Ring thumbnail 1
Ring thumbnail 2
Not currently on display at the V&A

Ring

3rd century (made), 200-300 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Rings were widely worn across the Roman Empire, by women, men and children. Some rings such as signets had a practical use, whilst others were worn for decoration or as a sign of status. Attempts were made to restrict the wearing of gold rings to people of a certain class but these were widely flouted. Rings were also made of silver, gilt bronze and iron.

A group of bronze rings engraved with Roman numerals have sometimes been known as ‘legionary rings’, although the numbers shown on the bezel are higher than the number of existing legions. One possible explanation is that they belonged to members of a centuria (a unit of 100 men) and were worn as a sign of membership

This ring forms part of a collection of over 600 rings and engraved gems from the collection of Edmund Waterton (1830-81). Waterton was one of the foremost ring collectors of the nineteenth century and was the author of several articles on rings, a book on English devotion to the Virgin Mary and an unfinished catalogue of his collection (the manuscript is now the National Art Library). Waterton was noted for his extravagance and financial troubles caused him to place his collection in pawn with the London jeweller Robert Phillips. When he was unable to repay the loan, Phillips offered to sell the collection to the Museum and it was acquired in 1871. A small group of rings which Waterton had held back were acquired in 1899.

Edmund Waterton used the fortune which was made by his family’s involvement in the British Guiana sugar plantations to put his collection together. His grandfather owned a plantation known as Walton Hall and his father, Charles Waterton, went to Guiana as a young man to help run La Jalousie and Fellowship, plantations which belonged to his uncles. When slavery was abolished in the British territories, Charles Waterton claimed £16283 6s 7d in government compensation and was recorded as having 300 slaves on the Walton Hall estate.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Engraved bronze
Brief description
Bronze ring, the rectangular bezel inscribed LXII with a star on one shoulder and an unidentified device on the other, Roman, 3rd century
Physical description
Bronze hoop widening into an oblong bezel engraved with Roman numerals.
Dimensions
  • Height: 2cm
  • Width: 2.5cm
  • Depth: 0.9cm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
'LXII' (inscription)
Object history
There is a large group of these rings in the British Museum (Dalton 655 to 679). They were part of the Franks Bequest and recorded as having been found in Rome, or part of the Castellani collection. Waterton recorded that all the rings of this type in his collection were found in Rome.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Rings were widely worn across the Roman Empire, by women, men and children. Some rings such as signets had a practical use, whilst others were worn for decoration or as a sign of status. Attempts were made to restrict the wearing of gold rings to people of a certain class but these were widely flouted. Rings were also made of silver, gilt bronze and iron.

A group of bronze rings engraved with Roman numerals have sometimes been known as ‘legionary rings’, although the numbers shown on the bezel are higher than the number of existing legions. One possible explanation is that they belonged to members of a centuria (a unit of 100 men) and were worn as a sign of membership

This ring forms part of a collection of over 600 rings and engraved gems from the collection of Edmund Waterton (1830-81). Waterton was one of the foremost ring collectors of the nineteenth century and was the author of several articles on rings, a book on English devotion to the Virgin Mary and an unfinished catalogue of his collection (the manuscript is now the National Art Library). Waterton was noted for his extravagance and financial troubles caused him to place his collection in pawn with the London jeweller Robert Phillips. When he was unable to repay the loan, Phillips offered to sell the collection to the Museum and it was acquired in 1871. A small group of rings which Waterton had held back were acquired in 1899.

Edmund Waterton used the fortune which was made by his family’s involvement in the British Guiana sugar plantations to put his collection together. His grandfather owned a plantation known as Walton Hall and his father, Charles Waterton, went to Guiana as a young man to help run La Jalousie and Fellowship, plantations which belonged to his uncles. When slavery was abolished in the British territories, Charles Waterton claimed £16283 6s 7d in government compensation and was recorded as having 300 slaves on the Walton Hall estate.
Bibliographic references
  • 'British Guiana 2426 (Walton Hall)', Legacies of British Slave-ownership database, http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/claim/view/7157 [accessed 28th May 2019
  • Oman, Charles, Catalogue of rings in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1930, reprinted Ipswich, 1993
  • Waterton, Edmund Dactyliotheca Watertoniana: a descriptive catalogue of the finger-rings in the collection of Mrs Waterton, (manuscript, 1866, now in National Art Library)
  • Dalton, O.M., Catalogue of the Finger Rings, Early Christian, Byzantine, Teutonic, Medieval and Later in the British Museum, London, 1912, p.xxi
  • 'British Guiana 2426 (Walton Hall)', Legacies of British Slave-ownership database, http://web.archive.org/web/20221205150942/http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/claim/view/7157
Collection
Accession number
529-1871

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Record createdMarch 17, 2006
Record URL
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