Museum keeps rare sapphire ring near where it was found

An intricately designed ring that is the second earliest example of the use of sapphire ever found in the country has been purchased for £35,000 by the Yorkshire Museum in York.

The ring was discovered near York by metal detectorist Michael Greenhorn in 2009, but its style and material have made it hard to date. It would probably have been worn by royalty, but from which period remains unclear.

The ring features the sapphire in its centre surrounded by red glass and gold. Experts say the use of the sapphire suggests it could date from the Viking period, but the combination of gold with red and blue glass is a typically Anglian style from possibly two centuries earlier. The sapphire could have been used instead of blue glass then to make the ring more significant and expensive.

If it is Anglian, the ring sheds new light on a relatively unrecorded period in York’s history. It would suggest that even then, when most written records are non-existent, the powerful and rich were living and trading in the city.

The first known use of a sapphire in jewellery found in the country was a fifth century Roman example.