The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1881-07-27
FINGER RINGS.
Their Antiquity and Traditions Of MAJ
cal Power-Some Ancient Rings.

Fashions In nngeT IluSs-lI Cn6 passo1-py
NAV Judge from the jewelers. windows or TO-
day-suffer but little change. Fashions IL
clothes come and go with a season and at
best do not seem able to outlast the century
that created them. But everywhere to-day
women are wearing rings that had their
shapes fourteen hundred years and more, De-
fore Christ. It is not surprising that there IS
nothing new in this matter Of rings for fash-
ion. fancy. religion and love have combined
to create styles and shapes IN rings Tor 'nou-
sands of wears. from q time SO far in the past
that the rings shine there alone, all around
is in ashes and darkness. Society observers
remark with q displeasure on what they are
nleased to call g tendency" Of ring fashions
to a profusion of rings on one or all fingers.
This is not new. At first the Romans only
used q single ring, then one on each finger,
then several on each. afterwards, according
to A~ristophanes, one on each joint. Their
foppery later carried them into the fashion
Of wearing different rings each week, 9 fash
ion that that funny wretch Heliogabalus car
ried to its extreme, for, according to Lampid-
ius, that Emperor never wore the same ring
twice.
What is to-day original is only that which
has been forgotten. The old metals, the old
gems, the old motives are revived every day.
Rings are given to-day with the same feeling,
the same sentiment that animated the ring
givers Of old, q sentiment and feeling which
was best put by James I. of England on send
ing a diamond ring to Robert Cecil, Earl of
Salisbury, on the recovery of the latter from
O dangerous illness. ''That the favor and af-
lection he bore him was and should be ever,
as the form matter of the ring, endless, pure
and perfect" Quite recently there was made
by g. New York jeWeler a copy OF the ring OF
Suphis or Cheops, King Of Memphis, the
Eryptian monarch who caused the great
pyramid at Ghizeh-Which struck the patri-
ach Abraham with such aWe-to be built for
his tomb and epitaph.. The original ring OF
Suphis, which is owned in this country, was
fashioned by some a~rtlicer in gold, B.. 9.
5000. The copy is now worn by a New
Yorker who certainly has a taste tor the
original, in possessing what Was a novelty
nearly four thousand years ago. This ring
of Suphis is the most valuable antique ring
extant. Almost its equali in value. and quite
its rival in interest is the ring Of the Patri-
arch Joseph, now in the possession Of the
Earl Of Ashburnham. There is seemingly
no doubt but what this ring is the veritable
golden circlet that Pharaoh gave to Joseph
when "he made him ruler over all the land
of Egypt" While the art work in this ring
is superb it is naturally the historical value
that renders it priceless. Historical rings
are, however, by no means uncommon. For
rings seems to be destined never to decay, |
their fate has something Of the endlessness
of their shape. In the British Museum is
preserved an enameled gold ring bearing the
name of Ethelwoulf, King of Wessex, the
second King of England. It's date is A. D.
1886. The ring Of Edward the Confessor was
for q long time owned by Charles Kean, who
wore it each time he appeared in the eharac-
ter of King Lear. The signet ring of Shake
speare was fonnd by a laboring woman up
on the surface OF the mill-close, adjoining
s~tratford ch%urchyard, March Is, 1910. 1t
is Of gold, weighs twelve pennyWeights, and
bears the initials "W, S." There is a con-
nection or union Of the letters by an orna-
mental string and ~tassels, known commonly
as true lovers knot, the upper band or
flourish of which forms the resemblance of
q heart. 1t was upon the finding of the ring
that Hayden the painter wrote to Keats :
"My dear Keats, I shall go mad In a
field at Stratford-upon-Avon that belonged to
Shakespeare, they have found a gold ring
and seal, with the initials w. S. inc a true
lovers knot between. II this is not Shake
speare's whose is it IA true lovers knot! ]
saw an impression to-day, and am to have
one as soon as possible as sure as you
breathe and that he was the first Of beings,
the seal belonged to him. r. B. HAYEEN.'
''Oh, Lord !"
The tsherman's Ring used by the Pope to
seal Papal Beliefs and Bull, is a steel seal
made in the fashion of q Roman signet (stg-
notoryu8 0nnu1us) When q brief is written
to any distinguished parsonage, or has re-
lation to religious or general important mat
ter, the impression from the Fisherman's
Ring il said to be made upon . gold surface;
IN some cases it appears upon lead, and these
seals are generallyattached by strings of silk.
Impressions of this seal are also made in ink,
direct upon the parchment on which the
brief is written. During the ceremonies at |
tendant upon the death of q Pope, the figure |
of ST. Peter upon the ring is destrotyed with a |
file, and t%hereupon all the authority and acts
of the late Pope pass to the College of Car
dinals. When new Pope is consecraled
the renewed Fisherman's Ring is presented