Signet Ring
1672-1686 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This ring would have been used as a signet, pressed into hot wax to seal a letter or packet. Personal seals (secreta) provided an essential legal safeguard and were used to witness documents such as wills, deeds of gift, loans and commercial documents, personal letters and land indentures.
Signet rings could be engraved with a coat of arms or crest, an initial, a merchant's mark (a geometric symbol used to mark goods or personal belongings), or a personal symbol. Sixteenth and seventeenth century portraits show signet rings worn on the forefinger or thumb, presumably to make it easy to apply the ring to the wax by turning the hand. They were items of jewellery with a practical function but the use of precious metals and engraved hardstones indicates that they were also signs of status.
The arms on this ring and the memorial inscription identify it as the property of John Collins of Betterton, Berkshire. The Collins were a family which, at the time this ring was made, were just beginning to move into the the gentry. On the 27th of August 1663, at Compton Beauchamp, John married Anne Fettiplace, the daughter of a Berkshire gentry family and became entitled to a coat of arms. However, at the Heralds Visitation of 1665/6, he excused himself for not having paid the entry fee and taken up his right to arms due to the expense of land purchases and the 'misfortunes of the times'. His letter to the antiquarian Elias Ashmole (16 June 1666) also bemoans the lack of information about his family's origins, due to 'the carelessness of mens keeping of antient writings... we are ignorant of our descent'. Collins was granted the arms shown on this ring of a griffin passant on the 6th of May 1672. His will dated 13 March 1684 left 'twenty shillings for a ring memoriall' to his brother in law Charles Fettiplace and to his wife 'her wearing apparell, and all rings, jewels and other things of her closet'. This ring must have been made between 1672, when the Collins grant of arms was finalised and his death in 1685. It is likely that the memorial inscription was added to the signet ring which John Collins wore during his lifetime.
Signet rings could be engraved with a coat of arms or crest, an initial, a merchant's mark (a geometric symbol used to mark goods or personal belongings), or a personal symbol. Sixteenth and seventeenth century portraits show signet rings worn on the forefinger or thumb, presumably to make it easy to apply the ring to the wax by turning the hand. They were items of jewellery with a practical function but the use of precious metals and engraved hardstones indicates that they were also signs of status.
The arms on this ring and the memorial inscription identify it as the property of John Collins of Betterton, Berkshire. The Collins were a family which, at the time this ring was made, were just beginning to move into the the gentry. On the 27th of August 1663, at Compton Beauchamp, John married Anne Fettiplace, the daughter of a Berkshire gentry family and became entitled to a coat of arms. However, at the Heralds Visitation of 1665/6, he excused himself for not having paid the entry fee and taken up his right to arms due to the expense of land purchases and the 'misfortunes of the times'. His letter to the antiquarian Elias Ashmole (16 June 1666) also bemoans the lack of information about his family's origins, due to 'the carelessness of mens keeping of antient writings... we are ignorant of our descent'. Collins was granted the arms shown on this ring of a griffin passant on the 6th of May 1672. His will dated 13 March 1684 left 'twenty shillings for a ring memoriall' to his brother in law Charles Fettiplace and to his wife 'her wearing apparell, and all rings, jewels and other things of her closet'. This ring must have been made between 1672, when the Collins grant of arms was finalised and his death in 1685. It is likely that the memorial inscription was added to the signet ring which John Collins wore during his lifetime.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Engraved gold |
| Brief description | Gold signet ring, with an oval bezel engraved with the arms of John Collins of Batterton, Berkshire, inscribed behind 'in mem./ I.C./ 10 dec. 85.', England, 1672-1686. |
| Physical description | Gold signet ring, with an oval bezel engraved with the arms of John Collins of Batterton, Berkshire, inscribed behind 'in mem./ I.C./ 10 dec. 85.', maker's mark 'A W' in monogram |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Given by Dame Joan Evans |
| Object history | A letter from John Collins to his son explaining the meaning of the family arms is mentioned in Douglas Macleane 'A history of Pembroke College' (1897) This ring was formerly part of the collection of Dame Joan Evans (1893-1977), art historian and collector. Early on she collected gems and jewels which resulted in the 1921 book, English Jewellery from the 5th Century BC to 1800. She published widely on jewellery, French medieval art and architecture. Evans was elected the first woman president of the Society of Antiquaries in 1959 (through 1964). She was a trustee of the British Museum (1963-67). In her personal life, she donated time and money to many charitable historic causes, nearly all of them anonymously. Her will left collections to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and the Birmingham City Art Gallery. She gave her gem and jewellery collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum through a series of gifts, beginning in 1960. Her association with the museum went back to her childhood and she developed personal friendships with the museum curators and Directors. In 1975, two years before her death aged 84, Joan Evans made over her remaining jewels to the museum, choosing to remain anonymous during her lifetime. As she wrote jokingly to curator Charles Oman, her village was ‘divided into those who think it must have been me and those who say it cannot have been because I am so shabby.’ In her final years, offering her collection to the museum, she wrote movingly that ‘My jewels come to your Department with love and gratitude. It has been kind to me for 65 years.’ |
| Subject depicted | |
| Association | |
| Summary | This ring would have been used as a signet, pressed into hot wax to seal a letter or packet. Personal seals (secreta) provided an essential legal safeguard and were used to witness documents such as wills, deeds of gift, loans and commercial documents, personal letters and land indentures. Signet rings could be engraved with a coat of arms or crest, an initial, a merchant's mark (a geometric symbol used to mark goods or personal belongings), or a personal symbol. Sixteenth and seventeenth century portraits show signet rings worn on the forefinger or thumb, presumably to make it easy to apply the ring to the wax by turning the hand. They were items of jewellery with a practical function but the use of precious metals and engraved hardstones indicates that they were also signs of status. The arms on this ring and the memorial inscription identify it as the property of John Collins of Betterton, Berkshire. The Collins were a family which, at the time this ring was made, were just beginning to move into the the gentry. On the 27th of August 1663, at Compton Beauchamp, John married Anne Fettiplace, the daughter of a Berkshire gentry family and became entitled to a coat of arms. However, at the Heralds Visitation of 1665/6, he excused himself for not having paid the entry fee and taken up his right to arms due to the expense of land purchases and the 'misfortunes of the times'. His letter to the antiquarian Elias Ashmole (16 June 1666) also bemoans the lack of information about his family's origins, due to 'the carelessness of mens keeping of antient writings... we are ignorant of our descent'. Collins was granted the arms shown on this ring of a griffin passant on the 6th of May 1672. His will dated 13 March 1684 left 'twenty shillings for a ring memoriall' to his brother in law Charles Fettiplace and to his wife 'her wearing apparell, and all rings, jewels and other things of her closet'. This ring must have been made between 1672, when the Collins grant of arms was finalised and his death in 1685. It is likely that the memorial inscription was added to the signet ring which John Collins wore during his lifetime. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | M.268-1962 |
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| Record created | November 24, 2005 |
| Record URL |
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