Is this armorial ring 450 years old? Royalty Nobility?

The columns on the "shield" are not worn away,they are covered with solder.

 

one problem with Spain is the enormous amount of lower gentry they had, well into the 19th c.. those Hidalgos or Caballeros were traditionally not working but managing their small possessions like a village or sometimes only a bigger farm. so the crest is probably one of several thousands. best known is Don Quichot.
I doubt it's cire perdu - too costly.

 

This is nonsense. It is not a shield & there is no reason the 'dent' would become more worn than any of the rest of it. If I could account for that dip at the bottom, I would guess this was taken from an intaglio that had a chip at the top.

 

The seam on the band is where someone cut it down in size, badly soldered. I soldered that badly once on a silver ring, when I was a student in jewelry class.

If you think ANY of what that seller is selling - could be fake, run away!

I don't see this as a dent of damage, but a deliberate dent made in the wax before casting.

 

It was cast this way.

I am not sure how you think that is a costly method? Wax is cheap. To me, it looks like something made by cire purdue in a student jewelry class.

One last point - if this is a ring cast with an actual crest to be a wax seal ring (very popular in the 1970s) - the shield would be backwards on this ring.

 

I don't see this, Holly. I'm not sure what you're talking about? Do you mean "columns" on the sides or in that dent cast into the top?

I think the front "shield" was cast with the shank back of the ring to start with, I don't see solder, but it certainly could have been made in this fashion. I'm just not seeing that.

 

Oh, sorry, my point was - to FLIP IT - when you do an image search for shields.

 

Ok, I think I can see the solder you're talking about, thanks for pointing this out.

 

The square section where the dent is,there is six columns/pillars. and two are covered with solder. the ring shank was sized up with at least a 5mm piece of metal.In post#9 2nd photo down opposite from the dent there is solder flow to the inside of the ring.4th photo solder flow across the edge of the shield area,discoloration...solder content different from ring content.

 

Not that I've seen every one ever made, but have never seen a signet that was not in intaglio. This piece is in relief, so probably the 'positive' of the image, if not complete fantasy. Since the elements are all pictorial, no writing, it's hard to know. It would look like this flipped:



Looking at this, the bell finally rang - ding, ding, ding. What Chantal maybe always understood: the dip in the line at the bottom is to give the center bottom panel a shield shape. Another weird detail.

Sorry @chantaljones Too many things about this ring seem wrong, wrong, wrong.

That's my rule too. I just put in the link because seller has many rings that purport to be Renaissance & earlier. Even if repro, they illustrate what rings looked like in the stated periods.

 

I'm sorry too, @chantaljones <3

 

Found the listing for the OP ring... 750£ BIN with make an offer
Seller seems to be generalist, not willingly selling copies but not specially knowledgeable from the completed listings

 

I was also getting that impression from the vague, skimpy info provided.

 

I agree with you, the dent looks authentic to me, perhaps in battle or who knows what else? They didn't exactly live in delicate times back then, so it could have been dented any number of ways. I also think it looks like one piece, not two. I don't know if you're on to other options at this point, but if you still love it, why not send some photos to a museum to look over and give their opinion? I'd start with museums that have similar pieces in their collections such as: V&A or British Museum in the UK, or the Metropolitan Museum in the US, and see if anyone on their staff is willing to give you an opinion and/or if they can recommend a reputable appraiser skilled in this particular area/time frame. Let an expert weigh in virtually, and if they think it's genuine, ask the seller for a return policy with a healthy number of days (30-60 days) so you can send it to the museum/appraiser of your choice for validation?

 

If you are talking about a dent in the top of the front panel of the ring, it appears to have been originally cast that way. Is there a second dent in the top that I cannot see?

Did you end up buying this ring, @chantaljones ?