DetectingWales.com

Morning folks, well here it is the before and after restoration, can I just thank Alan (cariffian) as it was him who gave me the details of a professional restorer of rings and artifacts, his name is Barry Sherlock who lives in Torquay, he carries out major work for museums, collectors, dealers and of course the good old detectorists. I must say he is a very knowledgeable and friendly guy and some of the photos I saw of his jobs were amazing to say the least, I’m talking Saxon and medieval coins brought to him in several pieces and by the time he had finished restoring them you could not see that they were ever damaged, so if anyone has coins or artifacts that would like to see back to their original condition here’s the man to talk to. Any way back to my ring it was disclaimed by the treasure act and returned so I decided I would like to see it restored to its former glory and although it was a lovely historic piece of history, it was not great to look at?? And its value was not much, I know money reared its ugly head but I now have to get it valued as I have to make it fair with the landowner who has no interest in it so I may end up with it. I’m sure some people would say it should have been left as it was found but let’s face it the museum never found it that interesting , so for me it was a no brainer. Barry and I decided it was probably not a mourning ring but a dress ring, I think the museum found evidence of black enamel under the open work hence thinking it was a mourning ring and dated it to earlier than 1714, but it had no inscription, any way whatever we believe it dates to 1650-1675 approx. we decided to put an amethyst as the stone as semi-precious stones were popular in this period and although it could have had a precious stone i.e. a sapphire it was to expensive and would need a 8ct stone in weight due to deep setting. I believe it has been very sympathetically restored using traditional methods and Barry has even given it slight imperfections in his work which would be more in keeping of a ring dug up in a muddy field from a scruffy detectorist  we did not want a pristine ring that looked like it was made yesterday.  Thanks for looking. ;) ;)

Wow... Lovely find... ;)
Thanks for sharing Paul... ;D

great result celtic and a fantastic finish on the ring.

Well done on the rings :)

That really is an amazing transformation.  He certainly knows his stuff. Is it a mans or a ladies ring Paul, I don't remember you saying.
I ask because I assume a certain Lady of the House might have an eye for it now it's whole again. I saw someone else before and after picies of an artefact that had been restored. That too was almost unbelievable. So was the price it was sold for.

Val

Thanks guys and , I thought it was a lady's ring Val but Barry said it could ba a mans? They were smaller than us in the medieval period as I'm sure you know Val, and as for the Mrs,the ring is an approximate L/M size and guess what it fits the wife :'( some of my nicest gold jewellery I found in Spain in the water all with diamonds in and one in particular nearly 2 ct in weight has fitted her and is now in her collection so it's time I put my foot down ??? I think  ;) ;) ;) The thing now is as I said finding a valuation ?

That is a fantastic job Paul. I did wonder if you went ahead with the restoration. I am glad that you are so pleased with the finish. Barry sure does know his stuff, and will always talk through a potential job first without any obligations. Yes any high street jeweller can restore jewellery but will the quality be the same as Barry's work? How many are there out there that have actual experience of working on such ancient artefacts? The difference is, I believe Barry spent 5 years training in the techniques of the ancient craftsmen. If an item is not restored using the same techniques it will be noticeable to any professional and impact on the item's value.

I appreciate the argument for leaving things as they were found. However, I am in the camp that believes they should if possible be restored as closely as possible to their former glory. That ring was once an item of beauty and so why shouldn't it be once more. Left as it was it wouldn't have got a second glance but now it's got the WOW factor. Well done Paul for making the right decision. 

nicely done paul
 ;)
remeber holding that beauty,nice

A wonderful restoration job Paul and full marks to the craftsman who did it I guess it shows the difference between a jeweller and a true goldsmith. Not sure about them having smaller hands as manual work and lots of sword wielding  ;D meant they were probably larger but when I found my first posey ring everyone agreed it was probably for a child however the FLO produced a load of photographs of medieval portraits showing rings being worn on higher knuckles ;)

Perhaps more easily lost Geoff?

Thanks Geoff and a valid point re manual work etc, my medieval field is ploughed and awaiting seeding as soon as it is worked down then I will be in there and try and sniff out a gold hammered or a posie not worried which ::) ;) ;)

Thanks Alan totally agree with you. ;)

Cheers Mike ;)

Wow great job Paul looks amazing  :o :o

the guy that restored that ring must be a true magician,  its hard to believe its the same ring,  fantastic job,don,t loose his number paul because i bet a lot of people will be asking him to restore things.

nice one spikey and thank you for reminding me about barry.someone told me years ago that he's amazing with thimbles and i had completely forgotten his name.cheers simon ;)

That certainly is a beauty Paul and has been already said a cracking restoration and well worth doing

What a fantastic job he's made, it looks great!! I can see why your pleased ;)

Paul out of curiosity how long did the work take? including the backlog, he's a good contact I have a item what needs doing but not guite as much work involved in yours.

Have you got a email address for him please ;)   

Thanks guys ;) Dale he had it just before Christmas as he was very busy and I missed my slot to have the work done ( my fault ) I reckon he worked on it for 4-5 days mate. As I said how he managed to restore the broken hammereds is mind blowing, he also showed me a Roman Aureus ( double headed) it was beuitifully struck but had some pretty bad scratches before restoration, after..... simply stunning mate  ;)

That's not bad ;) Its a hammered coin I want done, I spoke to a friend this morning regarding your ring and the great job what's been done, and found out Barry does my mates coins :D so I have his contact number now ;) Its a small world

Cheers Paul

That's some refurbishment job! Amazing work!

Dale he has worked on 2 coins for me. One was an Edward 111 qtr noble and the other a William 1 canopy type hammered. The Eddy was a scarcer type but had sustained quite a bit of damage. Barry did an excellent job and even talked me out of further work to the coin. It was his opinion that any further work would not have improved the coin, or it's value any further. The William 1 was found folded and flattened in half, with some other little edge folds. What I paid I consider to be inexpensive, given the obvious increase in their value after repair. Above all they look far better in my collection.

The third job I had done was on a silver gilt posey ring that had been disclaimed. The inscription read 'Love and Serve'. I found the ring broken and with the E at the end missing. He joined the ring back together complete with the missing E. As with Paul's ring he 'weathered' the newer added section. See my pm.

Thanks Alan pm returned ;)