WMID-AAA827: The side view of a signet or merchant's ring with inscribed bezel, dating to the fifteenth - sixteenth century.

Rights Holder: Birmingham Museums Trust
CC License:


Rights Holder: Birmingham Museums Trust
CC License:

Image use policy

Our images can be used under a CC BY attribution licence (unless stated otherwise).

FINGER RING

Unique ID: WMID-AAA827

Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow status: Awaiting validation Find awaiting validation

A cast copper alloy signet or 'merchant's' ring (diameter of hoop: 24mm; length of bezel: 14.9mm; width/ thickness of bezel: 9.9mm; weight: 6.22g). There are unrecognisable designs indented in the bezel, including what appears to be two lines either side of a swirled design. The ring is in a bad and corroded condition, possibly due to cleaning and coating the artefact with a specific substance.

Signet rings were used for impressing wax seals for attachment to documents and letters. These rings with merchants' marks on the bezel were used by merchants and traders particularly in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with the owners of such marks being hard to identify.

Subsequent actions

Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder

Chronology

Broad period: MEDIEVAL
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Date from: AD 1400
Date to: AD 1600

Dimensions and weight

Quantity: 1
Thickness: 9.9 mm
Weight: 6.22 g
Diameter: 24 mm

Discovery dates

Date(s) of discovery: Wednesday 3rd November 2004

Personal details

This information is restricted for your access level.

Materials and construction

Primary material: Copper alloy

Spatial metadata

Region: West Midlands (European Region)
County or Unitary authority: Staffordshire (County)
District: Staffordshire Moorlands (District)
Parish or ward: Draycott in the Moors (Civil Parish)

Spatial coordinates

4 Figure: SJ9840
Four figure Latitude: 52.957368
Four figure longitude: -2.031219
1:25K map: SJ9840
1:10K map: SJ94SE
Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.

Discovery metadata

Method of discovery: Metal detector
General landuse: Cultivated land

References cited

Author Publication Year Title Publication Place Publisher Pages Reference
Saunders, P. 1991 Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum Medieval Catalogue: Part 1 Salisbury Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum pages 41-46

Similar objects

Find number: SUSS-C186C6
Object type: FINGER RING
Broadperiod: MEDIEVAL
A corroded cast copper alloy signet or seal finger ring of late Medieval to early Post Medieval date. The bezel of the ring is rectangular in…
Workflow: Awaiting validationFind awaiting validation

Find number: WILT-A63494
Object type: FINGER RING
Broadperiod: MEDIEVAL
A Late Medieval/ Early Post-Medieval (1400-1600) copper alloy finger-ring with a seal matrix on the flat sub-rectangular/ oval bezel. It meas…
Workflow: Awaiting validationFind awaiting validation

Find number: WMID-208144
Object type: FINGER RING
Broadperiod: MEDIEVAL
A complete cast copper alloy signet ring, dating to the 15th century AD (outside diameter of loop: 26mm; thickness of loop at thinnest point:…
Workflow: Awaiting validationFind awaiting validation

Timeline of associated dates

Audit data

Recording Institution: WMID
Created: 19 years ago
Updated: 9 years ago

Other formats: this page is available as qrcode json xml geojson pdf rdf representations.