It’s storytime via the ‘Friday Flick’ – where I randomly flick through my 140,000 word PhD thesis on Children’s Jewellery History and tell you a story about what’s on the page I land on!
Let’s go…
Today’s flick takes us to Medieval London.
An interview with Medieval expert Geoff Egan highlighted two tiny finger rings from Museum of London excavations which were constructed from lead-tin and date to the 12th – 13th century.
Each of the rings is different in design:
- one consists of three domes surrounded by granulated bezels
- the other displays a flat diamond-shaped plate decorated at each point with granules
Finger rings are documented to be popular during Medieval times. And rings like these – constructed from cheaper materials like lead-tin – are specifically referenced to have been worn by the lower classes and were generally a representation of those styles worn by the wealthy.
The domes and granules on these small examples are likely to have mimicked the gemstones and other elaborate decoration found within more expensive rings of the time.
These two Museum of London artefacts are noted to be exact replicas of adult jewellery from the find, so it can be concluded that rings constructed from less expensive materials were also favoured by Medieval children in London during this time.
Would you wear one?
Today’s flick details fig 89 & 90 of my PhD thesis: 12th – 13th Century Lead-Tin Rings.
Fig 89: with three domes set in granulated bezels.
Fig 90: with a flat diamond-shaped top-plate
Found on the banks of the River Thames, London. Museum of London, London.
