel is oval in shape with a flat top and a curved reverse following the line of the hoop.The centre of the bezel is a recessed oval cell with only a thin raised border. Across the centre of the cell, running from shoulder to shoulder (end to end) are two rows of 4 unrecessed triangles. The triangles are level with the border of the cell and arranged so the bases are lined up in the rows and the points of the triangles point towards the sides of the bezel. There is a thin recessed line between the two rows. Each row has two part triangles, one at either end adjacent to the shoulders and two complete triangles in the centre. The recessed area, including the line between the rows, is filled with red enamel, missing at some points.

The shoulders are triangular, tapering evenly in width and thickness from the bezel to the points where they met the hoop. The ring is broken at this point with none of the hoop remaining, from the break it appears the hoop was narrow, c.3.4mm across or less and possibly pointed oval in section with convex outer and inner sides, the inner slightly flatter. there is no evidence of a carination on the remaining section of the shoulders.

The bezel is 12.3mm long by 9.9mm wide and 3.2mm thick at the centre. The entire fragment is 16.3mm long and 7.4mm thick. It weighs 1.96 grams.

The ring is of Guiraud type 2a, Henig type II, such rings with enamel decoration on the bezel were very popular in the 2nd century and come in a wide range of geometric designs and enamel colours. See for example SOM-95D932, WILT-6739A6, DUR-5508F6 and SUR-675EB3 on this database.