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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Bronwen, post: 288994, member: 5833&quot;]Back to the ring.&nbsp; When written communications were sealed with wax, the impress of the sender&#039;s unique intaglio on an unbroken seal guaranteed the recipient that the document delivered by a messenger genuinely came from that sender &amp; had not been opened en route.&nbsp; Signet rings were not just personal adornment; they were functional &amp; also indicated status.&nbsp; Jumping forward to the Victorians &amp; Edwardians, intaglio seals, both personalized with initials or coats of arms, or glass paste replicas of gems in the best collections made by James Tassie &amp; others, were highly popular both as watch fobs &amp; desk accessories.&nbsp; Once there was no longer need for sealing wax, intaglios became strictly decorative, although they continued to lend a man an air of importance.</p><p><br /></p><p>The vast majority of intaglios in rings we see today are glass/paste.&nbsp; This was probably just as true in the 19th century.&nbsp; After Catherine the Great commissioned James Tassie, in the late 18th century, to make glass paste copies of the ancient gems in other collections for her, he &amp; his nephew William went on to have a thriving business in making &amp; selling these impressions, in various materials at different prices, as collections or by the piece, to anyone &amp; everyone who aspired to seem cultured.&nbsp; People had custom built cabinets to hold them.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, agree with Debora that the chunky, simple style of the ring is more 60s/70s, PLAYBOY era.&nbsp; The carnelian colored stone is molded glass.&nbsp; The figure is not Mars, who is rarely shown bearded &amp; never with this &#039;phrygian cap&#039; type of helmet.&nbsp; He is one of the heroes of the Trojan War, whether Menelaus or Ajax a matter of dispute.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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