I found this ring in my backyard while doing gardening. After cleaning it, it doesn’t look like a normal ring. Any ideas?

It’s a Georgian/early Victorian mourning ring. The initials belong to the lost loved one.

They were typically made from gold (18k+) and enameled in black. Yours looks like it was made around 1820s-40s.

A note about mourning jewelry:

It wasn’t just about one’s own memories; wearing mourning was a necessary and useful social signal. If you were still in deep mourning and wearing black, people knew not to invite you to parties or expect you to be “up” and bubbly. “Half-mourning” meant you might go to something like a wedding party, just to be supportive, but you probably wouldn’t lead off the dancing — and no-one would criticize.

That’s very beautiful.

If your house is old maybe you can trace an earlier owner with those initials?

That would be a cool history project.

One more information, i think its made of gold

It’s a mourning ring. The deceased probably left a bequest of a gold ring (in their memory) to someone (a few recipients )special in their will. It follows a traditional pattern of black enamel on 15ct gold. The ring is c. 1810 -20. English), Due to the heavily decorated cartouche surrounding the initials of the deceased. There’s usually no hallmarks. Earlier mourning rings 1760 – 90 are plainer or more death related: skulls, urns.

You will have to imagine who your deceased doner was ; male or female. They were wealthy, planned their decease and made a will. You could give ancestry or the national archives (uk) a try with rough dates and initials.

Whoever’s kept the memento mori all this time kept it safe as a token of esteem. The ring is in wonderful condition.

I love mourning jewellery, as do many collectors. It isn’t really valuable – the death thing isn’t for everyone. In the UK 350-550.

I can imagine the woman wearing it, gardening herself a long time ago. Wearing the ring as a constant tie and reminder to the loved one she lost. She must have been devastated when it slipped off her finger while planting. I can only imagine, she wanted you to find it. KEEP it.

I would til up the entire yard if I found this at my house lol.

Crazy to think how long that’s just been sitting in your backyard.

So it’s been properly identified but I’d like to chime in really quick. This could be exceptionally valuable depending on the history behind it, conditions, materials used, date, etc. Anywhere between a few hundred to several thousands is probably a reasonable estimate.

Also, if you found this ring in your backyard I’d keep in mind that there could be some more trinkets. Maybe get a decent metal detector or borrow one.

This is pretty cool. I don’t know what I’d do if I found an 18k gold ring that’s 200 years old in my backyard.

Given that the home was owned by a Jewish family and that it was in Germany the homeowners may have buried their valuables to prevent the Nazi’s from getting them. It’s possible they buried others near it. It’s also possible that the burial of this ring is part of Germany’s larger horror story, and not at all like the nice fantasies I keep reading in this thread.

Does it have any markings inside the band?

Have you taken it to a pawnshop? They can tell you whether it’s gold or not.

In what region of the world was this found? I wonder if the land records of the house would give a clue to the owner and/or deceased. I would love to hear this story.

The ultimate would be to try and hunt down descendants of the owner…

I’m no expert but if you ever find anything potentially valueble like this don’t clean it yourself. It can be worth more uncleaned. Often this would be the case with silver pieces that would be worth more unpolished as per advice from the antiques road show 

It’s very lovely, the vines/leaves details are just beautiful.

Ahh makes sense thanks guys for explaining in detail my questions about a fictional world!

Person who lost it must’ve been devastated

I have to say, the ring is very beautiful!

You should setup a crow box in your yard.

I wonder what the value of it would be

I want to buy this ring, I’ll offer 8,000 pm me

Personally what I hate about renting.

What do you think?