Rare 1727 Memento Mori Ring Leaves Geoffrey Munn Delighted | Antiques Roadshow UK

So we've come into a place that's absolutely teeming with life. There's vegetation and birds flying around, but you brought me something to do with death, haven't you? Yes. And it's a gold ring, enameled black, and it has emblems of mortality all over it, doesn't it? It's got a rather elongated skeleton. And then he's standing on an hourglass, which is another emblem of mortality, of time flying. And then the crossbones here, not only that, but the implements of the grave digger himself, the spade and the pick. And I think possibly one would simply accept this as a memento mori from the early 18th century. And a memento mori is important at this time because there was a great terror that one would die unprepared, that one wasn't ready for God. One wouldn't go necessarily to heaven. One might go to a less attractive place down there. So it's a memento mori. It was hugely fashionable. It's a strange thing to say. You could go and buy a book in the 17th and 18th century about how to achieve a good death. Oh, right, OK. It's very dark, isn't it? How are you doing with all this dark stuff? Are you all right? Am I spooking you? It's not my type of ring, I must admit. No, no, well, it might be. It's certainly mine. I love it. And on the inside, we have much more context, really, because I think you can remember this inscription, can't you? She's Priscilla... Priscilla Wilkinson. Yes. And her date of death is... It is... 1727. The 14th of April, 1727, and we know she was 78 years old. Mm-hm. We also know that she's a married woman because it's in black enamel. Oh, right, OK. And if it was in white enamel, it would signal that she had never married. Oh, that's OK. And so, come on, where did you find it? It was left to my grandmother, and it was left by some ladies that she was friendly with, and they had connections with the Melville family in London, to do with theatre, I'm led to believe, something like that. And that's really all I know about it. Well, and in fact, it is a very theatrical thing, I suppose, and the theatre was huge in London, and I think I can just see a London hallmark, which is absolutely no surprise for an object of this calibre. She probably had a provision in her will to leave... To make something up, yeah. And there are people who collect rings of this sort. Right. And it's very competitive. And people want things like this rather a lot, actually. All right, OK. So, I think... Right. Yes, here we go. Here we go, I'm prepping you up. And I think, possibly, if you put that into an auction, you could reasonably expect between £4,000 and £6,000 for it. That's OK. All right, thank you very much.