Chapter I: Part 1

RINGS

_By GEORGE FREDERICK KUNZ, Ph.D., Sc.D., A.M._

THE CURIOUS LORE OF
PRECIOUS STONES

Being a description of their sentiments and folklore, superstitions, symbolism, mysticism, use in protection, prevention, religion and divination, crystal gazing, birth-stones, lucky stones and talismans, astral, zodiacal, and planetary.

THE MAGIC OF JEWELS
AND CHARMS

Magic jewels and electric gems; meteorites or celestial stones; stones of healing: fabulous stones: concretions and fossils; snake stones and bezoars; charms of ancient and modern times; facts and fancies about precious stones.

EACH: Profusely illustrated in color, doubletone and line. Octavo. Handsome cloth binding, gilt top, in a box. $6.00 net. Carriage charges extra.

SHAKESPEARE AND
PRECIOUS STONES

Treating of the known references to precious stones in Shakespeare’s works, with comments as to the origin of his material, the knowledge of the poet concerning precious stones, and references as to where the precious stones of his time came from.

Four illustrations. Square Octavo. Decorated cloth. $1.25 net.

THE MAHARANI OF SIKKIM (NORTHEASTERN HINDUSTAN)

She wears two gold rings, one set with a turquoise, the other
with coral. The peculiar crown of gold, turquoise and coral is
that adopted for the queens of Sikkim. From the necklace of amber
beads hangs a gau, or charm box, set with rubies, lapis-lazuli,
and turquoise.

Oil painting by Damodar Dutt, a Bengali artist

Dr. Berthold Laufer’s “Notes on Turquoise in the East,” Chicago,
1913]

RINGS
FOR THE FINGER

FROM THE EARLIEST KNOWN TIMES TO THE PRESENT,
WITH FULL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ORIGIN, EARLY
MAKING, MATERIALS, THE ARCHÆOLOGY, HISTORY,
FOR AFFECTION, FOR LOVE, FOR ENGAGEMENT,
FOR WEDDING, COMMEMORATIVE, MOURNING, ETC.

BY
GEORGE FREDERICK KUNZ,
Ph.D., Sc.D., A.M.

WITH 290 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOR, DOUBLETONE AND LINE

PHILADELPHIA & LONDON
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1917]

COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

PUBLISHED JANUARY, 1917

PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
PHILADELPHIA, U.S.A.

COOPER UNION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT
OF SCIENCE AND ART EDITION

OF

RINGS

(See Dedication)

_Limited to fifteen copies_

[1]Miss Sarah Cooper Hewitt, Honorary Associate of the Trustees
[1]Mrs. James O. Green, Honorary Associate of the Trustees
[1]Miss Eleanor G. Hewitt, Honorary Associate of the Trustees
[1]Peter Cooper Hewitt, Vice-President of the U. S. Naval Advisory
Board, Trustee
[1]Edward R. Hewitt, Treasurer
[2]Peter Cooper Bryce, Secretary
[1]Erskine Hewitt,
R. Fulton Cutting, President
Andrew Carnegie, Trustee
J. Pierpont Morgan, Trustee
Charles W. Gould, Trustee
L. C. Levin Jordan, Assistant Secretary
Charles R. Richards, Director

One Copy for the Reading Room of the Cooper Union
for the Advancement of Science and Art

George Frederick Kunz, Former Student and Assistant in Chemistry

_This copy was printed for_
MISS SARAH COOPER HEWITT
_With the compliments of the Author_

To
PETER COOPER
AND TO
HIS DESCENDANTS

WHO HAVE SO GENEROUSLY AND DEVOTEDLY
CARRIED OUT HIS TRADITIONS, AND DEVELOPED
THEM AS OCCASION DEMANDED,

AND TO

THE COOPER UNION OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

IN THE LABORATORIES, LECTURE ROOMS AND
LIBRARY OF WHICH THE AUTHOR SPENT
USEFUL, PROFITABLE EVENING HOURS FOR
SEVERAL YEARS, AT A TIME WHEN THERE
WERE NO OTHER OPPORTUNITIES OF A SIMILAR
NATURE IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK--THIS
VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

FOREWORD

The present volume aims to offer in attractive and convenient form everything that is of importance and interest in regard to finger-rings, from the fabled ring of Prometheus down to the latest productions of the goldsmiths and jewellers of our day.

The subject offers a striking illustration of the wonderful diversity of form, decoration and usage, that the skill and fancy of man have been able to realize in the case of the little circlet constituting a ring. To make this clearer to the reader, a division in accordance with the general history and the special uses of rings has seemed more effective than any attempt to separate all the material along geographical or chronological lines.

One of the earliest uses to which rings were put was for the impression of an engraved design or device upon letters or documents, as the sign-manual of the wearer. From the time of the ancient Egyptians, this use prevailed in various parts of the world and many of the most striking rings of this type are described and figured here. Allied to these, and in some cases identical with them, are the rings given as marks of official dignity and rank.

A most important class are the rings bestowed upon and worn by the higher ecclesiastics. Papal rings, among which the most noted is the “Fisherman’s Ring,” rings for cardinals and for bishops, and also occasionally in former times, for abbots, were and are still regarded with special reverence in the Roman and Greek churches. The usage of wearing rings of this type dates far back in the history of Christianity. Many examples of these rings are given, as also of others bearing Christian emblems, and of those worn by nuns, and by widows who had vowed never to re-wed.

Closely connected with these religious rings, are the betrothal and wedding rings. Here it has seemed best to group together the available data, since the line of demarcation between engagement and wedding rings, though clearly enough marked to-day, is not easy to draw in regard to earlier times. A very full selection of mottoes has been added, some of which might still be used; the greater number, however, belong to a past age, upon the sentiments of which they cast interesting side lights.

Rings as charms and talismans form a class apart. Often the peculiar form of the circlet was conceived to have a symbolic virtue, but more frequently the talismanic quality depended upon some curious engraved device, upon the stones set in the rings, or upon a mystic or religious inscription. Rings of healing were talismans valued for their special power to cure disease; the “cramp rings,” dated in legend back to the time of Edward the Confessor, were notable in this series.

The rings of famous men and women will always be prized as mementos, and in the various chapters of this book a large number of them will be found, both rings of the mighty dead and those of distinguished living persons; among these latter we are happy to be able to produce an illustration of the inscription of President Wilson’s ring from an impression of his seal courteously made by his own hand. It shows his name engraved in Pitmanic shorthand.

Our American Indians have also made their contribution to the art of ring-making, occasionally in the earlier centuries, and more especially in more recent times. Notably the Navajos of New Mexico have exhibited a considerable degree of skill in this direction. Much new information on this subject will be found in the present work.

How rings are made by our jewellers of to-day, more especially by the accurate and varied mechanical methods now employed for their production, is concisely treated in a supplementary chapter. While machine-made rings can scarcely be expected to equal those executed by the hand of the true artist-goldsmith, those now produced are nevertheless objects of beauty and adornment.

A ring is a symbol to which great interest is attached from the cradle to the grave. Frequently, a natal stone, or a ring set with a natal stone, is given to a child at its birth. When the child is baptized it receives the talismanic gem of the guardian angel. At confirmation the gem of the week is given. At graduation from school or college, a class ring is bestowed. Finally, on the announcement of an engagement, a ring set with any one of the choicer precious stones is selected for the fiancée. Thus each important epoch in early life has its appropriate memento, which will recall the memory of it in after years.

As very full indications as to the literature have been given in the footnotes, it has not seemed necessary to append the numerous titles in the form of a bibliography.

The author’s thanks are due to the following persons, who have courteously imparted much valuable information:

Hon. Peter T. Barlow; Miss Ada M. Barr; W. Gedney Beatty; Theodoor de Boog, Museum of the American Indian; Dr. Stewart Culin, Brooklyn Institute; Robert W. De Forrest; Mrs. Alexander W. Drake; Dr. Gustavus A. Eisen; Prof. Richard Gottheil, Columbia University; Dr. L. P. Gratacap, Curator, Dept. of Mineralogy, American Museum of Natural History; Right Rev. David H. Greer, Bishop of New York; Mrs. Isabel Hapgood; Prof. A. V. Williams Jackson, Columbia University; William H. Jones; Minor C. Keith; Dr. F. A. Lucas, Director, American Museum of Natural History; B. Mazza; Edward T. Newell, President, American Numismatic Society; Prof. John Dyneley Prince, Columbia University; Mrs. Annie R. Schley; Dr. George C. Stone; J. Alden Weir, President, National Academy of Design; Dr. Clark Wissler, Curator, Dept. of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History; Theodore M. Woodland; Walter C. Wyman, and also the late William M. Chase; Dr. Charles S. Braddock, Jr.; Prof. Friedrich Hirth, Columbia University; Sidney P. Noe, Librarian, and Howland Wood, Curator, American Numismatic Society; Rev. Dr. John P. Peters and Rev. Father William J. Stewart, all of New York City.

Prof. Cyrus Adler, Dropsie College, Philadelphia; Dr. Hector Alliot, South Western Museum, Los Angeles, Cal.; Dr. F. H. Barrow, Director, Golden Gate Museum, Los Angeles, Cal.; Prof. Hiram Bingham, Yale University; Frank S. Daggett, Director, Museum of History, Science and Art, Los Angeles, Cal.; Dr. Joseph K. Dixon, Secretary, National American Indian Memorial Asso., Philadelphia; Dr. Arthur Fairbanks, Director, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass.; Franciscan Fathers, St. Michael’s Mission, Arizona; Prof. L. C. Glenn, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee; Dr. F. W. Hodge, Ethnologist-in-charge, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.; Prof. W. H. Holmes, Head Curator, Dept. of Anthropology, United States National Museum, Washington, D. C.; Dr. Walter Hough, Acting Head Curator, Dept. of Anthropology, United States National Museum, Washington, D. C.; Prof. Morris Jastrow, Jr., University of Pennsylvania; Dr. Berthold Laufer, Curator of Anthropology, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; Waldo Lincoln, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass.; Prof. George Grant McCurdy, Curator of Anthropology, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University; Dr. William C. Mills, Curator and Librarian, Chicago Archæological and Historical Soc.; Edward S. Morse, Director, Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass.; Dr. Warren K. Moorehead, Curator, Dept. American Archæology, Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.; Ostby & Barton Co., Providence, R. I.; Admiral Robert E. Peary, Washington, D. C.; Dr. R. Rathbun, United States National Museum, Washington, D. C.; William Riker, Newark, N. J.; Oliver A. Roberts, Librarian, Masonic Temple, Boston, Mass.; Prof. Austin T. Rogers, Leland Stanford Jr. University, Stanford University, Cal.; Dr. F. J. V. Skiff, Director, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; Prof. Friedrich Starr, University of Chicago; Rev. John Baer Stoudt, Northampton, Pa.; Ex-President William H. Taft, New Haven, Conn.; J. P. Tumulty, Secretary to President Wilson, Washington, D. C.; the late Dr. William Hayes Ward, Assyriologist, South Berwick, Mass.

W. W. Blake, Mexico City; A. W. Feavearyear, London, England; R. Friedländer & Sohn, Berlin; Prabha Karavongu, Siamese Legation, Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Isabel Moore, Azores; M. Georges Pelissier, Paris, France; Dr. William Flinders Petrie, Egyptologist, Hampstead, England; Sir Charles Hercules Read, Curator, Dept. British and Mediæval Antiquities and Ethnography, British Museum; Dr. Leonard Spencer, Curator, Mineralogical Dept., British Museum (Natural History); C. J. S. Thompson, Curator, Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, London, England; Sir Herbert Tree, London, England; Dr. T. Wada, Tokio, Japan; Herr Leopold Weininger, Vienna, and also Dr. Albert Figdor, Vienna, and U. S. Consul W. Bardel, St. Michael, Azores.

The illustrations of rings in the British Museum are mostly from one or the other of the two exceedingly comprehensive catalogues of rings published by this museum: “Finger Rings, Greek, Etruscan and Roman,” by F. H. Marshall, and “Finger Rings, Early Christian, Byzantine, Teutonic, Mediæval, and Later,” by O. M. Dalton. In each volume the section devoted to a special description of each ring is preceded by a most scholarly and enlightening introductory essay.

G. F. K.

[3]

New York City,
November, 1916

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE ORIGIN, PURPOSES AND METHODS OF RING WEARING 1

1. The Origin of the Ring
2. Purposes of Ring Wearing
3. Methods of Wearing

II. FORMS OF RINGS AND MATERIALS OF WHICH THEY ARE MADE 67

The Materials of Rings

III. SIGNET RINGS 115

IV. SOME INTERESTING RINGS OF HISTORY 162

1. On the Continent
2. English Rings

V. BETROTHAL (ENGAGEMENT) RINGS, WEDDING (NUPTIAL) RINGS,
AND LOVE TOKENS 193

VI. THE RELIGIOUS USE OF RINGS 249

VII. MAGIC AND TALISMANIC RINGS 288

VIII. RINGS OF HEALING 336

IX. RING MAKING 355

ILLUSTRATIONS

COLOR PLATES

PAGE

The Maharani of Sikkim _Frontispiece_

Richly Enameled Rings in the Collection of Dr.
Albert Figdor 90

Shakespeare’s Signet Ring; Lord Byron’s Ring 152

DOUBLETONES

Evolution of the Ring 2

Serpent Ring; Greek and Roman Rings; Mycenæan Rings 3

Ancient Rings of American Indians 20

Navajo Silversmith at Work 21

Navajo Indian Girl Wearing Native Rings 24

Navajo Silver Rings 25

Navajo Silversmiths Working 28

Pueblo Indian Family, Showing Ring-wearing 29

Autograph Letter of Admiral Robert E. Peary 30

Roman Rings; Charioteer’s Ring 32

Isis and Serapis Ring; Decade Ring; Supposed Head of
Plotina on Ring; Key Rings 33

Memorial Rings and Poison Ring 44

Cameo of Louis XII; Nelson Ring; Napoleon Elba Ring 45

Hands on Egyptian Mummy Case; Hands from Portrait; Hand
Showing Hindu Jewels 50

Hands from Sepulchral Effigy; Illustrating Ring-wearing 51

Upper Part of Mummy Case of Artemidora, Showing Rings on
Hand 52

Sketch by Sir Charles Hercules Read of Finger of Bronze
Statue with Seal Ring 53

Portrait of a Lady by Anton Van Dyke 60

Portrait of Princess Hatzfeld by Antonio Pesaro 61

Anglo-Saxon Rings 64

Thumb Ring; Frankish and Lombardic Rings 65

The “Lorscher Ring”; Ring with Mouse; Venetian Ring;
Jeweller’s Ring-rod 72

Spur Ring; Modern Egyptian Rings; Pipe-stopper Ring 73

Oriental Rings 78

Rich East Indian Ring; Rings Made by Siamese Priest 79

Indian Toe Rings 80

Portrait of Rich Cinghalese Merchant with Many Rings 81

Ring of President Franklin Pierce; Old Rings Combined
as Pendant 84

Rings in Drake Collection 85

Rings from Collection of W. Gedney Beatty, Esq. 92

Types of Watch Rings 93

Portrait of a Man, Fifteenth Century, by Antonio del
Pollaiolo, Showing Pointed Diamond in Ring 98

Portrait of a Venetian Senator with Thumb Ring 99

Portrait of a Man by Lucas Cranach 118

Portrait of Katharina Aeder, by Hans Bock the Elder 119

Portrait of Cardinal of Brandenburg, by the “Master of
the Death of Mary” 124

Portrait of a Mother and Her Daughter, by Bartholomew Bruyn 125

Ancient Roman Seal Rings; Key Ring 132

Roman Rings of Bronze and of Bone; Roman Gold Ring with
Settings; Gold Ring from Wiston, Sussex; Roman Silver
Ring 133

Bronze Signet Rings; Ivory Signet Ring 136

Gold Signet, Sixteenth Century; Massive Gold Signet,
English, Fifteenth Century 137

Man’s Portrait, by Conrad Faber; Portrait of Benedikt
von Hertenstein, by Hans Holbein 148

Man and Woman at Casement. Florentine, Fifteenth Century 149

Rings From Collection of Imperial Kunstgewerbe Museum,
Vienna 156

Signet Ring of Charles I 157

Ring with Portrait, Given to Lafayette by Washington;
Impression of President Wilson’s Signet Ring; Seal of
Right Reverend David H. Greer, Bishop of New York 160

Portrait of a Lady, Cologne School, 1526, Wearing Pointed
Diamond 168

Man’s Portrait, by Hans Funk, 1523, with Seal Ring 169

“Campaign Medals” of Henri II and of John Casimir, Count
Palatine, with Pointed Diamonds 170

Portrait of Diane de Poitiers 171

Portrait of Henry VIII, by Hans Holbein 182

Portrait of Jane Seymour, by Holbein 183

Portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots, French School 184

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, by Lucas de Heere 185

Gold Ring, Cameo Portrait of Queen Elizabeth; Venetian
Ring with Pearls; Multiple Silver Rings 186

Puzzle Rings 187

Portrait of a Lady, by Pantoja de la Cruz 194

Portrait of Empress Mary, Daughter of Charles V, by Juan
Pantoja de la Cruz 195

Inlaid Antique Ring; Locket Ring; Antique Syrian Ring;
Roman Ring with Pointed Diamond; Silver Ring on Bone
of Finger, from Saxon Sepulchre 196

Syrian Wedding Rings of Agate and Chalcedony 197

Betrothal of the Virgin, by Juan Rodriguez Juarez (Xuarez) 202

Hands from the Preceding Picture 203

Jewish Betrothal Rings, Musèe de Cluny 212

Jewish Rings from British Museum 213

Portrait of Anne of Cleves, by Hans Holbein, Showing
Thumb Ring 216

Portrait of Judith, by Lucas Cranach, Rings Worn Under
Gloves 217

Ring with Diamond for Writing on Glass; Gallo-Roman
Wedding Ring; Signet and Wedding Ring of Mary, Queen
of Scots 218

Betrothal Rings; Gimmal Wedding Ring 219

Gimmal Ring; Betrothal Ring; Puzzle Ring 220

Wedding Rings with Posies 221

Portrait of Clara Eugenia, Daughter of Philip II of
Spain, by Gonzales 222

Portrait of Catarina Michela, Another of Philip’s
Daughters, by Coello Sanchez 223

Engagement and Wedding Rings 230

Wedding Rings 231

Marriage Medals by Oscar Roty 232

Puzzle Ring; Gold Betrothal Ring; Ornamental Love Ring 233

Portrait of Young Woman, Dutch School 240

Portrait of a Man, by the “Master of the Death of Mary” 241

Rings, Italian, French, Tyrolese, in the Boston Museum
of Fine Arts 246

Jacques Guay, Gem Engraver of Louis XV, at Work in the
Louvre 247

Ring of Pius II, Æneas Sylvius 262

The “Fisherman’s Ring”; Hand of Cranach’s “Judith,”
with Gloves Slit for Rings 263

Portrait of Clement IX, by Carlo Maratta 268

Portrait of Julius II, by Rafael 269

Christian Ring of Glass; Venetian Relic Ring; Poison
Ring; Ring of Bishop Ahlstan 270

Memorial Rings 271

Bishops’ Rings; Papal Ring; Rosary Rings 272

Bishops’ Rings 273

Abbess Praying, French School 280

Lady’s Portrait, by Coninxbo 281

Rings with Greek Mottoes; Ring of Bronze Gilt 300

Oriental Rings 301

The “Hermit Stone,” from Lapidario of Alfonso X 304

The “Offspring Stone,” from Lapidario of Alfonso X 305

Chinese Jeweller’s Shop in San Francisco; Modern
Chinese Rings 320

Specimens of Curious Ring Collection in American Museum
of Natural History, New York; Rings from Philippine
Islands 321

Zodiacal Rings 328

Magic Rings 329

Masonic Rings 332

Rings of Orders and Societies 333

Edward the Confessor’s Ring; Healing Ring 342

Curious Woodcuts Regarding Rings, from the Ortus
(Hortus) Sanitatis of Johannis de Cuba 343

Astrolabe Ring; Watch-Ring by Kossek in Prague 352

Eighteenth Century Watch Ring; Modern Watch Ring 353

Production of Rings with Precious Stones by Means of
Machinery 356

Successive Stages in the Formation of a Machine-made Ring 357

The “Allen Ring Gauge” for Measuring Rings 358

“Ring, Finger and Millimeter Locking Gauge”; “Display
Rings” 359

RINGS

I

THE ORIGIN, PURPOSES AND METHODS OF RING WEARING

THE ORIGIN OF THE RING

The origin of the ring is somewhat obscure, although there is good reason to believe that it is a modification of the cylindrical seal which was first worn attached to the neck or to the arm and was eventually reduced in size so that it could be worn on the finger. Signet rings were used in Egypt from a very remote period, and we read in Gen. xl, 42, that the Pharaoh of Joseph’s time bestowed a ring upon the patriarch as a mark of authority. From Egypt the custom of wearing rings was transmitted to the Greek world, and also to the Etruscans, from whom the usage was derived by the Romans. The Greek rings were made of various materials, such as gold, silver, iron, ivory, and amber.

In his Natural History, Pliny relates the Greek fable of the origin of the ring. For his impious daring in stealing fire from heaven for mortal man, Prometheus had been doomed by Jupiter to be chained for 30,000 years to a rock in the Caucasus, while a vulture fed upon his liver. Before long, however, Jupiter relented and liberated Prometheus; nevertheless, in order to avoid a violation of the original judgment, it was ordained that the Titan should wear a link of his chain on one of his fingers as a ring, and in this ring was set a fragment of the rock to which he had been chained, so that he might be still regarded as bound to the Caucasian rock.

Another origin ascribed to the ring is the knot. A knotted cord or a piece of wire twisted into a knot was a favorite charm in primitive times. Frequently this was used to cast a spell over a person, so as to deprive him of the use of one of his limbs or one of his faculties; at other times, the power of the charm was directed against the evil spirit which was supposed to cause disease or lameness, and in this case the charm had curative power. It has been conjectured that the magic virtues attributed to rings originated in this way, the ring being regarded as a simplified form of a knot; indeed, not infrequently rings were and are made in the form of knots.[4] This symbol undoubtedly signified the binding or attaching of the spell to its object, and the same idea is present in the true-lovers’ knot.

1, Egyptian seal ring. 2, Greek snake ring, found at Kertch in the Crimea. 3, antique Roman ring (Berlin Antiquarium). 4, Romano-Etruscan ring. 5, Roman key ring. 6, Gothic ring with stone set on raised bezel. 7, Gothic ring with cabochon-cut stone. 8, Renaissance ring with enamel decoration. 9, Hebrew wedding ring. 10, Renaissance ring. 11, Renaissance ring. 12, coat of arms of the Medici, three interlinked stones, each set with a natural pointed diamond crystal.]

Large serpentine ring with many coils. Græco-Roman, Fourth Century B.C. to Second Century A.D.

British Museum]

Græco-Roman silver ring, set with an oval engraved sardonyx. Second Century A.D.

British Museum]

British Museum]

Hellenistic bronze ring. Bezel set with a convex pale green paste. Remains of gilding on ring

British Museum]

Greek silver ring. Engraved design beneath a sunk border; draped figure of a girl holding out a dove

British Museum]

British Museum]

Mycenæan gold rings. 1, from Ialysos, Rhodes; given to the British Museum in 1870 by John Ruskin; 2, from excavation at Enkomi, 1896

British Museum]

Many rings of the Bronze Age were found in the course of excavations conducted in 1901 by M. Henri de Morgan in the valley of Agha Evlar, stretching back from Kerghan on the Caspian Sea, in the region known as the “Persian Talyche.” Here several sepulchral dolmens were discovered which yielded a considerable number of ornamental objects of metal and stone, as well as beads of vitreous paste. There was no trace of inscriptions to aid in dating these “Scythian” finds, but they are considered to belong to the second millennium before Christ. The bronze rings are of several different types, some of them showing from three to five spirals; in other cases the ends are overlapping, or else brought together as closely as possible.[5]

Although it would scarcely be safe to assume that finger-rings were never worn by the ancient Assyrians, still the almost total absence of representations of them, even on female figures, renders it safe to say that this must have been only very rarely the case. Possibly the persistence in Assyria and Babylonia of the cylindrical form of seal may account for this, in part at least, for the signet ring in many places was evolved from the cylinder-seal. Moreover, the absence of small intaglios in the period earlier than 500 B.C. would have deprived a ring of its almost essential setting. The plates in Layard’s great work on Assyrian remains, as well as those published by Flandrin and Coste, also offer strong negative evidence, although Dr. William Hayes Ward states that he would have expected finger-rings might have come from Egypt by the way of Syria. At a later period, under Greek influence, rings were not uncommon.[6] In the immense cemeteries at Warka and elsewhere numerous iron rings have been found, many of them toe-rings, as well as some made of shell, but the date of these burials is not easily determined, and they are probably, in most instances, not of much earlier date than the eighth or even the sixth century before Christ.

A proof that genuine antiques can still be picked up in our day in the East is given by Doctor Ward, who said that he bought in Bagdad a lovely gold ring set with a cameo on which was inscribed in Greek characters “Protarchus made it.” When, on visiting London, he told this to Doctor Murray, of the British Museum, the latter gave full expression to his scepticism, saying, “There are plenty of those signed things.” But when the gem itself was shown him, he exclaimed, “This is jolly genuine,” and he had it photographed for his book.[7]

A very interesting find was made in 1893, during the excavations conducted under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania at Nippur. In the northwestern part of the mound, as many as 730 inscribed tablets were unearthed, which had been carefully stored in a chamber measuring eighteen by nine feet. These tablets, when deciphered, proved that the chamber was the record room of the sons of a certain Murashu, Bêlhâtin and Bêl-nadin-shumu, whose activity seems to have been analogous to that of our counsellors-at-law. Many of the tablets bear records concerning the members of the family personally, but in other cases their services appear to have been claimed in various legal difficulties. One of the most curious of these ancient documents is a contract dated the eighth of the month of Elul, in the year 429 B.C. (thirty-fifth year of Artaxerxes I of Persia), in which Bêl-ah-iddina, Bêlshumu, and Hâtin give the following guarantee to Bêl-nadin-shumu, son of Murashu:

As concerns the gold ring set with an emerald, we guarantee that in twenty years the emerald will not fall out of the gold ring. If the emerald should fall out of the gold ring before the end of twenty years, Bêl-ah-iddina, Bêlshumu, and Hâtin shall pay unto Bêl-nadin-shumu an indemnity of ten mana of silver.

The record bears the names of seven witnesses and that of the scribe, and is signed with the thumb-nail marks of those who guaranteed the jewel, “instead of their seals.”[8]

It seems that we have here the names of the members of a firm of jewellers doing business in Nippur, in the fifth century before Christ, and evidently they were quite confident that the work they sold was well and solidly done, for the indemnity represented a sum equivalent to about $400 in our money. This must have been the estimated value of the emerald. As the stone was probably not very large, this particular gem must have been highly valued at that time, a fact due, in all likelihood, to the special talismanic virtues attributed to it.

Several gold rings of Egyptian workmanship, excavated in tombs at Enkomi, Cyprus, date back to the time of the Middle Empire in Egypt. One in pale gold, now in the British Museum, has a flat oval bezel, inscribed “Maāt, the golden one of the two lands.” This belongs to the period from the XIX to the XXI Dynasty (or approximately from 1350 to 1000 B.C.). A ring found on the surface of the ground is of electrum and very massive, and is engraved with a draped figure seated on a throne, to whom approaches another figure clothed with a lion’s skin and wearing on the head a disk and horns; a lion walking is in the exergue, and the sun’s disk is above the two figures. This is believed to belong to the late XVIII Dynasty, toward 1400 B.C. A thin, rounded hoop of pale gold, the ends of which are twisted round each other, and a rounded hoop of yellow gold engraved with four uræi, are two other examples in the British Museum of the rings from Enkomi. A massive silver ring from the same place has a large oval bezel with the following names and titles inscribed in Egyptian hieroglyphics: Rā-Heru-Khuti, Rā]-Kheperu Nefer, Meri-Rā, Ptah-neb-nut-maāt.[9] The Cypriot gold ornaments which these rings help to date are considered to be essentially contemporary with those from the tombs in the lower town of Mycenæ, the period being approximately 1300–1100 B.C., possibly some years earlier or later.

A beautifully worked, perforated gold ring, set with a scarab of carnelian, was found in Cyprus and is now in the Konstantinidis Collection at Nicosia. The workmanship as well as the style of the setting indicates that it was produced in the sixth century B.C. Engraved on the carnelian is a fabulous monster, somewhat resembling a chimæra, half lion, half boar.[10] Another ring of the same period from Marion-Arsinoë, Cyprus, has a silver hoop, and is set with a flat scaraboid, engraved with a female figure kneeling.

One of the largest Mycenæan rings shows a goddess seated near a tree, and worshippers approaching to do her homage. Others offer various devices: an altar with worshippers; a griffin and a seated divinity; a pair of sphinxes; griffins, bulls’ heads, etc., in heraldic ordering.[11] Here we have early Greek art transforming and adapting Oriental forms of metal engraving, to be succeeded, more than five centuries later, by the great gem-engravings of the palmy days of the art of Ionia and Greece.

Among the Cyprian rings of the Mycenæan period, about 1000 B.C., in the British Museum, is a double gold ring which had been evidently inlaid with some vitreous substance, all but faint traces of which have now disappeared. This was found in a site near Famagusta, Cyprus, that has been satisfactorily identified with the spot where the Greeks under Teucer are said to have established a settlement on their return from the siege of Troy. Other gold rings discovered here at the same time, in 1896, have plain hoops, with a small cylindrical ornament strung on the hoop, to serve in place of a bezel with setting. Still another of these rings has, on one side, an extension squared off at the corners, making a long and narrow flat surface on the outside of the hoop; along its edge runs a beaded ornamentation.[12]

The oldest Greek ring bearing an inscription is one believed to belong to the late Mycenæan period. The gold hoop has engraved upon it the Cypriot syllables Le-na-ko, possibly meaning the name Lenagoras. It was found with other ornaments in a grave near Lanarka, Cyprus.[13] The similarity of the name Lanarka with the phonetic value of the inscribed signs might perhaps suggest that a place name rather than a person’s name is signified. That in ancient times several cities had their special signets is proved by a Greek inscription as to the cities of Smyrna, Magnesia, and Sipylum.[14]

Pliny already remarked the fact that nowhere in the Homeric poems is any mention made of rings or of seals. This is the more singular that we have so much positive evidence in Cretan and Mycenæan remains that rings were known to a part of the Greek world for a long time prior to the composition of the Iliad and Odyssey. Probably due allowance must be made for the individual preference of the poet, or school of poets, to whom we owe these masterpieces of ancient literature. In our own day, the present writer in his researches has often been disappointed to find nothing concerning precious stones or jewels in a given work treating of a subject that would invite their mention, the obvious reason being that the author cared little or nothing for such things, and hence passed over, unnoticed, all data regarding them. Nevertheless, the metal-worker’s art evidently appealed strongly to the author (or authors) of the Homeric epics, as is shown in many places, notably in the long description of the representations on the elaborately wrought shield made by Vulcan for Achilles (Il., xviii, 478–608).

Certainly the traditions of Homeric times, recorded by later Greek writers, tell of several rings worn by Homeric personages. A ring of Ulysses, engraved with a dolphin by order of the wily hero, in memory of the rescue of his son Telemachus by one of the creatures of the deep, is mentioned by Plutarch (“De solertia anim.”). Moreover, Helen of Troy is stated to have worn on one of her fingers a ring bearing the figure of an “enormous fish,” and, finally, the great Greek painter Polygnotus, a contemporary of Pericles (495–429 B.C.), in a painting showing the descent of Ulysses into Hades, represented the youthful Phocus as wearing a ring, set with an engraved gem, on one of the fingers of his left hand.[15] This painting was highly reputed in ancient times, and had been dedicated to Apollo in the shrine at Delphi by the Cnidians.

The significance of the ring in the fourth century before Christ, as an ensign of office in Athens, is brought out by a passage in the “Knights” of the comic poet Aristophanes, where the people, as an expression of their discontent with the administration of Kleon, demand that he surrender the ring with which he has been invested, as a proof that he is no longer entrusted with the office of treasurer.[16]

A clever use of a ring is reported to have been made by Ismenias of Thebes, when he was sent by the Bœotians as an envoy to the Persian King. Before he was brought into the royal presence he was instructed by the master of ceremonies that he must prostrate himself before the sovereign. This act was strongly repugnant to his Greek consciousness, both as a debasement of his individual dignity, and as an act of divine homage offered to a mortal. To escape from the dilemma, the envoy, as he approached the throne, took off his ring and succeeded in dropping it without attracting too much attention; whereupon he stooped and picked it up. The Greek onlookers understood the meaning of his action, while the Persians believed that he had satisfactorily conformed to the court ceremonial. His little ruse was rewarded by a favorable reception of his requests by the Persian King, who had long been offended by the obstinate refusal of the Greeks to render him the homage he regarded as his due.[17]

The iron ring of the Romans, accounted for in popular fancy by the tale of the rock and link ring of Prometheus, probably came to the Romans from the Etruscans, who appear to have owed the fashion to the Greeks, and Pliny notes in his “Naturalis Historia,” written about 75 A.D., that even then the Lacedæmonians, with true Spartan sobriety, still wore iron rings.[18] Roman tradition carried back the introduction of such rings to the age of Numa Pompilius, about 700 B.C., and there is evidence that, at a later time at least, they were regarded as symbols of victory when worn on the hand of a successful general, a late instance being the wearing of an iron ring by Marius at his triumph for the victory over Jugurtha in 107 B.C.[19]

The progressive changes in the Roman regulations and customs governing the wearing of rings and the material of which they should be made have been stated in a concise and convenient form by M. Deloche, and his conclusions are of considerable value, based as they are upon a very careful study of the classic sources and their best interpreters in the past.[20]

The iron ring, the only one originally, was at first regarded as a mark of individual honor, awarded by the sovereign or in his name. From the earliest times of the Roman Republic, a senator sent on an embassy received a gold ring, all other senators being restricted to iron ones. Soon, however, senators of noble birth, and, later on, all senators without distinction, enjoyed the right of wearing gold rings. In the third century B.C. this privilege was then extended to the knights, and in the last years of the Republic, as well as under the emperors, many other classes of citizens were made partakers of the privilege, so that before long even some freedmen and certain of those pursuing the least reputable vocations were permitted the enjoyment of a distinction once so jealously guarded.

Toward the latter part of the third century A.D. all Roman soldiers could lawfully wear gold rings, although in the late Republican and earlier Imperial periods this right was accorded only to the military tribunes. Thus, finally, all class distinctions in this respect were done away with. Every freeborn man could wear a gold ring, freedmen, with a few exceptions, were confined to silver rings, and the iron ring became the badge of slavery.

After the battle of Cannæ (August 2, 216 B.C.), in which the Romans were totally defeated by Hannibal, the Carthaginian leader ordered that the gold rings should be taken from the hands of the dead Romans and heaped up in the vestibule of his quarters. Enough were collected to fill a bushel basket (some authorities say three bushel baskets), and they were sent to Carthage, not as valuable spoils of war, but as proof of the great slaughter among the Roman patricians and knights, for at this time none beneath the rank of knights, and only those of highest standing among them, those provided with steeds by the State (_equo publico_), had been given the right to wear gold rings.[21]

On days of national mourning the gold rings were laid aside as a mark of sorrow and respect, and iron rings were substituted. This was the case after the defeat at Cannæ in 216 B.C. and on the funeral day of Augustus Cæsar in 15 A.D. This usage is noted in one of the poet Juvenal’s satires.[22] Occasionally, as a mark of disapprobation, senators would remove their gold rings at a public sitting, as, for instance, when, in 305 B.C., the appointment as edile of Cneius Flavius, son of the freedman Annius, was announced in the Senate.

In Rome supplicants took off their rings as a mark of humility, or a sign of sadness. When the censors C. Claudius Pulcher and Titus Sempronius Gracchus were cited by the tribune Rutilius as guilty of a crime against the State, Claudius was condemned by eight of the twelve centuries of Knights. At this, many of the principal personages of the Senate, taking off their gold rings in the presence of the assembled citizens, put on mourning garments, and raised supplications in favor of the accused persons.[23]

Another instance of this usage with suppliants is shown in a recital of Valerius Maximus, wherein he relates that when, about 55 B.C., Aulus Gabinius was violently accused by the tribune Memmius, and there seemed to be little hope that he would escape punishment, his son Sisenna cast himself as a suppliant at the feet of Memmius, tearing off his ring at the same time. This mark of humiliation finally induced Memmius and his fellow-tribune Lælius to withdraw the accusation, and set Gabinius at liberty.[24]

The wearing of a gold ring, because it was a sign of patrician and later of free birth, had such a high value in the eyes of the Romans that some freedmen used the subterfuge of wearing a gold ring with a dark coating, so that it would appear to be of iron. Thus, although they neither had the gratification nor incurred the perils of wearing a symbol confined to the freeborn, they had the intimate personal satisfaction of knowing that it was really on the hand.[25]

From the rather scant evidence that has come down to us, it appears that Roman women were not subjected to as strict regulations in the wearing of rings of precious metal as were the men. The wives of simple plebeians who were in good circumstances seem as generally and freely to have worn them as the wives and daughters of senators or knights, or other patrician women. Pliny writes of the women wearing gold on every finger.[26]

In Rome, as early as the first century, at a time when the right of wearing gold rings was, as has been shown, very strictly limited, it occasionally happened that a famous actor was accorded this privilege by the special favor of some influential admirer of his art. Sulla granted this right to Roscius, and some years later, in 43 B.C., the Roman quæstor in Spain bestowed a gold ring upon Herennius Gallus in the ancient city of Gades, the modern Cadiz. This gave him the right to occupy a seat in one of the first fourteen rows at the theatre, the part reserved for the knights. This special privilege was accorded to the actor by the Lex Roscia of 67 B.C., conferring the ring upon Roscius.[27]

Although the Christian women of the early Christian centuries were taught to avoid all superfluous adornments, the wearing of a gold ring was permitted to them. This was not, however, to be considered as an ornament, but was simply for use in sealing up the household goods entrusted to a wife’s care. Nevertheless, while noting this use, Clemens Alexandrinus (ca. 150–ca. 217 A.D.) adds that, if both servants and masters were properly instructed in their respective duties and obligations, there would be no need for such precautions.[28]

The dignity conferred by the right to wear a gold ring is even noticed in the Epistle of James, where we read (ii, 2–4):

For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool; are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

While this apostle here, as elsewhere in his epistle, warmly espouses the cause of the poor, the prominence he gives to the gold ring as a mark of the rich man, and a passport to the place of honor in the congregation, is a full acknowledgment of the impression it created upon strangers, just as the ribbon of an order is taken as a proof of dignity or station in monarchial countries to-day, and even to a certain extent in republican France.

The custom of bestowing birthday rings (_anuli natalitii_) was frequently observed in imperial Rome, and a rich and influential personage, with many friends and clients, would receive a large number of these rings on the anniversary day of his birth. As a rule, a setting of white sardonyx seems to have been most favored, to judge from a line in the first of the Satires of the Latin poet Persius (34–62 A.D.).

The famous decree of Justinian, promulgated in 539 (Novella 78 of the Digest), conferring upon freedmen the right of wearing gold rings, runs as follows:[29]

If a master, on freeing his slave, has declared him to be a Roman citizen (and he is not allowed to do otherwise), let it be known that, according to the present law, he who shall have received his liberty shall have the right to gold rings and to regeneration, and shall not need to solicit the right of the prince, or to take any other steps to secure it. It will be his as a consequence of his liberation, in virtue of the present law, which goes into effect from this day.

This decree shows that, as is proved by other texts, freedmen were sometimes accorded the privilege of wearing gold rings by special permission of the ruler or State, but all who could not obtain such special permission were punishable if they ventured to wear a gold ring, just as in countries where State orders are recognized and protected the wearing of such an order or of its ribbon by unauthorized persons is punishable in some way. The “right of regeneration” is more peculiar, as this refers to a legal fiction, by which it was assumed that some one of the ancestors of the freedman had been freeborn; hence, the quality of free-birth was only revived, not created, in the case of the descendant. This is, after all, not so unreasonable as it may seem to be, for the slaves, being generally prisoners of war, or else the descendants of citizens who had in some way lost their citizenship, could truly claim, in a majority of instances, that they came of freeborn stock.

The image of Mars on a ring-stone was greatly favored by Roman soldiers. A good example of this style of ring is to be seen at the National Hungarian Museum in Budapest. The gem, a carnelian, is engraved with a figure of the god, with helmet and spear; his left hand rests on a shield bearing the Medusa’s head. The hoop is of silver. This ring was found in Bosnia and was donated to the museum in 1820.[30]

An old Roman inscription mentions a guild of ring-makers (_conlegium anularium_),[31] and the denomination anularius even appears as a proper name of the engraver of a signet ring.[32] Near the Forum was a flight of steps designated _scalæ anulariæ_,[33] indicating either that ring engravers or vendors were to be found there, or that they had their shops or workshops in the neighborhood.

Treating of the dictatorial conduct of the Procurator Verres, Cicero, in his violent, we might almost say virulent arraignment of him, were it not so well deserved, says that when Verres wished to have a ring made for himself he ordered that a goldsmith should be summoned to the Forum, publicly weighed out the gold for him, and commanded the man to set his bench down in the Forum and to make the ring in the presence of all.[34]

Tacitus states in his Germania that the most valiant of the Cattæ, wore “like a fetter” an iron ring, which was a mark of infamy among the Germans. Only when a warrior had killed an enemy had he the right to divest himself of this ring. Whether this was a tribal usage, or only the sign of an obligation voluntarily assumed, must be left to conjecture. It is supposed to evidence that the slaves of the Germans wore iron rings, and that thus such rings were looked upon as badges of slavery.[35]

Finger-rings are exceedingly rare among the remains of the prehistoric American peoples, although a few have been found in the Pueblo ruins of Arizona and New Mexico. These are usually cut out of shell. Some of them are skilfully cut from Pectunculus shells, and others from “cone-shells” (_Conus_). Of the former kind a number were unearthed at Chaves Pass, Arizona.[36] Many of the rings were incised with an ornamental design; one of the most beautiful of these was decorated with red figures representing clouds and lightning. This ring, large enough to fit an adult’s finger, was found, together with bones of a human hand, in one of the pre-Columbian graves, at Casa Grande, Arizona. The remains here also yielded a ring made out of a cone-shell, with incised decoration. The exceptionally fine specimen noted above almost certainly had a religious or talismanic character, and it may have been thought to protect the wearer from storms and thunderbolts.

The skill with which the shells were utilized for rings as well as for other objects of adornment must have been the result of many generations of experiment and training, springing from that inherent artistic sense so often manifest in the Indians of the pueblos in contrast to the Indians of the plains. Often the circular form was already present in the shell, and this was utilized by dividing a part of the cone into sections, thus giving rings of varying diameter. The material was then smoothed and polished, and either left plain or decorated with an incised pattern, into the outlines of which appropriate coloring matter was introduced. In other cases, when the shell material did not offer a natural circlet, a disk was cut out, and a large perforation produced the rough circlet, to be worked up later into a finished ring.

The attainable evidence in regard to the wearing of rings by the aborigines of North and South America is, in the main, negative. This is the case with the Pacific coast Indians, as well as with the Chiriqui graves and other ancient remains in the present United States of Colombia.[37] Indeed, so far as can be ascertained, the wearing of rings is essentially an Oriental fashion and was brought to the ancient peoples of Europe from the East. Still, here and there on the North American continent, as in the instance above noted, rings have been found in burials believed to be pre-Columbian.

To the very few pre-Columbian rings found in Indian mounds, belong four from Ohio, now in the collection of the Ohio State Archæological and Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio. One of the rings was unearthed twenty years ago from a mound in Hamilton County; it is of spiral form and was on the middle finger of the left hand of a skeleton. The three others came from the Adana Mound, two of them being spiral-rings, both found on the middle finger of a skeleton’s left hand; the third is not a complete circle, and was picked up at the base of the mound. The spiral-rings are very finely and delicately fashioned.[38]

The Aztecs of ancient Mexico executed many ornamental objects of gold, silver, copper and tin, and worked in iron and lead as well. Specimens of this silversmiths’ work were sent by Fernan Cortés to Emperor Charles V, and their artistic quality elicited the admiration of the Spanish jewellers. These seem to have been only a small portion of the rich booty gathered by the Spanish Conquistador, the metal worth of which he estimated at 100,000 ducats ($250,000), or even more, according to the statement in a letter addressed to his sovereign. The greater part of this treasure is believed to have been lost during the “_Noche Triste_,” the “Night of Sorrows,” when the Spanish conquerors were surprised and attacked in Mexico City by the native warriors, and were forced to seek safety, after suffering considerable losses in a retreat from the narrow, city streets into the open country, where they could better utilize the enormous superiority conferred on them by their fire-arms. Even the few specimens which were actually brought to Charles V seem to have disappeared, and were probably melted down for use as bullion.[39]

Of the silversmiths’ methods a little can be learned from a study of Aztec paintings. Thus we are able to know that they used the crucible, the muffle and the blow-pipe. The statement is made by Torquemada and by Clavigo that they possessed the now lost art of casting objects half of gold and half of silver. Some fine examples of Aztec work in gold and silver are to be seen in the marvelous collections of the Museo Nacional in Mexico City, and among them are several finger-rings. One of these comes from Teotihuacan; its broad hoop is decorated with the head of one of the Aztec gods, wearing an elaborate and curiously complicated head-dress. Other gold rings are of a peculiar type, the inner half of the hoop being only about two-fifths as high as the outer and very broad half, so that the finger could be closed without inconvenience.[40]

Courtesy of Mr. Warren K. Moorehead]

Courtesy of Mr. Warren K. Moorehead]

So few finger-rings of the Indian aborigines, who once inhabited the present territory of the United States, have been brought to light, that some authorities have been disposed to deny the existence of any relics of this kind. Among the rare discoveries may be noted a copper ring found in one of the Indian mounds near Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio. This ring has been made by bending a short copper rod until the ends overlapped and then pounding them as closely together as possible. It is only large enough for a child’s finger, and among the remains of fifteen Indians found in this particular mound were those of a child.[41] A few stone rings, presumably for wear on the finger, have been met with in Indian graves in the Scioto Valley, Ohio, in Kentucky, in Tennessee and also in Arizona, New Mexico and California. An ornamental stone ring from Kentucky was evidently a finger-ring, as are also some others of the stone rings.[42]