Medieval gold ring fails to sell at auction

A medieval gold ring unearthed by two metal detectorists has failed to sell at auction.

The 14th Century gold seal ring of Matilda was listed for auction by Noonans Mayfair as part of a sale of jewellery, watches, silver and objects of vertu on Tuesday.

It was discovered in a ploughed field near Stoke Ash in Suffolk, in April 2024, by friends Aaron Pizzey, 30, and James Race, 39.

The men said they were disappointed the ring failed to meet its reserve bid of £8,500, but they would attempt to auction it again in the future.

The ring had been estimated to fetch between £10,000 and £12,000, but the men hoped it would auction for even more, somewhere between £25,000 and £30,000.

Noonans said it had a carnelian intaglio engraved with the image of a griffin and its inscription was believed to give a clue to its original owner.

The words "GRIFFVnMATILIELEMATILIOVR" are inscribed on the ring and may be translated as 'griffin Matilda the maternal countess', which could suggest the ring belonged to Matilda of Lancaster, who became Countess of Ulster.

In 1347-8 she became a canoness of the Augustinian Campsey Priory, near Wickham Market - about 20 miles from where the ring was found.

Pizzey explained that the ring had taken a long time to come to auction due to it having to go through a treasure process and he said it was a "shame" it had not sold.

He had hoped to use the money toward upgrading his metal detector and potentially toward a house renovation.

"It's a bit of a niche item because the band is broken," he told BBC Radio Suffolk's Wayne Bavin.

"We decided to leave it as found so that the person who bought it can make their mind up if they want to leave it as is or have it repaired professionally to be worn again."

Race had wanted to use the money for wedding costs and paying off a mortgage.

"There's another auction, I think in two months," he said.

"My first ring that I went and put through Noonans, they did a very good job on that ring and for this lot.

"With my previous one a medieval gold Stuart ring with a sapphire gem, that didn't go the first time either, so it's not uncommon because it's happened twice now."

The men also managed to find a hoard of 60 gold Roman coins in February in Eye and were similarly going through the treasure process again before hoping to auction them.

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