Lot 481

A RARE SCOTTISH GEORGE III GOLD AND ENAMEL RING

WILLIAM & PATRICK CUNNINGHAM

Scottish Silver & Applied Arts | 530

Auction: 15 August 2018 at 11:00 BST

Estimate: £300 - £500

Description

marked WPC, Edinburgh 1814, the simple gold band with blue enamel and initials 'MD' within decoration, the blue enamel head of the ring of rounded form with central glazed panel (glass lacking)

Dimensions

20mm diameter, 4.8g

Footnote

Although gold work and indeed rings would have been a mainstay of 18th and 19th century Edinburgh goldsmiths their survival is remarkably few. This is perhaps in part that only a small percentage were marked, making this example more unusual, and that many were recycled and as the gold within was too precious to be kept as a memento on the death of the original owner. Unusually the ring is in blue enamel rather than the traditional black so is not a memorial ring but more likely a love token.

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