Portal logo
MAGIC AND TALISMANIC RINGS               329
uted to the time of a twelfth-century duke of Burgundy, whose crusading expedition did not extend much beyond the frontiers of Portugal.73 More than likely Moorish influence, or that of the Orient at least, was a determin­ing factor, for the study of zodiacal influences was eagerly pursued in Spain in the thirteenth century and earlier, as is witnessed by the curious Lapidario of Alfonso X, the Wise, composed in the latter half of that century. The survivance of this style in Madeira depends quite probably upon one of those rather in­explicable chances that cause the production of a cer­tain class of jewels or ornaments, when a curious or unusual example strikes some tourist's fancy, and he shows it to friends at home ; these in their turn will ask for it when they go to the same place, thus creating a demand and a local fashion. Rings of this kind are brought from Madeira by sailors and travelling jewel­lers, and are found at a number of places, including the west coast of Africa.
Many gold zodiac rings of a simple type are made on the Gold Coast and brought thence to Europe. The hoop is a flat band, on which the conventional symbols of the zodiacal signs are soldered, scroll borders also being applied in the same way.74 While these rings are totally lacking in artistic quality, their production on the Gold Coast may indicate that long ago some better work of the class was done here, probably under Por­tuguese influence.
73  Communicated by Mrs. Isabel Moore, formerly of Wood­stock, N. Y., now in the Azores.
74 O. M. Dalton, " Franks Bequest, Catalogue of the Finger Rings, Early Christian, Byzantine, Teutonic, Mediaeval and Later [British Museum]," London, 1912, p. 347, No. 2514, fig.