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LOT 0343
Post Medieval Enamelled Gold Memento Mori Ring with Skull and Skeletons
CIRCA 16TH CENTURY A.D.
7/8 in. (7.57 grams, 22.30 mm overall, 19.16 x 17.53 mm internal diameter (approximate size British R, USA 8 1/2, Europe 18 3/4, Japan 18)).
Comprising a D-section hoop with coffin-shaped shoulder plaques, each plaque with a full skeleton on black-enamelled background; flower-shaped bezel with a central white-enamelled skull in three-quarter view with black detailing, inscription '+ DIE x TO x LIVE' surrounding.
ProvenanceEx private collection, UK.
with Notaras Coins and Antiquities, before 2014.
European private collection, acquired from the above.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12144-218185.
See Dalton, O. M., Franks Bequest: Catalogue of the Finger Rings, British Museum, London, 1912, no.1450; see also Oman, C.C., British Rings 800-1914, London, 1974, item 85(B), for type.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0343
Post Medieval Enamelled Gold Memento Mori Ring with Skull and Skeletons
Estimate £8,000 - 10,000€9,280 - 11,600 (for guidance only)$10,800 - 13,500 (for guidance only)
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Bronze Statuette Group
20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £20
Comprising: nude Orpheus with lyre; nude Venus with top-knot; cloaked figure on a rectangular base. 782 grams total, 10.8-14.8 cm
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent. -
William III Silver Love Token Group
1694-1702 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
Group of three love tokens, each a sixpence coin bent into a double-curved profile; one pierced and with initials to each face. 7.45 grams total, 20 mm each
Acquired on the UK art market. Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman.
The custom of giving a bent coin as a love-token is known from the 17th century in England. The coins were usually smoothed to obliterate the monarch’s head and then bent twice; sometimes they were engraved with initials or symbols such as hearts or knots. If the sweetheart accepted the youth's advances, she kept the token; if not, she disposed of the coin. The tradition is referred to in the children's rhyme "There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile, he found a crooked sixpence on a crooked stile." -
Malaysia Shell-Shaped Lead Weight
19th-20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
Formed as a cockle-shell and pierced beside the upper edge, with reserved Chinese character impressed in the underside. 19 grams, 27 mm
Ex Simmons gallery, 1990s. From a North London, UK, collection.
