Record ID: SWYOR-34A5B0
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: North Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Published
A gold medieval blackletter posy finger ring dating from about AD 1400 - 1500. It is rectangular in cross-section. The posy on the external face is in dense blackletter and is extremely difficult to read, but it has been suggested to read "a [...] Cervyr" (an alternative spelling to servir) meaning 'to serve' with the word in the middle perhaps being an adverb or a name. The first letter of the middle word has a florid ornament like a large letter Z, further confusing the interpretation of the letters. The three words are separated by recessed fan shapes, or foliage or wing motif…
Created on: Monday 4th January 2021
Last updated: Monday 28th February 2022
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Sheriff Hutton', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: NMS-CB2CBE
Object type: SEAL MATRIX
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
Description: Medieval gold seal matrix, oval with a centrally set oval stone intaglio and on the reverse a partly squashed sheet gold loop, probably attached with solder. The stone, probably carnelian but with slight banding, is engraved with an elephant in profile walking right (on the impression), with a castle or howdah on its back; it is the right way up when the matrix is held with the loop to the left and the start of the inscription below. The animal has four thick legs with flared feet, well modelled joints (hip and shoulder) and a tail with a rounded expanded end. The he…
Created on: Wednesday 1st July 2020
Last updated: Tuesday 14th September 2021
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Near King's Lynn', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: CORN-508BAB
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Gold posy ring with with plain outer band and inscribed on the inside of the band with the letters in lower case italics to form the French words: anmie amour am.nom y adore The inscription may begin with two ** or similar and then mon amie amour. The first word looks like non but one of the minims is obliterated by the flash, so that it is in fact mon (Malcolm Jones pers com). The term 'posy', based on the French poésy or poetry, describes the amatory verse or rhyming motto with which the rings are engraved. These phrases suggest the dedication of the giver to the wearer of…
Created on: Saturday 15th December 2018
Last updated: Wednesday 30th October 2019
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Carlyon', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: DOR-C010D8
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Dorset
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
An incomplete composite gold finger ring in two separate pieces. The main band of the ring is of sheet gold with a separately applied strip bearing the chased inscription in relief. A broken separate thin gold band with an L-shaped profile was probably attached to form a rim around the edge of the main band and there may originally have been another such applied to the other edge (now missing). The inscription in Blackletter script is a rhyming couplet and reads: +cver de vray amy doit auior mercy Dr Malcolm Jones has translated this as: The heart of a true lover Must have m…
Created on: Wednesday 14th November 2018
Last updated: Monday 9th August 2021
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Winterborne Clenston', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: NLM-7EF107
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Lincolnshire
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Gold finger ring. A thin cast band of rectangular section bearing an externally incised inscription. This reads: + E D O + O N : T F + T R A N + A I F A, with heavily seriffed cross potent punctuation and unbarred A's, some with a vertical stroke in the place of the bar. The style of lettering broadly resembles that of the Short Cross coinage of 1180-1247, and probably points to a date in the first half of the 13th century. This reporter cannot venture upon the interpretation of the legend, though at this date it is likely to be Latinate. Malcolm Jones kindly comments on the reading a…
Created on: Wednesday 6th June 2018
Last updated: Thursday 27th August 2020
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Somerby', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: SWYOR-61ADFC
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: North Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Published
A Medieval gold and gem finger ring dating from the 15th century. It has a bezel in the shape of a figure-of-eight set longitudinally, each half moulded to look like a flower, with a rounded flat-topped gem in the centre of each half. Around the gems, filling the rest of the space on the bezel, are ridged crosses, made by recessing four quarter-circles around the gem in each half. One of the gems is pink or red and one is green. The shoulders have three ribbon-like bands which curve obliquely around the hoop. To either side the bands are recessed and apparently keyed for enamel, none …
Created on: Tuesday 21st April 2015
Last updated: Monday 27th April 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: YORYM-0A0FD2
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: East Riding of Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Published
TREASURE CASE : 2015 T74. A simple gold finger ring, rectangular in side view, undecorated except for an inscription in Lombardic capitals reading + AMIE EN W. ST. MA.VIE BEL EGIE. V. The interior of the hoop is plain. The Lombardic script is comparable to other rings of the 13th and early 14th centuries. The inscription is difficult to understand, but AMIE EN VV perhaps means 'Amie En Vous' (Friend (feminine) to you) and MA VIE BEL meaning 'Ma Vie Belle' (my beautiful life). Some of the letters cannot be explained (such as the T, and the stop between W and S, and the GIE) b…
Created on: Tuesday 3rd February 2015
Last updated: Tuesday 7th July 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: LON-8B523A
Object type: BROOCH
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Essex
Workflow stage: Published
A medieval gold annular brooch dating to the 13th or 14th century. This brooch is circular in shape with two clasped hands projecting from the frame. There is a double band of chevron ridges at the junction between the projecting hands and the frame. The hands have an oval gap between them and there is a white coating, possibly an adhesive, between them. There is a constriction to accommodate the pin 90 degrees apart from the clasped hands; if the hands project at 6 o'clock, the constriction is at 3 o'clock. The gold pin is present and is decorated with a double band of ridges at t…
Created on: Tuesday 4th November 2014
Last updated: Tuesday 22nd January 2019
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: DUR-E57A49
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: North Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Published
A gold finger-ring of Medieval date (AD 1300-1500). The object is a flat-sectioned strip of gold made into an incomplete ring. One of the two ends of the gold strip does not appear to be broken, and both ends have a central rectangular projection. This may suggest that the projection from the right-hand side is missing a loop into which the left-hand side projection would have secured - but no parallel is known for this. There is an inscription in black-letter script consisting of three words running along the outer surface. It is difficult to read, but Dr Malcolm Jones has seen an…
Created on: Monday 27th October 2014
Last updated: Friday 21st October 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: PAS-A36D2D
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Staffordshire
Workflow stage: Published
A medieval finger-ring consisting of a wide, flat hoop with an applied beaded-wire border, the beading now rather worn. There is no bezel. Within the border is a double-line inscription in lower-case black-letter script; it is relatively clearly readable for this type of script. + AMOUR : VAINT : TOUT FORS CEUR . DE . VILLAIN + AMOUR: EN: VOIE : SOULLAS : E YOIE The S in 'soullas' is in the shape of a C, which is not uncommon in black-letter inscriptions. The inscription means 'Love conquers all except the heart of a villain. Love sends solace and joy'. The finger-ring is …
Created on: Friday 24th October 2014
Last updated: Monday 26th September 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-2F0775
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
Medieval gold finger ring. Flat-sectioned band inscribed externally in black letter: + tut * dys * en * ioye The cross may mark the start of the inscription, with an eight petalled flower or star separating the other words. There is no trace of enamel or niello surviving. External diameter 19mm. Internal diameter 18mm. Width of band 5mm. Weight 2.8g. For similar rings with engraved stars, flowers or sunbursts and black letter inscription see WAW-70FD41, DUR-FA3454, LANCUM-082840, and also ESS-FA2D57 which has a possibly similar internal inscription. Late 14th - 15th cen…
Created on: Friday 13th September 2013
Last updated: Wednesday 24th August 2016
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Foxley', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: NCL-807A73
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: East Riding of Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Published
Gold ring, possibly dating from the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries, consisting of ten joined plaques or beads, five circular and five rectangular. The ring is flattened and distorted. The circular plaques are formed of raised domes with an eight-pointed star on a cross-hatched background within a circular border. The rectangular plaques are inscribed with a single letter in black-letter script, surrounded by a sunburst of triangles with a rectangular border. The letters are difficult to read, but perhaps are caret, meaning 'absent' in Latin. The e is damaged and particularly hard to…
Created on: Friday 12th April 2013
Last updated: Friday 21st October 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NCL-605110
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Northumberland
Workflow stage: Published
A gold finger ring of medieval date. The finger ring is complete, with a circular hoop that is D-shaped in cross-section. The convex outer surface is decorated with an inscription separated into three, separated by motifs of a transverse groove with three radiating leaves to either side. The inscription is in a black-letter (Gothic) script and reads ien du re (I endure). Compare WAW-F2CA07, which has the same inscription in the same groups of letters. The black-letter script suggests a date in the late 14th or 15th centuries.
Created on: Monday 10th December 2012
Last updated: Friday 21st October 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: YORYM-4F2206
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: East Riding of Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Published
A medieval gold finger-ring, each shoulder decorated with two raised quatrefoils, one of which is slightly damaged. The centre is perforated with a circular hole [on the image this looks more like an unperforated recess], which probably once held the bezel, now missing, into which a gem may have been set. The hoop is of D-shaped cross-section. On the back half of the hoop is an inscription in black-letter script, in French, which reads bien celer cet alouer (to hide [love] well is to accept [it]). One of the principal tenets of amour courtois (courtly love) was to keep the love sec…
Created on: Tuesday 27th November 2012
Last updated: Wednesday 24th August 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-F53081
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
Medieval or post-medieval gold finger ring. Hollow, D-sectioned hoop expanding slightly from the rear through the shoulders to an oval bezel with setting for (missing) stone held by four claws, three of which partially survive. The sides and shoulders have an external black-letter inscription, reserved on a field keyed for enamel or niello, now missing. It reads en. bon on one shoulder and ectein on the other. There may be a line indicating a ligated e after the bon. The hoop is now slightly distorted, with several small holes, and damage to the edge of the setting. Height 21mm. Widt…
Created on: Tuesday 11th September 2012
Last updated: Friday 21st October 2016
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Corpusty', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: SF-9123D1
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Suffolk
Workflow stage: Published
Description: A complete gold finger ring made of a flattened band engraved on the exterior with a French inscription in lower-case gothic or 'black-letter' script. The inscription begins with a small cross, and the words alternate with three very similar designs of a two-branched plant, one branch shorter and the other longer, each with thin leaves and ending in a feathery trefoil flower. The inscription reads en bon cuer (in good heart). There is also engraving on the interior of the hoop, made up of a single wheat stalk followed by what looks like two sets of initials separated b…
Created on: Thursday 26th April 2012
Last updated: Wednesday 24th August 2016
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Near Southwold', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: SF-59C186
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
A medieval finger-ring formed of a slightly convex hoop decorated on the exterior surface with a series of rounded indentations, probably intended to represent tears. There is no bezel. The hoop is slightly bent and there is a large crack which has completely fractured the hoop. Inside the hoop is an inscription that reads, in black-letter script, of loyallt is ioye (of loyalty is joy). The crack runs between the last L and the T of loyallt. The ring is gold, and the use of black-letter dates it to the fifteenth century. Dimensions: length 15 mm, width 14 mm. Tears are known to …
Created on: Thursday 5th January 2012
Last updated: Monday 26th September 2016
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Stockton', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: BM-14CF37
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: County of Herefordshire
Workflow stage: Published
Gold finger-ring with external inscription, of 15th-century date. Description: The finger-ring is complete, comprising a broad, flat circular hoop of comparatively small diameter. The hoop was soldered and the feathered join is evident on both the inside and outside faces. The hoop has been engraved with leaves and flowers between words in black-letter script. The decoration comprises a four-petalled flower, repeated three times and flanked each side by springs of foliage. Between the decorative leaves, the inscription appears to read: + ie la veil (I wish it, or I want it). The in…
Created on: Friday 21st October 2011
Last updated: Tuesday 6th September 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: WILT-44FDF0
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Wiltshire
Workflow stage: Published
A squashed, but complete, Late Medieval gold iconographic finger ring with an inscription on the hoop. The bezel is rectangular and measures 12.04 x 6.48 x 1.29mm. It depicts a seated figure holding a sword to the right with a shield or wheel to the left. The figure wears oblong head-gear, perhaps a crown or top of veil. To either side of the head are keying marks, deeper and cruder than the neat engraving, possibly for an enamel inset. The presence of the possible wheel and the sword suggest the figure may represent St Catherine. The hoop extends from the bezel 6.3mm wide, narrowi…
Created on: Thursday 29th September 2011
Last updated: Monday 26th September 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: YORYM-FD2D87
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: East Riding of Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Published
Description: A complete gold finger-ring of medieval date. The hoop of the ring is rectangular in cross-section, and the exterior surface has engraved decoration with an inscription in black-letter (Gothic) style text. The inscription is in French and reads * yn dieu ma fe, the inscription starting with a six-pointed star and each word alternating with a rounded flower with a long leafy stem. Discussion: The inscription means 'in God my faith', fe being an attested Anglo-French spelling of moden French foi, 'faith', and although one would expect en rather than yn, the spelling mi…
Created on: Monday 7th February 2011
Last updated: Tuesday 7th July 2020
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Hutton Cranswick', grid reference and parish protected.