FINGER RING

Description: A complete cast gold Reson or Posie finger ring, with a floriate and foliate pattern and interior 'Black Letter' inscription, dating to the late medieval period (AD1350-1500).

The outer surface of the gold ring has thin parallel bands running around the upper and lower edges of the band, enclosing an engraved design featuring saltire crosses and diamonds. Each of the five diamonds contains flowers (2) or what appears to be a fruit (3), most likely strawberry. Traces of niello can be seen surrounding the flowers and fruit, and traces of white enamel remain within one of the two flowers. Fragments of white enamel can also be seen filling a small incised line within the triangles above and below the saltire crosses. The Black Letter inscription incised on the interior band of the ring reads 'MON CVR AVVEZ' (mon coeur avez, or 'my heart is yours') prefixed by an eight-pointed star shape, most probably an initial mark representing the sun.

The ring is in mostly fine condition though, as noted above, much of the enamel and niello has been lost. The ring has suffered some recent damage, resulting in a small portion of the lower band being pushed or folded inwards, below the sun mark, and the corresponding lower edge being slightly pushed outwards, below the word 'AVVEZ'.

Discussion: The ring belongs to a group generally recognised as love rings due to their sentimental inscriptions. In the medieval period they were usually known as Resons, but from AD1430 they came to be called Posies (posey, or poetry) rings (Oman 1974, 39). Black Letter inscriptions appear from the mid 14th century onwards, until the beginning of the 16th century when Roman capitals become the more fashionable script. Oman (1974, 110; pl. 57 B) illustrates a similar ring with engraved and enamelled floriated design and Black Letter inscription, dated to the early 15th century. The floriate and foliate design on the ring described above is remarkably similar to a silver finger ring (NLM202) recorded on the PAS database as a 'pre Treasure Act' find, which also has "incised diamond-shaped fields containing strawberry flowers, leaves and fruit". The inscription 'MON CVR AVVEZ', despite the unusual spelling, is a common inscription on rings of this date; several examples are recorded in Evans (1931, 11), including a 'mon coeur avez' dated to AD1450. A further variation of the inscription, '+AVESE.MON.COVR', can be seen on WILT-765627; the latter, however, is a post-medival ring with Roman capitals, dating to c.1500-1650.

Dimensions:

Diameter: 18.31mm

Band height: 6.96mm

Band thickness: 1.08mm

Weight: 3g

Notes: This item qualifies as Treasure under the criteria of the 1996 Treasure Act, being more than 300 years old and containing in excess of 10% precious metal

Treasure number: 2017-T923

References:

Evans, J., 1931. English posies and posy rings: a catalogue. Oxford University Press, London.

Oman, C., 1974. British rings 800-1914. Batsford, London.

Author: Benjamin Westwood, Finds Liaison Officer for Durham, Darlington & Teesside

Date: 07/11/2017