13th-14th century AD. A gold ring comprising a thick barrel-shaped hoop inscribed to the outer face; Malcolm Jones, Sheffield University, Dept. English Language & Linguistics, Senior Lecturer 1994-2009 and advisor to the British Museum and Portable Antiquities Scheme, says: 'This ring is inscribed with a posy in Anglo-French, i.e. the type of French written and spoken by the Norman French elite and the upper classes in post-Conquest England of the 12-15th centuries. Anglo-French is also the language of the conventions of Courtly Love, andthus common on items of late medieval English personal jewellery. The inscription on the present ring is incomplete, it lacks the end of the penultimate word and the final word altogether. From other examples (in the Victoria & Albert and British Museums) we know that the full posy is a rhyming couplet: IO : SVI : DE : DRVERIE : NE ? ME ? DV[NE: MIE] [“I am [given] out of love; on no account give me away”] (JE’s translation “do not give me away”, does not differ from the simple negative, “ne me dune pas”, but we do not have the usual ‘pas’ here, we have ‘mie’ and her translation does not convey the force of ‘mie’, which is a stronger negation, as if – in modern terms -- “do NOT give me away”! I have tried to convey this force with my rather old-fashioned “on no account” (!)).' See Evans, J. English Posies and Posy Rings, Oxford, 1931. 6.73 grams, 19.11mm overall, 15.27mm internal diameter (approximate size British I, USA 4 1/2, Europe 7.97, Japan 7) (3/4"). Property of a Wiltshire lady; acquired on the UK art market in the late 1960s-early 1970s. The full text, of which the present inscription is an abbreviation, appears in Evans (1931, p.2) 'IO SVI DE DRVERIE NE ME DVNE MIE' (I am a love-token, do not give me away"). [A video of this item is available to view on TimeLine Auctions website.] Fine condition. Rare.