Any ring money collectors here?
nencoin
Posts: 1,277 ✭✭✭✭
If anyone has any experience with ring money, can you let me know if these pieces appear to be authentic? For what it's worth (nothing, perhaps), they were in an envelope that was labeled "Excavated at Sidon 1889."
Thanks,
Chris
Thanks,
Chris
0
Comments
How old was the envelope? Was the writing in old ink, like you'd expect for the era?
They look OK to me, but maybe that's not saying too much.
Then again, I have collected ancient coins for a little while, and I've been a detectorist a lot longer than that, so I ain't too bad at recognizing dug stuff.
<< <i>I dunno, but the patina on 'em looks like what I'd expect from something dug under such circumstances.
How old was the envelope? Was the writing in old ink, like you'd expect for the era?
They look OK to me, but maybe that's not saying too much.
Then again, I have collected ancient coins for a little while, and I've been a detectorist a lot longer than that, so I ain't too bad at recognizing dug stuff.
The envelope and writing does appear to be somewhat old. I don't really have anything to do with them. Would you like them? If so, PM your address and I'll drop them in the mail.
Kind of you if that were the case, though.
I'm not really worthy of a giveaway these days, having been the beneficiary of too much generosity lately.
I do think it's neat.
Where is "Sidon"? (I guess I'll need to go to Wikipedia, huh.) Sounds biblical. There was an old antebellum plantation called "Sidon" just north of here (in McIntosh County, GA). I went detecting there a few times when they cleared the spot and built an outlet mall on the site in the mid-1990s. It must have been named for the original Sidon (where, no doubt, those rings or bracelet thingies were dug). Cool.
I thought "ring money" was a Celtic thing?
So maybe these were just bracelets, and not "coins", per se?
(Cool nonetheless.)
They're really neat. The original envelope itself is really neat, and its inscription was in India ink and very probably contemporary to the 1889 excavation mentioned. It says:
<< <i>RING MONEY
USED
5000 YEARS AGO
THIS WAS EXCAVATED
AT SIDON 1889 >>
Now, my personal gut feeling was that these were more like Greco-Roman artifacts (bracelets, most likely) from a couple centuries before or after the BC/AD divide, give or take. But hey, what do I know about this kind of stuff? Next to nothing. And those two smaller pieces are mighty small indeed to have been bracelets for anyone but an infant, so maybe there's something to this whole "ring money" thing after all?
5,000 years old? What would that make these? Phoenician? Wow. They're pretty ancient, even if they're only two thousand years old.
It bears further studying.
I was bummed out recently because a coin I shipped to Cyprus more than a month ago never reached its destination, according to the eBay buyer. So I just had to eat a $75 refund. Which wasn't enough to cause a serious wound, but enough to sting a little and sour my mood.
Then Chris' package arrived with these bronze rings. Made me feel a whole lot better.
I initially refused his kind offer of these because I've been the recipient of a bit too much generosity around here lately, and I wouldn't want to upset the cosmic balance or whatever you might wanna call it. But he insisted, and here they are. And funny how they kind of washed out the missing package misery, eh? Maybe there is some cosmic balance out there after all.
If so, Chris and NEN are due some goodwill, for sure. Thanks again!
PS- I think my sister might get a big kick out of these. I always wanted to get her a piece of ancient jewelry.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
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