LOT 0381

Post Medieval Gold Signet Ring with a Wheat Sheaf

GERMANY, 15TH-16TH CENTURY A.D.

1 in. (9.51 grams, 24.71 mm overall, 21.03 x 17.66 mm internal diameter (approximate size British R 1/2, USA 8 3/4, Europe 19.38, Japan 18)).

Comprising a large hoop with a cut-cornered bezel engraved with a wheat sheaf flanked by the initials P and H.

Acquired on the European art market.
UK, private collection.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13488-263468.

Cf. similar rings in Chadour A.B., Rings. The Alice and Luis Koch Collection, Part I, 1994, items 605,608,635, for similar ring construction and bezel, and for the German style of the initial letters on the ring’s bezel

The family name of the coat of arms with the owner’s initials P and H cannot be identified, but it is possibly German. The garb of wheat, often simply called a ‘garb’ in heraldry, is a bound sheaf of grain and one of the most recognisable agricultural charges in coats of arms. Its traditional meaning is abundance, fertility, harvest, prosperity, and the honest reward of labour. Because wheat was a staple crop, the garb often points to a family connection with farming, landholding, milling, food supply, or rural prosperity. In heraldic terminology, it may be shown in gold to emphasise wealth and ripeness, or in natural colours to stress its agricultural character.