Rights Holder: North Lincolnshire Museum
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FINGER RING
Unique ID: NLM-8EDC8D
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published 
Gilded silver finger ring. Cast wide flat straight-sided hoop with a lettered inscription passing around its outer face, reserved against a finely cross-hatched ground with a continuous plain upper and lower border divided from the decorated part by a groove. The hoop is broken in one place. The inscription opens with an initial mark resembling a cross pattee with nicked edges to its upper and lower arms, and is punctuated by rhomboid colons; the whole inscription is in Lombardic style.
Dr Malcolm Jones and Dr Phillipa Hardman kindly looked at an image and offer the following reading: + LETE : YaR : nO : LVF : IS. The 'y' is to be read as a thorn, giving "lete thar no luf is". The verb is in the imperative, from leten sense 3, which MED gives as "give up, relinquish'". The meaning in modern English is therefore "forebear where there is no love", or more loosely "Don't marry unless there is love".
The language and letter styles point to a high medieval date.
Internal diameter (as found): 22.1mm, hoop width: 4.2mm, hoop thickness: 0.5mm, Weight: 1.61g.
Notes:
In view of its material and age the object is to be submitted to the Treasure process, ref 2016T762.
Inscription:
+ LETE : YaR : nO : LVF : IS
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Treasure details
Treasure case tracking number: 2016T762
Chronology
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
Subperiod from: Late
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Subperiod to: Late
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1350
Date to: Circa AD 1500
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Width: 4.2 mm
Thickness: 0.5 mm
Weight: 1.61 g
Diameter: 22.1 mm
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Wednesday 1st June 2016 - Thursday 30th June 2016
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Other reference: NLM33656
Treasure case number: 2016T762
Materials and construction
Primary material: Silver
Completeness: Complete
Surface Treatment: Gilded
Spatial metadata
Region: Yorkshire and the Humber (European Region)County or Unitary authority: North Lincolnshire (Unitary Authority)
District: North Lincolnshire (Unitary Authority)
To be known as: South Killingholme
Spatial coordinates
Grid reference source: Generated from computer mapping software
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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