Featured Need help identifying

I believe this is a signet ring, carnelian and gold, Roman style (?), with an intaglio engraving of what appears to be a Roman male riding a lion. There are no hallmarks or other identifying markings on the ring, so it’s either gold plated, or very old?

It’s fairly chunky and quite heavy.

I am very curious to find out what exactly I have …

Does anyone have any ideas/information?

 

Beautiful ring, Greybeard.
The style is certainly Roman, both of the carnelian intaglio and the shape of the setting. The indentation with extra ring around the bezel, almost like a ditch around the intaglio is also very Roman.

I will tag @Bronwen for you, she knows much more about this type of jewellery than I do.

 

You could try pushing it into a bit of clay/Blu tac or play doh to perhaps see the image. Looks like the figure has a bow.

 

There are many reproductions of Roman intaglio rings available -

https://www.etsy.com/search?q=Roman+intaglio+ring&ref=search_bar

 

The ring itself is known as a collector's mount, very common in the late Georgian/Regency period. Suggests owner believed it to be an antiquity or copy of an antiquity.

Houseful is quite right, the figure has a bow & is in fact Cupid. This is by neoclassical artist Bertel Thorvaldsen:




The subject was a popular one, part of a more general theme of the conquering power of love. If you fill in 6679 in the green box for gem number at this site, you will see a whole series of gem impressions with Cupid on a lion. If you switch the view to Text, you can read a description of each:

https://www.carc.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/b.../carc/Gems2/James-Tassie&firstField=gemNumber

(Click on picture to enlarge.)

Even a genuine expert could not tell you with 100% certainty whether the intaglio was engraved 2,000 years ago or 200 years ago with only photos to go by, possibly not even with it in hand. There is also the possibility that it is glass.

I'm surprised the back has been covered, but it also looks like the shank may have been replaced.

 

I've inverted the image. Not sure if it really did much:

 

Fabulous! Thank you for taking the time to respond. And thank you for the information!

 

The figure looks more female to me - perhaps a version of Cybele, Rhea or Coelestis?

 

Maybe just a 'chesty' Cupid?

 

The proportions of the rider to beast are not those of an adult human & lion. And a bow is not an attribute of any of the mother goddesses that I'm aware. The strap across the chest, which may be contributing to the impression of feminine breasts, is for the quiver.

 

That mount does look Georgian to me too. Very grand tour.

 

As someone already said, imitations abound... including well-made ones. What history/provenance do you have on your ring? Have you tested it for any gold content?
It may be best to take it to a jeweler for in-person examination.
Here is a nice, but new, one on etsy now, for under $30 US. It is a glass intaglio in a gold-over-sterling silver mount:

 

I’m assuming that it’s an imitation To my untrained eye it’s a good imitation, especially the intaglio. It looks in too good a condition to be really old, I think. There are no hallmarks on it so I’m assuming that’s its gold plated over some other metal.

As to provenance… it came to me from a deceased estate along with a lot of gentleman’s jewellery (a lot of cuff links - some fairly contemporary and some from earlier times (1920s etc), and a couple of quality watches, none of which I have any use for (I have a set of cuff links and I don’t wear a watch ).

Whatever it is, I like it a lot and I’m a big fan of Roman history Can’t wear it though. It’s huge!

 

I concur! Chubby cherub

 

Agree, you can only wear them if you sit still for the rest of the day.
I have bought quite a few similar shaped signet rings from Western and Central Asia. Sold them almost as soon as I got them, because they are impossible to wear. Some were even higher than yours.

 

That’s me for the rest of the day! It weighs 18.33 grams.

Also: I went to a jewellers. He really liked it, concurred with the general consensus in this thread (Georgian or Victorian copy of a Roman original, carnelian and solid gold).

He offered me £400 for it. I declined

 

Much Victorian gold isn’t marked, let alone Georgian.

 

It's really beautiful. Would you have it sized so you can wear it??

 

I would find a way to wear it, and it would probably look grotesquely huge on my hand, but I would not care! It's an interesting piece. Not an everyday piece, but an event piece. Did the jeweler say what the gold purity was?

 

Big rings look fine on small hands. My mother had small hands and wore huge rings, they didn't look out of place at all.
If you wear jewellery with confidence it always looks good.