Featured Ring question

If a ring has a gap in the band does that always mean it's modern?
I don't mean the obviously modern adjustable costume rings but ones that look old but possibly aren't?
Are there countries that traditionally made rings with gaps like this that genuinely have age to them?
Skimming through eBay and just wondered.........
Thankyou

 

Austro-Hungarian sometimes. They started mass-producing jewellery ca 1860 in Transsylvania (not as scary as it sounds) to meet the demand of the growing upper middle class. They took a lot of shortcuts, open-band rings being one of them. Those are rare nowadays, but do turn up occasionally.

 

What did you see, maybe we can help?

 

"KSW, post: 1246979, member: 8708 "If a ring has a gap in the band does that always mean it's modern?"

Hmmm, could it possibly be a ring which had gotten too small on a finger and had to be "cut off" the finger and then the ring was kept but not repaired?

Two other possibilities but they are not "pleasant" to think about --
perhaps someone had to be hospitalized and their finger(s) became so swollen that the ring was cut-off by hospital personnel.

Or maybe someone died with the ring on their finger and one of the family members wanted the ring and had it removed from the deceased person's hand before cremation/burial.

 

383275000051 is the eBay number of one I stumbled across. Not my sort of thing as it’s odd but more wondering about the style/age.

 

I think I prefer Transsylvania....

 

If it was made that way, generally it means it was cheap when new

 

ebay.co.uk?

 

Love the doom and gloom!. Was more thinking about ones that are as they were made. However you have just made me reconsider buying a ring that’s obviously been cut off . Naive as it sounds I didn’t think about dead people.....

 

Yes sorry!

 

That is a very astute point

 

it says:
No exact matches found

 

That’s odd. It’s ended so maybe that’s why. Here’s a screen shot.

 

Doesn't look very old to me. It reminds me of a pre-Columbian Olmec face:

 

Which Olmec? The sunglass one?

 

Looks to me like it was cut off.

Then again, toe rings always have a gap, but that ring doesn't look like a toe ring

 

Yep.

 

Hiding in sold listings-photo is a little clearer on eBay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Detector-Find/383275000051?hash=item593cf860f3:g:KZIAAOSwL-Bd1CUX

 

@KSW - No, it surely doesn't. A large number of early rings were made in this fashion, notably Byzantine bronze rings - and even a few Roman rings as well, though these were primarily made in gold, rather than bronze. Lacunal rings make up a portion of a number of well-known Viking hoards, including the Bedale Hoard, the Eye Herefordshire hoard (that example being gold rather than bronze, the Silverdale hoard and doubtless others about which - like so many other things - I've no knowledge whatsoever.

This appears to be the long-lost seal ring from the Kingdom Of Crackerjacks.
.

 

Thanks Ratsy.

@KSW I can see why you asked the question, since it is a detector find. Of course the ring could have been lost 10 yrs ago, we don't know. It is not an antique style though.