Recent find by my brother-in-law

[Galapagos]

MY brother-in-law Michael emailed me:-

"I thought you would like to see this. I found it last week with the detector. I think its 1600s. I'm going to the Great North Museum to meet the Finds officer, as it's treasure. I should get it back in 4 to 6 weeks. The verse reads "Not The Value But My Love"."

This would have been in the Newcastle / Northumberland area of England, I should add.

[Kid Romeo]

Cool find. Reminded me of the ring from 'Lord of the ring'.

[Figleaf]

Great find. Hope he's right about the date. I it's gold, it should have an assayer's mark and with a bit of luck it can be dated. I'd be interested in its identification. Please congratulate Michael and tell him that we can identify his coin finds for him.

Peter

[translateltd]

My take on age, based on the visible lettering and spelling ("loue" for "love"), would put it at late 1600s to early 1700s, no later than about the 1720s at a semi-educated guess.  Sticking my neck out a little, of course, but I'd be interested to see what the real experts have to say, to find out how close I am.

[E.M.U.]

My brother-in-law tells me the ring shown at the top of this thread was valued at GBP 200. The landowner wanted to keep it, so gave my brother-in-law GBP 100.

[Figleaf]

Revisiting the picture, I now see what looks like a P in a shield after the text. I suspect it is the mark of the jeweller who made it. Was someone able to date the ring?

Peter

[E.M.U.]

From the report given to my brother-in-law:

"The maker's mark consists of a stamped shield-shape with a raised P, set perpendicular to the inscription. There is a similar mark on a posy ring in the collection of the British Museum, which is not identifiable in any of the standard reference works. In the absence of a datable mark, it is not certain that the ring dates earlier than 1709, and it may be less than 300 years old. Therefore it falls outside the requirements of the Treasure Act 1996."