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Description: | Late Medieval - Post Medieval copper alloy finger ring with an incised design on the bezel allowing it to be used as a signet (seal) ring. The ring has a flat elongated hexagonal bezel with longer top and bottom sides. On the bezel is incised a plain line border within which is a G and an open pair of scissors, each with a crown above. There is a short line between them, a small branch above and before the G and a range of dots fitting the field. From the bezel the ring narrows and thickens quickly at the shoulders into a twisted band. The G is back to front meaning the impression has the correctly formed G followed by the scissors. The band is D-shaped in section with a flat inner side and convex outer divided into even sections by diagonal indented lines giving a rope effect. It is 28.0mm across externally by 26.9mm tall. The bezel is 16.2mm long, 12.5mm wide and 2.8mm thick, the band is 4.0mm wide by 3.4mm thick at the back. It weighs 6.53 grams.Signet rings with a crowned initial and branches to each side became increasingly common in the 15th century (Harvey and MacGuiness 1996:93). The signet rings with two letters (such as NARC-E49A97), or in this case a letter and a symbol, were probably custom made for their owners, whereas the rings with the single letter were probably ready made made in bulk to be bought off the shelf (Harvey and McGuinness, Ibid.). Examples with similar rope effect bands include WMID-C5AE33, and less pronounced, NMS-F21846 which has two initials and is silver. This example is unusual in having a letter combined with a symbol and is an interesting variant on this relatively common type.
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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