Antique French Ring with Lorraine Cross

[ByningNicole]

Hello, I have this old silver ring I purchased recently from an estate. Hoping to learn the approximate age of it. I am confused by the research I have done online. There are hallmarks but incredibly small and hard to get a good shot of because of the band of ring. There is what appears to be a rooster mark right facing with a 2 behind the right facing head. There is also a "Z M" makers mark which I am also having trouble learning about. There is a 900 stamp as well. The front of the ring has the Lorraine Cross centered with a strange language around it. Does anyone know this language?
I appreciate any help at all, I am quite lost here and very much want to learn the history of this neat ring.
Nicole

[Aguest]

The language appears to be "Runic," an old Scandinavian script, the letters are "Runes" and there is a Viking heritage therein ::: That strange rooster might be the "Grouse" symbol for Switzerland, apparently a "grouse" is some sort of land-bird sort of like a rooster, somehow this might be a ring from Switzerland, this is a very small object so perhaps the general shape of the hallmark was modified to fit ::: Not sure what the other symbol is, perhaps it is a date letter, does it look like "R7" or something like that? Maybe check on the "Switzerland Grouse Silver Hallmark" and make sure of the grouse possibility :::

[AG2012]

Hi,
The rooster mark was used in ex- Yugoslavia for small articles. It`s still used in Serbia.
The ring is a reproduction of a medieval ring. It would be useful to have wax imprint, what we see is a mirror image.
Lettering is either Greek or Cyrillic starting with ``ПЕРИ`` on the left.
Will search for further details.
Regards

[AG2012]

The mark was discussed here:
http://925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... ia#p137435

[AG2012]

Curiously, inscription on the right does not look like mirror image - letters ``К, С, Е`` but definitively Greek or Cyrillic.

[AG2012]

Hello again,
The maker is ‚‚Zlatara Majdanpek‚‚ in Serbia.
Their ‚‚ZM‚‚ mark on gold coin.
Cannot decipher the text but at least we know it`s reproduction of medieval ring, most probably made in limited edition and sold in the museum shop where the original is kept on display.
Regards

[agphile]

Zlatara in Serbian means Goldsmith.

[agphile]

And I should have added Majdanpek is the town where the goldsmiths workshop is situated.

[agphile]

@AG2012

My apologies for jumping in with a translation of the maker’s name which may have been self-evident to you. I have also been wondering about the inscription. When I look at more ancient Cyrillic alphabets such as Old Church Slavonic I notice that some letter forms are different from the modern. Thus, what seems to be a reversed P (R) on the ring is almost certainly actually an A. N simply equates to the latin N and H stands for an I sound.

On this basis the inscription reads in transliteration as PEAN ALEKSIJ or something similar. Goodness knows what pean means but I guess Aleksij is probably a saint rather than the owner’s name.

[agphile]

I couldn’t resist playing round a bit further with the inscription. I have flipped the image to show it would appear when used as a signet to leave an impression on wax.

As I said before, I believe this transliterates as something like пеан алексиж in modern Russian script or “pean aleksij” in Latin script. Maybe if пеан could be read as “paean” (UK spelling for an ancient Greek song of praise) the inscription could be taken as “Praise Aleksij”, but I wouldn’t rely on this interpretation!

[AG2012]

Hi agphile,
I think you have solved the mystery. Aleksij (y) sounds too Russian, though.
The last letter could be Ћ (ch) and then possibly family name Aleksich. Have no idea what names they had in middle ages in regard of family names.
``Pean`` makes perfect sense.
Regards

[damjan]

On the ring writes Peri aleksicu what is the usual name in Serbia,which would mean that he is dedicated to someone whose name is Pera or Petar Aleksic.
Regards