Medieval Jewish Wedding Ring. Circa 12th-14th century CE. Go...

Hammer

£800

Medieval Jewish Wedding Ring. Circa 12th-14th century CE. Gold, 1.52g. 18.69 mm. 17 mm internal, UK ring size M. US size 6. A plain gold band finger ring with an inscription which appears to be pseudo-Hebrew: giving the impression of Hebrew, but which is difficult to interpret. Some of the characters are similar to genuine Hebrew letters, but some are illegible, and the meaning is as yet undeciphered. Recorded by PAS as: ESS-775B68.

Neither the Bible nor the Talmud, however, speaks of the ring as symbolic of marriage. In the Talmudic period the formalities of betrothal, which ceremony was regarded as the beginning of marriage, resembled those of the first part of the modern engagement, the bridegroom giving the bride money, some article of value, or a document, saying at the time: "Be thou hallowed unto me through. . . ." About the seventh or eighth century, however, when two of the three mishnaic methods of obtaining a wife had become obsolete, the use of a ring as a symbol of marriage began to be frequent, probably earlier in Palestine than in Babylonia on account of the Roman influence exerted in the former. The betrothal was then differentiated from the wedding; and the ceremonies constituting marriage, which had hitherto been performed at two different times, were now celebrated on the wedding-day, some time after the betrothal. The chief ceremony of marriage was the placing by the bridegroom of a ring on the middle finger of the right hand of the bride, the accompanying invocation being "Be thou hallowed [betrothed] to me through this ring according to the laws of Moses and Israel.
The wedding ring, according to the renowned 12th century Rabbis Rabbeinu Tam, was a simple golden circlet without stones, although rings of silver or of cheaper metal were permissible if the bride was informed of the fact.