Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 2.djvu/222

198 Mr. Hawkins exhibited a bronze figure, which was found by Mr. W. Locket, sergeant at mace, amongst a quantity of rubbish, when some workmen were pulling down an old wall belonging to the duke of Buckingham's palace or castle in Wallgate, Macclesfield. Mr. Locket stated that the figure, was covered over with dirt and rust so as to be scarcely perceptible, but he cleaned it with sulphuric acid. It had been fixed by two rivets through the feet to an iron bar secured in a piece of stone. The iron bar was corroded by rust, so that the rivets gave way, and the bar broke to pieces. It had been placed in a triangular niche about a foot high, the niche itself having been twelve or fourteen feet from the ground. The image could not even have been seen from below. It measures in length about 5 in.

Mr. Edward Hoare, of Cork, presented a lithographic representation of an "unique and hitherto unknown variety of the gold ring-money of Ireland, in the form of an ear-ornament, found in a turf bog in the neighbourhood of Macroom, co. Cork," and now in Mr. Hoare's collection. It weighs 2 dwts. 5 grs. A more detailed account of this ring is given in the Numismatic Chronicle for April, 1844. Mr. Hoare sent also a drawing of a silver ring, now in his possession, described as "a decade signet-ring," discovered near Cork, in 1844. The hoop is composed of nine knobs or bosses, which may have served instead of beads in numbering prayers, whilst the central portion which forms the signet supplied the place of the gaude. Some persons, as Mr. Hoare remarked, have considered this ring as very ancient; Mr. Lindsay supposed it to be of earlier date than the ninth century, regarding the device as representing an arm, issuing from the clouds, holding a cross, with a crown or an ecclesiastical cap beneath it. Sir William Betham expressed the following opinion respecting this relic: "There can be little doubt but your ring is a decade ring, as there are ten knobs or balls round it. The globe surmounted by a cross is a Christian emblem of sovereignty; the ring and cross, of a bishop; the cap looks like a crown, and only that the ring is too old, it might be considered the ciulid, or barred crown of a sovereign prince. It certainly is of considerable antiquity, and Mr. Lindsay is not far out in his estimation." Mr. Hoare is disposed to conclude from these statements that this relic had been the signet of an Irish ecclesiastic, at an early period: the device appears, however, to bear much resemblance to those which were used in England during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as marks, or personal devices, by merchants. In these marks the initial of the name is usually surmounted by a cross, with a sort of vane appended to it; and in this instance it might be conjectured that the letter B was intended to indicate the name of the individual, whilst the shamrocks evidently denoted his Irish extraction.

Mr. Hoare stated also, in reference to the notice of Irish ring-money communicated to the Committee by Mr. Sainthill (Archæological Journal, vol. i. p. 257), that of the silver rings, the rarity of which is very great, he