Rings of a quite unique type, that owes its origin to the great war and to French skill and taste in adapting the most unpromising means to an artistic end, are those made by French soldiers out of aluminum fuses taken from the bombs which their German foes have so liberally rained upon them. At the outset the disks were first worked with scissors to make rude rings for men’s big fingers. Later on the well-furnished tool-box of the machine-gun squad was called into requisition. This early primitive type was soon abandoned, and in order to make rings of the proper dimensions the metal from the German shells was fused and run into ingots; the crucible was frequently one of the new iron helmets, which was set on a wood fire that was kept going by a bellows improvised from a bayonet sheath. However, the soldiers finally became so reckless in their search for material that it was found necessary to put a stop to this, after several had been shot by the enemy. [Illustration: 1, mourning ring. Gold with enamel and jewels, Seventeenth Century. 2, snake ring. Carved gold with diamond eyes. Modern Oriental. 3, Chinese ring. Native gold with seal reading, “Riches and public honors.” Overlapping back. Nineteenth Century. 4, wish-bone ring. Copy of an African one in gold. 5, Persian ring. Gold and silver, set with a carnelian having seal characters of owner’s name. Metal engraved inside. Eighteenth Century. 6, Chinese ring. Native gold with seal reading, “Long life and riches.” Overlapping back. Eighteenth Century. 7, animal ring. Carved gold in two colors with continuous procession of tigers. Modern French. 8, Chinese ring. Of greenish jadeite in one piece. Eighteenth Century. Rings from the Collection of W. Gedney Beatty] [Illustration: THREE TYPES OF WATCH RING Front, side and end views] The first models for the rings were made of wood or soft limestone. At a more advanced stage, round bars were made, which were cut into sections by means of the jagged edge of an old trench-spade. The smoothing off was done with a knife, and for making the ring apertures a pick was commonly used. They were then polished with a piece of hard wood, moistened from time to time to soften it. This still primitive form failed to satisfy the amateur ring-makers, and soon some of them began to engrave their rings with the point of a pocket-knife, and others, more ambitious, encrusted them with small pieces of copper, either mortised or rivetted in. Although many of the rings were undoubtedly the work of entirely unpracticed hands, of course in any of the great modern national armies men of all trades and professions are represented, and hence the really fine examples of these war-time rings have been the work of those familiar with the jewellers’ art. So eagerly did some of the soldiers pursue this avocation, that when their aluminum threatened to give out, they would look impatiently for a bombardment to get a new supply.[152]