A solid eighteen carat gold poison ring with a heraldic "church" style bell hand carved into the front. This exceptionally rare and wonderfully made ring from first glance is a simple and elegant signet style ring. However, upon close examination lies a wonderful secret compartment. A compartment that, due to its sometimes sinister uses over the years, acquired this moniker.
Originating in ancient India and the Far East, the poison ring eventually made its way to Europe. The traditional poison ring had a very small container hidden under a hinged cover, as is the case here.
Ancient Romans sometimes used poison rings to commit suicide when a painful death was unavoidable. The historian Pliny, the Elder (23-79 CE) recounts how a Roman government official escaped torture by taking a bite out of his poison ring (a thin shell was the container for the poison). The teenaged Emperor Heliogabalus (203 CE – 222 CE), feared because of his cruelty and notorious for his debauchery, wore a poison ring but was assassinated before he could ingest its contents.
A poison ring may have also played a part in ending an aristocratic feud between two powerful families in the Middle Ages. In the 21st century, archeologists in Bulgaria unearthed a bronze ring with a secret compartment. It is theorized that poison in the ring may have been used by Dobrotitsa (1347-1386), the ruler of Despotate of Dobrudja, against an influential family in the Kaliakra fortress.
Poison rings, also know as pillbox, compartment, locket or vessel rings had a benign purpose. During the Middle Ages, they were often used to hide relics of saints, like bits of their hair, bone and teeth, which were thought to protect the wearer from various calamities and maladies. During the Renaissance, the aristocracy used them to hold cologne, locks of hair, and portraits of loved ones. Which is the case with this wonderful example containing a hand tinted late Victorian photograph of a lady in a summer hat. This can be removed to add a new photograph, if so desired.
Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519), an Italian noblewoman and only daughter of Pope Alexander VI, was said to be adept at using poison rings for disposing of political rivals. Experts note that disguising the taste of poison and making a dose powerful enough to be fatal but still fit in a ring was extremely difficult, so victims by this method of murder may have been few.
The ring is English made with English control marks for "18ct" and , is a US size 7.5 ring size, but can easily be sized if needed. There is also the makers marks alongside the control marks for "C. G & S". Circa 1890's.
