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Description: | Small gold finger-ring with circular bezel c. 14mm in diameter, neatly curved to fit around the finger and decorated with very worn filigree and granulation. There is a border around the edge which was originally made from beaded wire 1mm wide, but the beading is now worn almost completely away. Four heart shapes of plain unbeaded wire are set in a cross on the bezel, with the points meeting at the centre; the two that run from shoulder to shoulder are made from a single piece of wire curving around like a figure-of-eight, and the other two are made from separate lengths. This wire is essentially a strip 0.5mm wide, set on edge. The spaces in between are each partly filled with a triangle of 15 granules; a triangular setting-out line, or patch of solder, can be seen beneath the granules. There is also a granule above all but one heart shape, between the two curved lobes, and in the centre of each heart, between where the two lines of the lobes meet.The hoop is circular in cross-section, 1.3mm in diameter, at the back and gently flattens and widens to meet the shoulders. The shoulders are each triangular and filled with a heart shape in plain unbeaded wire, with the spandrels each filled with a triangle of three granules. The shoulders are both extremely worn, but the hearts appear to each have had a granule at the centre, at the junction of the two lobes.The backplate is flat behind both bezel and shoulders, and the inner face of the ring is unmarked and undecorated.Maximum width of bezel, 14.65mm. Minimum width of hoop, 1.3mm. External diameter 20.1mm. Weighs 3.7g.There are several late 9th- or 10th-century gold finger-rings which are decorated with bold beaded wire filigree and extensive granulation. Examples include three of the rings in the West Yorkshire hoard (SWYOR-F86A02 (1) and (2), and SWYOR-3B5652); rings from near Swaffham (NMS-89B2B7), Kirk Deighton (YORYM-32E6E6), and rings set with enamel from Essex (LON-3478C7) and Warwick (PAS-D681D8). Heart shapes can also be found on other objects of similar date, such as finger-ring LON-3478C7 and unidentified mount ESS-3ECB42.The circular bezel curved to fit around the finger is a feature of several 8th- and 9th-century finger-rings; compare the later 8th-century ring with oval bezel from the River Thames, Webster and Backhouse (1991) no. 175, later C8; and the later 9th-century 'Athelswith' ring, Backhouse et al 1984 no. 10, Webster and Backhouse 1991, no. 244).Although no very close parallel has been found, the evidence cited above suggests that the finger-ring belongs to the late 9th or 10th century.
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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