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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Bronwen, post: 12354329, member: 5833&quot;]That is quite something.&nbsp; The condition is amazing.&nbsp; Have to wonder whether the original owner actually wore it on a finger or carried it on his person for use as a seal.&nbsp; Or maybe his status meant he didn&#039;t have to do any rough stuff with his hands.&nbsp; Finders suggest there must be more jewellery nearby.&nbsp; I think another possibility is that the ring was originally with the coins, now scattered by agricultural activity, as an indicator of the ownership of the stash.</p><p><br /></p><p>The image of Victory driving her biga (2-horse chariot) was a popular one with soldiers, for obvious reasons.&nbsp; The intaglio has another feature not mentioned in this write up.&nbsp; The Smithsonian magazine, in their description, says, &quot;The jewelry’s ornately carved setting encompassed a blue gem...&quot;&nbsp; This is not correct.&nbsp; The term for intaglios like this is &quot;nicolo&quot;.&nbsp; They are agate with a black or very dark under layer topped with a thinner white layer.&nbsp; The blue is an illusion created by the black filtering through the white.&nbsp; The stone has almost certainly been treated to darken the lower layer, a technique well known to Roman gem makers.&nbsp; Nicolo gems are not as common as intaglios engraved in a solid color stone, such as a good carnelian, or into a stone that has layers, but used with the layers oriented the other way, so that the first impression is of a striped stone, with the engraving only becoming clear on close inspection.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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