🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Ring ?

[Klowery]

Any clues as to what kind of ring this may be? Looks to be some kind of brass with a dark plating. No clue on inscription on face? Found in sw ohio near early 1800s farm

 

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[ARC]

These rings definitely look similar but I am wondering what the dark plating is made of. I've not seen a ring with this dark coloration and wondering if it was always this color or has turned. Got into this hobby this year just to find out what was buried in my yard and now I'm hooked

Quite simply... it could have been "enameled",

 

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[crashbandicoot]

Nice sleuthing ARC!!!!!!!

 

[ARC]

Quite simply... it could have been "enameled",

RedCoat... how say you on this opinion ? ?

Not sure why the "funky" look.... and you know upon first glance i actually thought this ring was CLAY / pottery by the look.

 

[Red-Coat]

RedCoat... how say you on this opinion ? ?

Not sure why the "funky" look.... and you know upon first glance i actually thought this ring was CLAY / pottery by the look.

Enamelled? I doubt it.

It's clearly intended for use as a seal impressor since the letters are 'reverso'. It wouldn't be usual for seal rings of that type to be enamelled, since the enamelling would fill the engraved details intended to create a clear impression.

On a signet ring for show (with the letters non-reverso) and not intended for impressing, yes... but even then the enamelling is almost always confined to the 'face' (unless the shank or band are also engraved) and infills or surrounds the engraving to create a contrasting colour.

I would think the patina is the result of chemical action on what the ring is made from, or whatever it has been coated/plated with. It might conceivably have been 'tinned', which was commonly used to give copper alloys a silvery pewter-like shine in days gone by.

 

[cudamark]

What metal is it made of? Is that a coat of paint on it? Plating?

 

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I would really like to see more pictures now... the back etc... close ups and clearer if possible.

 

[Red-Coat]

Just a few more things I’ll throw in… but I’m thinking out loud.

We may never know what the ‘PIE’ stands for if they are someone’s initials. I’m still inclined to think that they aren’t because of the ‘I’ apparently being deliberately smaller. I’m still thinking it more likely an abbreviation for a Latin phrase with the smaller ‘I’ for a subsidiary word that’s probably “in”.

Also worth mentioning that in the period when the ring would have been made, ‘I’ was also a substitute for ‘J’

If they aren’t initials, the only other suggestion I could make (despite the smaller ‘I’) is that it means what is says. “PIE” as in the epithet “PIE JESU”, which would mean “holy”, “righteous” or something in that territory. I’ve never seen it as a standalone word on any religious trappery though. If it were something like a Jesuit ring, the monogram would more usually be ‘IHS’ or a Christogram.

I wouldn’t rule out some kind of religious connection, and can still see the symbol below as like a pair of wings (dove or angelic symbolism?).

 

[ARC]

Did you see my posts earlier RC ?

I am leaning to "merchants ring".

 

[Red-Coat]

Did you see my posts earlier RC ?

I am leaning to "merchants ring".

Yes, but there's nothing to really hang that on unless the lettering (whatever it means) or the symbol below (whatever it is) emerges from somewhere.

 

[ARC]

Yes, but there's nothing to really hang that on unless the lettering (whatever it means) or the symbol below (whatever it is) emerges from somewhere.

Well i spent about 2 hours this morning looking for my ... now seemingly non existent online "PIE / PYE" to no avail... and no one else has chimed in on it so....

Merchant signet is it in my mind until further.

 

[Klowery]

Here are some more pics, sorry my phone doesn't take the best pics

 

[Klowery]

Rang up a stable 22 on nox 800

 

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[Red-Coat]

View attachment 1989948

Now... that's more what I had in mind. A Jesuit ring... and I would bet the 'PI' there stands for the "PIE JESU(S)" epithet I mentioned previously.

Those kinds of rings often have "I" (substituting for "J") as the second of two letters. I've seen "DI" for "DOMINUS JESU(S)" as well as "VI" and "NI" with unknown meaning, except that the 'I" again is likely for "JESU(S)"

Just haven't seen the three letters "PIE" together.