PREVIEW: JEWELLERY, WATCHES & OBJECTS OF VERTU 12 SEPTEMBER

Noonans’ Jewellery auctions are well known for including fine early jewels, and this auction offers an interesting selection of rings, all detectorist finds, spanning a 1,000-year period.

The Selbourne Ring - a beautiful early 17th century enamel and rock crystal ring, is sure to appeal widely. Discovered by a metal detectorist near Selbourne in Hampshire in 2022, it is similar in style to an example from the Cheapside Hoard found in London in 1912, pieces which dated from the late 16th/ early 17th century.

This pretty enamelled ring, offered for sale at Noonans, dates from the same period. For an excavated piece of jewellery, it is in exceptional condition, with virtually full enamel and a perfect gem setting. The central square-cut rock crystal is mounted within a raised square bezel decorated in pale blue enamel. The shoulders are bifurcated, again enamel inlaid, each applied with a gold quatrefoil, the D-shaped hoop with vine scroll pattern inlaid with pale blue enamel, A gold purity testing assesses the content as 77.95%. The ring is estimated to fetch £3,000-4,000 and expected to attract considerable interest.

A Medieval sapphire set stirrup ring, The Burradon Sapphire Ring was discovered at Burradon in Northamptonshire in 2021, a very fine example of its type. The late 13th/early 14th century yellow gold and sapphire ring has a hoop of ‘D’ shaped cross-section, with a raised triangular-shaped bezel centred at the apex with a cabochon sub-triangular shaped sapphire. The ring is estimated to sell for £5,000-7,000.

Burradon was formerly in the parish of Alwinton where the church of St Michael and All Angels dates from the early Norman period but fell into disrepair in the 15th century. To the southeast of Burradon is the market town of Rothbury, founded in 1291, which was the centre for selling livestock and wool.

From the same period comes a gold, diamond and amethyst ring, The Hayton Coronet Ring, discovered by a metal detectorist near Hayton, East Riding, Yorkshire. Presenting as a hoop of D-shaped cross section, and decorated to the shoulders with rounded grooves, it is centred with a circular openwork quatrefoil-shaped bezel with central turreted collet set with a diamond and four outer smaller collets, each containing an amethyst, (one vacant).
The ring is similar to a type of pewter pilgrim badge dating to the 14th-15th century, representing the five wounds of Christ. When viewed from the side, the bezel resembles a coronet. The estimate is £4,000-6,000.

The oldest of the finds is a 4th century, Romano-British gold finger ring, The Hambleton Hardstone Ring. The hoop is formed of two beaded filigree wire bands separating to form twin spiral shoulders, with small globules to the centres, supporting the bezel of square form.

This ring was discovered by a metal detectorist at Hambleton, North Yorkshire, in 2022 and is comparable to rings from the Thetford Hoard (No. 10 and 12) and possibly from the same workshop. The estimate is £2,400-3,000.

Two posy rings complete the detectorist highlights. The first is a late 16th/early 17th century gold posy ring, the D-shaped band inscribed to the interior in Roman capitals ‘rather.deathe.then.false.of.favthe’, the ‘TH’ conjoined. The exterior is decorated with four figures-of-eight each containing a floral motif, possibly an extended fleur-de-lis.

The inscription is recorded on a British Museum Harleian manuscript dated approximately 1596, and an example of the same posy can be found in the Sir John Evans’s Collection. 

This ring was discovered by a metal detectorist near Wendlebury, Oxfordshire in 2019 and is estimated at £800-1,000.

The second gold posy ring dates from the 18th century and is inscribed to the interior ‘I give it thee to think on mee’ in italic cursive script, to a plain exterior band.

Frances Noble, Head of Jewellery at Noonans, commented: “These early rings are a joy to see and handle – going back hundreds of years, they are hugely evocative pieces, each with an untold story of lives and loves from so long ago.”