File:Anglo-Saxon gold finger ring (FindID 434587).jpg

English: A Roman gold finger-ring, crushed and severely distorted. Its tripartite construction comprises a symmetrical pair of slender bands flanking, and fused to, a central beaded wire. At the bezel the outer edge of both bands expands to form a sub-triangular field. This is occupied by a lozenge-shaped cell formed from beaded wire with a single pellet at each end of the long axis. A further two pairs of pellets flank the beaded wire either side of the lozenges. The lozenge motif is reminiscent of the cells on Roman 'Hercules club' type ear-rings and pendants, some of which are filled with enamel inlays (see, e.g., Catherine Johns The Jewellery of Roman Britain (UCL Press, London, 1996), 129, Fig. 6.2). The cells on the present ring may once have been similarly inlaid, though they might equally well have comprised a decorative motif in their own right. Quite heavy wear is apparent on the beaded wire at the rear outer face of the hoop and, especially, on the lozenge motifs, on which the pellets have been flattened and the outer face of the beaded wire worn smooth.

The tripartite form of the ring and symmetrical bezel decor is paralleled by gold examples from Germany - Günzburg, Asberg and Cologne (F. Henkel Die Römischen Fingerringe der Rheinlande und der Benachbarten Gebiete (Reimer, Berlin, 1913), 18 and Taf. VI, nos. 108-9 and 111); and in Britain the 'split' tripartite bezel may be compared to that of a gold finger-ring from Barton Bendish, Norfolk (TAR 2004, 52. BM 2005,1020.1).

Date: Roman, 1st - 4th century AD.

Dimensions: length 22.1 mm; maximum bezel width 8.9 mm.

Weight: 2.74 g.

Non-destructive surface metal analysis conducted at the British Museum indicated a gold content of 95-97% and silver content of approximately 2%.

In age and precious metal content the object qualifies as Treasure under the terms of the 1996 Treasure Act.