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Description: | A copper-alloy Roman finger ring of Henig Type II-III/Guirard 2. The ring is of the characteristic early to middle Roman period with a heavy metal hoop and smooth swelling profile which tapers from the narrow back of the hoop to a broader bezel. The back of the hoop is broken and a proportion is missing. Wear at each side of the break indicates that the break is ancient. The bezel has an oval setting for a gemstone which is now missing. Around the oval setting for the gemstone the bezel has raised moulded decoration which tapers with the hoop, giving the front of the ring the appearance of an open eye. The ring measures 23.1 mm wide and 17.6 mm from the bezel to the back of the remains of the hoop. It is 14.2 mm thick at the bezel and 4.4 mm thich at the thinnest part of what remains of the hoop. Precise dating of such rings is difficult, however this example maintains the rounded profile of the 1st and 2nd centuries, as opposed to the more angular shoulders of the later 2nd and 3rd centuries (Johns 1996, 43). Whilst engraved precious stones are well known from Roman rings, it is more likely that in a fairly simple bronze ring of this type the stone would have been of simple, probably uninscribed, glass (Johns 1996, 43). | Subjects: | Henig II-III/ Guirard 2 | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Brindle, Tom - Portable Antiquities Scheme | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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