English: Broken silver gilt posy ring inscribed on the inside with 'Be costant to the end', presumably meaning 'constant'. The inscription appears inlaid in gold now, but the entire ring was probably gilded to appear like the contemporary pure gold posy rings. The band is plain on the outside and D-shaped in cross-section. There appears to be a maker's mark on the inside of the hoop consisting of a serifed 'R' and a trefoil to the right of it, but it might also be the initials of the intended, or the committed! If it is a maker's mark, it comes before the Wedding Ring Act of 1855 which made it compulsory for goldsmiths to hallmark their rings, so that the tradition of inscriptions died out. The circumference of the ring, or length in this case, of 68 mm, especially if part of the ring is missing, suggests that this might have been a thumb ring, which became popular in the middle of the 17th century and continued to be so into the reign of George I.

The recorder cannot find another example with the same inscription, but similar examples of silver gilt posy rings can be seen in the Treasure Annual Report 2004 on pages 295-6, Figs.306 & 318, and similar lettering on page 296, Figs.314-316, which are dated to the 17th century. The way that the ring was made and the style of the lettering suggests that the ring is 17th to early 18th century in date and therefore potential Treasure.