A spectacular late Elizabethan (or early Jacobean) gold ring of the Harvey family of Launceston comprising a flat discoid bezel with beading below the rim and band of radiating billets to the face, trefoil interlace motif above and between the initials with floret finials, pointillé detailing; initials 'HW' with neat serifs and 'V' or inverted chevron below, the 'W' formed as two intersecting 'V's; the shoulders with reserved acanthus-leaf ornament; slender D-section hoop.

PROVENANCE:
Found Launceston, UK, Saturday 3rd May 2014; disclaimed as Treasure by the Crown under Treasure reference number 2014 T520; accompanied by a copy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme report number DOR-2334D9, and a copy of the Harvey family of Tarrent Launceston family tree and pedigree.

PUBLISHED:
The Portable Antiquities Scheme record notes: "There is a reference in Hutchins, J. The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset, (p.574) to the Harvey family which owned the manor of Tarrant Launceston, one of whom was named William and was aged 21 in 1623. It is possible that this is a personal seal ring belonging to William Harvey."

FOOTNOTES:
The Harvey family (also spelt Harvye or Harvy) were important landholders in Tarrant Launceston in the River Tarrant valley area of Dorset. There are a few possibilities for identification of the ring's owner with initials 'WH' since the type is datable to the later Elizabethan period around 1600 AD, but might have been inscribed a little later. The parish records for Tarrant Monkton (for which Tarrant Launceston was a chapel of ease) show a man named William Harvey buried there in 1590 and his wife, Rebecca, in 1593. The William Harvey who probably owned the ring was born around 1602 (being 21 years old in 1623) and was probably the son (or nephew?) of the earlier William. The Harvey family continued to dwell in the area, and a second William Harvey is indicated when his daughter, Hester, died in 1712; a third William was baptised in 1730.