POST MEDIEVAL FINGER RING

1550

Incomplete gold finger-ring, set with a colourless stone. The hoop is narrow and broken into two parts, with about a quarter missing. It is D-shaped in cross-section, flaring from a minimum of 1.2 mm wide and 1.4 mm thick to a maximum of 1.8 mm wide and 2 mm thick at the junction with the bezel. Although this would seem to leave little room for decoration on the shoulders, there is in fact a great deal of complicated scrolly engraving extending around half the hoop and ending with a short longitudinal groove. The bezel is 8.5 mm square, and tapers to a point underneath with a finely ribbed wire reinforcing each angle. In between the wires is more elaborate engraved decoration. The bezel is set with a colourless stone which is cut on the top into a truncated pyramid. Some very slight chipping and scratching is visible on the stone under high magnification. Judy Rudoe has dated this ring to the late 16th or early 17th century.