DetectingWales.com

Had a great day yesterday, good to see the usual suspects and a few new ones.
I found this by the church, copper alloy with traces of guilding. It looks almost big enough for a glove ring.
The cartouch has what looks like a Germanic Eagle motif and the banding design makes me think its possibly 16thC.
Any ideas please.
Many thanks
Ian

thats a lovely find Ian... very well done indeed.

it certainly look old as does the ring next to it!



[i think i recall finding something similar in a woolworths lucky bag many years ago!]   ;D ;D

Cheers Alan, "thank you for your support (I shall always wear it !)"
Also the £1.80 in spendable decimal, 2 decent viccy 1d's , a potleg and skillet fragment made it a good day out.

 :D

good comeback Ian!  rofl

Nice little find Ian....I think you could be right (or close) 16th or 17th century while this one is a slightly different shape it has the same look about it ;)

http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/626640 (http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/626640)

That's a great find!

Lovely ring, well found.
Geoff

cleaned up nicely Ian, nice find mate :)

Well found Ian, thats a little beauty, I'll have the £1.80 if you don't need it ???

Is the bird maybe a Phoenix on the ring ?

Great find :)

Nice find mate,
it was a good day out.
glad the weather stayed O.K.
coming back over the bridge,it was shooting down cats and dogs.
you can tell we're back in wales.
well done . ::)

What a cracking find, it's cleaned up nice to when I saw it with you on Sunday, well  done Ian.

Nice one rb well done

Very nice well found Ian ;)

                    Having been found so close to the church, I wonder if it may have been a churchman's ring; the Gospel of St John is often depicted by an Eagle.  :-\

That's an intriguing suggestion Chris, the Church is actually St Johns though the Baptist and not the Evangelist which the eagle is the symbol of but it sure looks a good candidate :-\

                 Interestingly, a high ranking churchman would wear a ring over a gloved hand perhaps? Looks like there may be an intriguing story to this find.

Many thanks guys for all the comments, and a big thank you to Geoff and Chris for their efforts and info, I think you are "on the money" with a ceremonial ring, especially with the motif and church dedication.
it must be ceremonial due to the size and 12gm weight, and when on the finger its really awful to wear as its so large. I cant see anybody wanting to wear it as a piece of jewelry, Possibly thats why its made of copper alloy and guilded rather than the yellow stuff !
Thank you to all and a happy xmas and successful - tecting - new year.
Ian

                    As I understand it, bishops and archbishops would wear a ring as a sign of their office and people would make a great thing of kissing their ring.  ::)

Yes, that's true - however they're usually of a precious metal and most I've seen have amethysts in them (or somesuch)

I can't argue with that; I'm all out of knowledge.  :'(

That's interesting, maybe owned by a junior member of the clergy with delusions of grandeur.
 ???  ???   ???

Like the ring, good find.

is that where the saying come from kiss my ring