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FORMS OF RINGS AND MATERIALS OF WHICH THEY ARE MADE
AMONG
ancient gold rings, one of Egyptian work-manship is especially
noteworthy for its size and weight as well as for its design. It is 1/2
inch in its largest diameter, and bears an oblong plinth, which turns
on a pivot; it measures 6/10 inch at its greatest, and 4/10 inch at its
least breadth. On one of the four faces is the name of the successor of
Amenhotep III, Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten), who lived about 1400 B.c.; on
another is figured a lion, with the inscription " lord of strength " ;
the two remaining sides show a scorpion and a crocodile respectively.
The weight of this massive ring is stated to be about five ounces and
its intrinsic gold value nearly a hundred dollars.1
Some
remarkably fine finger-rings were among the ornaments found by Ferlini,
an Italian physician, when he unearthed the treasure of one of the
queens of Meroë. These rings are now in the Berlin Royal Museum. Some
of them are plain hoops to which movable plates are attached; others
are signet rings. In a few specimens of the first-named class the plate
is so large as to extend over three figures, the inconvenience to
which this could give rise being partly obviated by joints in the
plate, so that the fingers might be moved with greater facility. We
hardly think that a design of this type is ever likely to become
popular in our times.
1 Sir John Gardner Wilkinson, " Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," vol, iii, p. 373,
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