[Illustration: Gold ring of Venetian workmanship. The ends of the hoop form monsters’ heads, supporting a bezel formed like the petal of a flower. XIV Cent. British Museum] [Illustration: HAND OF A JEWELER, HOLDING A _BACULA_ WITH FIVE RINGS British Museum] [Illustration: Gold ring set with an amethyst. Found at Lorsch, Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, and hence called the “Lorscher Ring.” German; end of Tenth or beginning of Eleventh Century. Grossherzoglich-Hessisches Museum, Darmstadt] [Illustration: Silver ring having projecting bezel in form of a spur with revolving rowel. Italian (?), Fourteenth or Fifteenth Century British Museum] [Illustration: “Regard ring,” with seven hoops. The initials of the six stones spell the word “regard” British Museum] [Illustration: Rings of modern Egyptian type. 1, woman’s ring; hoop of twisted gold; 2, man’s ring made by silversmith of Mecca, with stone setting; 3, cast silver ring; stone setting; with guards Fairholt’s “Rambles of an Artist”] [Illustration: Pipe stopper ring. A silver ring on which are set three Indian, rose-cut zircons. This ring was placed on the finger and the tobacco in the bowl of the pipe was pressed down with it. French; about 1750. A similar ring was figured by Hogarth in one of his illustrations Field Museum, Chicago] Many of the hoops of the later Roman rings were elaborately decorated, either in openwork, with spirals in wire, or with beads on the shoulders; this latter type is, however, more probably of Merovingian times. A Roman polygonal hoop, with a high-set bezel, has on the side of this loops for carrying a string of pearls suspended from the ring. In one of the rings specially designed for insetting with engraved gems, the hoop, rounded on the outer side, has shoulders ending in curling leaves. A curious specimen is a plain hoop broadening in an oval bezel; in this has been inserted an intaglio head in sard, the shape of the stone following the exact outline of the head, without any margin. A Burgundian ring of a form that M. Deloche believes to be unique, has an open hoop. At one extremity is a nail-shaped attachment which can be passed through the other extremity, thus closing the ring. A bronze ring, also Burgundian, of a rare or unique type has at the bezel a high, oblong projection. Both these rings are of the Merovingian period which closed in 752 A.D.[122]