Elizabethan Gold Posy Ring "Love desires no delay"

Code: 10677

This is a most endearing Tudor (Elizabethan) gold posy ring, inscribed inside the band "Loue desires no delay". The style of lettering gives us a date of the latter 16th century, confirmed also by the enameled band (typical of the fashionable tastes of Queen Elizabeth's court). The ring bears a makers mark of a letter 'C'' within a shield-shaped punch (also used as the London date letter for 1580). The outer band is decorated with inverted floral design, picked out in red and green enamels, between each flower are set three white enameled pearls. This extravagant use of enamel and design again indicates an earlier date, one which would certainly fit with the tastes of 1580's London. Such a ring may have been worn as a wedding band (as was the English custom), or given as a token of affection, worn on a ribbon sewn onto a doublet. Today it has lost most of the original enamel, though is a rare and desirable ring for the collector.

OBJECT: POSY RING

CULTURE:  TUDOR (Elizabethan)

DATE: c. 1580 - 1620

MATERIAL: GOLD 22k +/-

RING SIZE:    3 3/4  (US)     H  (UK)

SIZE: 16mm x 3mm 

WEIGHT:  1.3 grams

PROVENANCE:  Ex. Bentley Collection, Suffolk.