LOT 0358

Renaissance Gold Ring with Toadstone

WESTERN EUROPE, 16TH CENTURY A.D.

1 1/4 in. (13.01 grams, 32.42 mm overall, 23.12 x 19.25 mm internal diameter (approximate size British V 1/2, USA 10 3/4, Europe 24.4, Japan 23)).

Featuring a round-section large hoop expanding towards the shoulders, a large circular bezel with a Greek key motif encircling the outer rim and set with a brown 'toadstone'.

Acquired on the European art market.


This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13398-257996.

Cf. the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, accession numbers: M.250-1962 & 389-1864, for similar examples; The British Museum, London, museum no. AF.1024, for similar; The Ashmolean Museum, accession nos.WA1897.CDEF.F817 and WA1897.CDEF.F589, for similar.

William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, circa 1599: 'Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.' Toadstones are mythical stones that were thought to be found inside the head of a toad. They were believed to sweat, change colour or even heat up in the presence of poison. It was thought that a toadstone placed on bites from snakes, insects, spiders and shrews would extract poison from the wound. They were thought to bring good luck and ward off evil, whether in the present life or in the afterlife. The Book of Secrets from the 13th century recommends swallowing the stone to 'cleanse the bowels of filth and excrements'. The stone could then be retrieved and used again. They were often set as amulets and talismans, a practice that continued in Europe until the 18th century. Toadstones are actually the button-like fossilised teeth of Lepidotes, an extinct genus of fish common in the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods, 200 to 100 million years ago.