Antique Italian 19th Century Fine Shell Cameo of Dante Alighieri Signet Ring

A large antique English Georgian era gentleman’s gold signet ring, circa 1830. In the centre there is a flat-cut and bezel-set octagonal carneli...

A gorgeous 18th century Italian hardstone cameo ring. This beautiful four layered sardonyx cameo is carved from a single piece of agate with immense skill to reveal the bust of the G...

A very unusual antique gold ring set with a carved brown and white hardstone cameo depicting the theatrical comic mask of Silenus, the Greek mythological old rustic god of wine-making and drunkenness. The ring was made in the late 19th century and carries French control marks for 18K gold, whilst the cameo is probably Italian and made slightly earlier, circa 1800. Silenus was a companion to the wine god Dionysus, and suitably he was a notorious consumer of wine, usually drunk and supported by satyrs or carried by a donkey. Silenus was described as the oldest, wisest and most drunken of the followers of Dionysus, and was said to possess special knowledge and the power of prophecy when intoxicated. He presides over the other satyrs and is related to musical creativity, prophetic ecstasy, drunken joy and drunken dances. Silenus was usually depicted as a jovial old man, bald yet bearded, with a pot-belly, thick lips and snub-nose. The masks worn to play him in theatre really emphasised these features, as you can see with this cameo carving Theatre was a key part of ancient Greek culture. The theatrical masks worn by the actors, known as ‘prosopon’, served various purposes. They enabled individual actors to play multiple roles (or genders) in the same performance; the exaggerated expressions helped define the character being portrayed; they helped spectators in the back rows to tell the characters apart. This particular masked as mentioned before is a comedic Silenus, please see final photo for other examples of Silenus masks in museum collections. UK size N 1/2, US size 7 4.84g 18K gold French ‘tête...

This rare heraldic silver intaglio signet ring dates from the late 17th century and originates from Western Europe. The flat, octagonal bezel is engraved with a noble family coat of arms depicting an eight pointed star. The silver ring is cast in one piece, the intaglio is framed within a chased octagonal border and the band displays flared and chamfered edges at the shoulders, all features typical of the period. After looking into heraldry archives, there are a few families in Western Europe which share this coat of arms, notably the Ambrogini family of Italy and the Counts of Waldeck, vassals of Luxembourg since the 14th century (see Ravensbury Antiques...

A superb ancient Roman nicolo intaglio set in a late 18th century gold signet ring. Nicolo intaglios are a particular type of intaglio ma...

This quite small (yet mighty) 21K gold ring dates to the 11-13th century Seljuk dynasty. The hexagonal bezel features a negative cursive inscription within a border containing arabes...

Ring in silver. The top of this signet ring is shuttle-shaped, the center is decorated with the initials GC surrounded by a beaded. On both sides, the start of the ring is chiseled w...

Circa 1880s This antique 14K yellow gold signet ring from the Victorian era features a carnelian intaglio intricately engraved with a bel...

The portrait head, facing right, with short hair and clean shaven, in a later ring mount, ring size 8 length 29mm, width 16mm

Oval, depicting the profile of a man with curling hair, facing left, wearing robes, within a yellow gold mount, cameo length 2.3cm, width 1.7cm, ring size 7 1/2

Dutch marks, stamped 585. Ring size 8 . 17gms.Length of ring head 2.3cms.Band with Dutch marks for 14ct gold. Maker's mark AJR. Seal possibly Austrian.

The classical head facing left, clean shaven with short curling hair, in a later ring mount, ring size 8, length 30mm, width 20mm Weight : 29,4gr