A complete gold finger ring (iconographic) of medieval date (c.1400-1500).
The hoop of the ring is D-shaped in cross-section and widens at the shoulders to meet the flat-topped, sub-rectangular bezel. The bezel is engraved with a representation of St Barbara holding a miniature tower. She is wearing drapery, and there is a palm frond *symbol of martyrdom) or palm branch (the symbol of St Barbara) in her right hand. The shoulders are imbricated, with two sub-rectangular steps that have a slightly concave surface, and a central ridge divides the shoulders into four panels. The upper right and lower left panels are filled with incised oblique lines, while the remaining panels are undecorated. Below the shoulders, the loop gently tapers and is decorated on both sides with a sprig or leaf.
Underneath the sprig is black lettering script. The lower portion of the hoop is decorated with a frond and palm branch on either side of engraved black letter text. The inscription reads ‘en bon an ’ (‘In a Good Year’, also sometimes translated as ‘For the New Year’). In the recesses of the letters ‘o’ and ‘n’ for ‘bon’ and the ‘n’ of ‘an’ are traces of white enamel. The internal band is undecorated and uninscribed.
Measurements: diameter: 19.98 mm; length: 19.18 mm; width (at bezel): 5.62 mm; thickness (lower loop): 1.26 mm; weight: 2.78g
Anglo-Saxon Gold Ring…
Lobed quatrefoil design, each of the four panels decorated with a stylised creature, which, from the top, appear to be a hare or rabbit, a bird of prey, a swan and a dog; at the centre, there is a flowerhead with eight petals.
The hoop with lettering reading CYNEFRID between two crosses and flanked by a stylised deer and a hare on each shoulder.
The decoration and lettering would have stood out from the niello background (now mostly lost), mid-9th century, 23.2 by 19.0 mm
Sold at Christie’s for £37,250 in 2010
4 – Roman Rings from the Soil of England…
udigidig.com 
Leave a comment