You are here

The Bank of England has already issued a dozen certificates for this gold

Section: Daily Dispatches

Gold Engagement Ring from 17th Century Discovered in Field by Pensioner

By Sophie Jane Evans
Daily Mail, London
Wednesday, September 10, 2014

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2750977/Gold-engagement-ring-17t...

A gold engagement ring from the 17th century has been unearthed by a pensioner with a metal detector -- more than 300 years after it was lost.

Tom Ross, 69, was sweeping his metal detector over a ploughed farmer's field near Newtownabbey in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, when he stumbled across the item.

The rare "posy" ring, which dates to the late 1600s and is 85 percent gold, bears the Old English inscription: "I noght on gift bot gifer," or "Look not on the gift but the giver."

... Dispatch continues below ...



ADVERTISEMENT

Buy metals at GoldMoney and enjoy international storage

GoldMoney was established in 2001 by James and Geoff Turk and is safeguarding more than $1.7 billion in metals and currencies. Buy gold, silver, platinum, and palladium from GoldMoney over the Internet and store them in vaults in Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, ­taking advantage of GoldMoney's low storage rates, among the most competitive in the industry. GoldMoney also offers delivery of 100-gram and 1-kilogram gold bars and 1-kilogram silver bars. To learn more, please visit:

http://www.goldmoney.com/?gmrefcode=gata



Also known as a "betrothal" ring, it pre-dates the custom of proposing with an engagement ring, but essentially served the same purpose.

Men and women exchanged the items from the 1500s onwards to symbolise their future commitment to each other.

Mr Ross, from Jordanstown, near Belfast, told a treasure trove inquest at Belfast Coroners' Court that he initially thought his find in September last year was a worthless trinket.

"I thought it was a bit of rubbish," the great-grandfather and retired oil distributor told coroner Suzanne Anderson.

He added: "In the last 60 years there have been funfairs on that field, motorbike racing, point-to-point racing. There has been a lot of activity there so I thought that's where it came from."

It was only after Mr Ross, who took up metal detecting four years ago as a hobby, showed the ring to a fellow treasure hunter in England that he realised it could be valuable.

He passed the item to museum experts in Northern Ireland, who were able to establish its true significance.

Elise Taylor, curator of applied art at National Museums Northern Ireland, told the court that the ring was originally coated in black and white glass, most of which had worn off in the centuries since.

She said it was tradition to have an inscription on the rings and explained that the name "Posy" related to the French word for poem -- "poesy."

The jewellery expert outlined to Ms Anderson one theory as to how the ring ended up the field in Ballywalter near Newtownabbey.

"There was evidence of a church and graveyard in the adjoining field, which could have been there at that period of time, so many people would have traversed over this field to get to them,' she said.

Explaining that the ring was very light, Ms Taylor speculated that the owner may not even have realised it had dropped from her finger.

"In the cold weather fingers shrink and rings can be lost," she said. "Quite possibly she would not have noticed the ring was lost until she got home."

Ms Anderson declared the ring to be officially treasure -- a ruling that means the item will now be handed over to the British Museum for valuation.

'Very many congratulations and well done for making such a lovely find Mr Ross,' she said.

However, Mr Ross will not be able to hang up his metal detector just yet.

In an amusing twist, after the inquest, the pensioner revealed that when Ms Taylor accompanied him back to the field this year to examine the site she lost her own earring.

"I am going to have to go back and have a look for it now," Mr Ross laughed.

* * *

Join GATA here:

Casey Research 2014 Summit
Hill Country Resort and Spa
San Antonio, Texas
Friday-Sunday, September 19-21, 2014

http://www.caseyresearch.com/summit/2014-fall

Canadian Investor Conference
Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Thursday-Friday, September 25-26, 2014

http://cambridgehouse.com/event/31/canadian-investor-conference-toronto-...

New Orleans Investment Conference
Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel
New Orleans, Louisiana
Wednesday-Saturday, October 22-25, 2014

https://jeffersoncompanies.com/landing/noic2014?IDPromotion=614011014520...

Mines and Money London
Business Design Centre
London, England, U.K.
Monday-Friday, December 1-5, 2014

http://www.minesandmoney.com/london/

* * *

Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006:

http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html

Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt:

http://gata.org/tshirts

Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009:

http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal

Help keep GATA going

GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:

http://www.gata.org

To contribute to GATA, please visit:

http://www.gata.org/node/16