FINGER RING

Treasure case 2017 T879: Not Treasure

Description: A Post-Medieval gold posy ring. The ring consists of a hoop with a D-shaped cross section, flat inner face and convex, plain. exterior. The interior of the hoop is inscribed in italic script: Kindly take this for my Sake, followed a maker's mark. The makers mark is of a raised capital Q in a recessed cell, the upper part of the cell is rectangular, the lower goes off the edge and could be rectangular or shield shaped.

Dimensions: The finger ring measures 20.1mm across the hoop, is 2.7mm wide and 1.6mm thick; it weighs 2.98g.

Discussion: The length and style of inscription would both suggest a 17^th-18^th century date. A 17th - 18th century posy ring in the collections of the British Museum (museum number AF.1197) has a different but also relatively long, rhyming inscription in similar italics and a similar stamped maker's mark, the Q within a shield. 2014 T340 (Darch 2014) also has a different inscription but one of similar form and the same makers mark and is dated to AD 1615 to 1800. This makers mark does not appear in any standard work of reference and is therefore not identifiable.

Considering the late style of the inscription and the dates assigned to other rings with this maker's mark, the ring cannot definitively be dated to pre-1717, and therefore falls outside of the terms of the Treasure act.

Laura Burnett

Finds Liaison Officer for Devon and Somerset

November 2017