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Description: | Cast copper alloy finger ring of late Early Medieval or Medieval date. The ring has a prominent projecting circular bezel decorated with an incised design of a quatrefoil. Each pointed oval leaf has a central line and two outer lines. The outer corners of the leaves are joined by a line and filling the spandrels created between the edge and these lines are multiple parallel diagonal lines. There is a line border around the edge. There are patinated chips to the edge of the bezel in two places. This circular bezel sits on top of the hoop and is flanked by decorated shoulders. Each shoulder has a raised transverse line when it meets the bezel then a group of incised parallel line running around the hoop then three raised transverse lines and finally a raised moulded lobed shape decorated with parallel incised lines running around the hoop. The rest of the hoop is plain and d shaped in section with a flat inner side and convex outer side. The bezel is 15.9mm in diameter, the hoop is 21.9mm across and 25.7mm tall including the bezel, the hoop is 4.7mm wide by 2,6mm thick at the back. It weighs 7.04 g.The ring is hard to directly parallel. Similar projecting circular bezels are seen on signet rings of 9th to 17th cnetury date although normally with more deeply incised designs. Dr Kevin Leahy has suggested it dates to the ninth or tenth century. Commenting that during these centuries there was a fashion for large, flat bezels into which this find would fit. SF-6985B1 is perhaps similar. Dr Helen Geake suggests a later Medieval or Post Medieval date by analogy with seal rings such as WMID-CB4045. A Roman date has also been suggested based on YORYM-C254A1 and enameled examples such as SWYOR-C0A594.
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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