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Description: | Modern (19th century) undecorated gold finger ring; the band is circular with a 'D' shaped cross section. It is 20.17mm in diameter, 4.43mm wide, 1.93mm thick and weighs 6.04 grams. The inside of the band has a line of four marks. The lefthand mark is the maker's mark formed of two initials (it is unclear whether it is "A.I" or "I.V") within a rectangle. The next mark is the duty mark, which was only used from 1784-1890. The mark consists of the head of the reigning sovereign in profile. The heads of George III, George IV and William IV all look to the right of the observer, but the head of Queen Victoria looks to the left. This duty mark resembles the head of George IV (turned to one side). The third mark is a lion. The lion was a symbol of the quality of the metal. Before 1822, it was most often seen facing forwards (guardant) but after that date, it tended to face to the left, as in this example. This ring was most probably made after 1822. The final mark is the date stamp, in this case "O". Unfortunately there is no assay mark to determine where the ring was made but it is likely to have come from London. The "O" date mark would therefore indicate that the ring was made in 1829-1830.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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