ring
is that depicted in the effigy of Abigail Power Fillmore, wife of
President Fillmore (1850-1853), a quaint wax figure in the Wives of
Presidents series, shown in the United States National Museum,
Washington D. C. In this she is shown wearing a handkerchief ring.
An
unusually large ring was worn by the well-known theatrical manager,
Sheridan Shook. It was set with an amethyst an inch long by
three-quarters of an inch broad and half an inch deep, and weighing two
and a half ounces. The letter S was engraved in the stone and inlaid
with small diamonds. This immense ring with its massive gold setting
can hardly be termed a great work of art, but it is unique in its way
and was greatly valued by its owner, who only ceased to wear it when
ill-health and weakness made it too much of a burden.
The
extensive and remarkable collections of the late Alexander Wilson
Drake, which were disposed of at the American Art Galleries in New
York, March 10th to 17th, 1913, comprised a fine collection of finger
rings, illustrating a large variety of forms and periods. There were in
all nearly 800 examples, set and unset. There were betrothal rings,
memorials rings, gimmal rings, puzzle rings, rings of Roman, French,
German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Irish, Scandinavian, English and
American workmanship, and many Oriental rings, Sas-sanian, Indian,
Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew, Gypsy and Moorish, one of the latter being a
gold circlet with the twelve signs of the zodiac engraved in high
relief around it.
26 Charles
Edwards, " The History and Poetry of Finger-Rings," New York, 1885, pp.
42-44; quoting from Gleason's Pictorial Newspaper, December 25, 1852.
