EUROPEAN BETROTHAL RING 15th-17th CENTURY, SIZE 8 1/2 03/18/2025 Surface textured from burial obscuring

Surface textured from burial obscuring the details

here cut with a mark serving as a signet

These childrens rings were often not worn in life but purchased for burial in a time when the mortality rate for children was staggering

V & A Museum

9mm width slightly rounded face band

EUROPEAN BETROTHAL RING 15th-17th CENTURY, SIZE 8 1/2 03/18/2025 Surface textured from burial obscuringDuring the Renaissance, the act of committing to marriage took place as a formal ceremony with vows, considered sacred and unbreakable, exchanged. A ring was given by the man to the woman to bind the pledge and worn until the marriage. That practice is believed to derive from the custom of providing a brides price or dowry. This example is size 8 1 4 with oval bezel with stippled recessed surround, flanked by a foliate arrangement with raised