Roman gold ring.

[Donnydave]

My main hobby is metal detecting and I report all my finds over 300 years old to the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS),yesterday on a club dig I found an old gold ring, probably Roman but could be Saxon or Viking, it has already been reported and will have to go off to the British Museum, but because it has got badly damaged being in plough soil for almost 2000 years it will probably be returned to me? it usually takes 12 months or more to go through the recording procedure? It appears to have the traces of a red stone/jewel left in the mount? My question is would it be possible to have it restored and a replacement stone added? Thank you in anticipation.

 

[dianabarbara]

Hi Donny, I have very little knowledge on how far repair could go on antique settings.
However, I have the impression that it's heavily damaged, although some details on the band remain neat.
I agree with you that there was likely a bezel set stone. How did you guess the color?
If it was really a red gem, I have seen plenty of cameos set in rings of this type.
Others carry instead incisions that represent the function or origin of the person owning the ring.

Best of luck,

d.

 

[Donnydave]

Hi dianabarbara there is a tiny bit of red stone trapped inside,the ring although damaged is complete except for a crack in the setting that holds the stone and a scrape along the edge?

 

[dianabarbara]

interesting. It would be great if you could bring it back to a more stable form without loosing too much of the historic value of it.
I hope someone with more experience will see and react upon your post.

 

[meredeth11]

I is really nice topic to restore and have a a replacement of the lost gem, but my suggestion is that to keep what it looks now until you found the lost part to keep its historic value, while some maintenance is still needed as well.