MID-VICTORIAN ENAMEL AND DIAMOND MOURNING RING, CIRCA 1852

Centered with a scalloped oval black enamel medallion featuring a raised flower set with rose-cut diamonds, flanked by flared shoulders decorated with black enamel scrollwork, extending to a shaped band displaying "IN MEMORY OF" in Gothic lettering, the reverse fitted with an oval glazed locket compartment (devoid of hair), hand-engraved on the inside "Henry Carington Bowles Esq. Obt. 11 March 1852 Ae 51", fully hallmarked 18 karat gold, London, date letter unreadable, maker’s mark TD, ring size K.

Why we are obsessed:

This ring commemorates Henry Carrington Bowles Esq, who was born in Middlesex around 1801 and buried in Hertford in March 1852 at age 51. Mid-Victorian mourning rings frequently used simple floral motifs rather than grim symbols of death. A flower on a ring from this period, typically a forget-me-not or a pansy, represented simple remembrance and affection as a plain daily reminder of the deceased.