Retiree Unearths 350-Year-Old Ring – Who Once Owned It Leaves Him Reeling
By Christina Williams
Retiree Unearths 350-Year-Old Ring – Who Once Owned It Leaves Him Reeling

We all know the story of Robin Hood. He robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, so the story goes.

He and his merry band of thieves all came together to fight and hide from the Sheriff of Nottingham. And quite often, they won.

Click here to continue reading the article

But this time, it wasn’t Robin Hood that took something of value from a sheriff. It was a 64-year-old retiree from Nottingham, England. And since his find was more than three centuries after the sheriff’s death – it’s unlikely he will have to go on the run.

Graham Harrison spends his time searching the hills in his town with a metal detector, in hopes of finding something special. The former merchant navy engineer struck gold, quite literally, in the form of a 350-year-old gold signet ring that was owned by Nottingham’s most famous sheriff. 

The ring belonged to Sir Matthew Jenison who was the Sheriff of Nottingham from 1683 and 1684, looking after the famous Sherwood Forest. Harrison found the ring on farmland about 26 miles from the forest.

After finding the ring, he sent it to the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme where it was authenticated.

The ring, which went up for sale with Hansons Auctioneers, was listed as something the  ‘legendary outlaw Robin Hood would have loved.’

Hansons’ consultant valuer Adam Staples said, “The ring has survived in near perfect condition and the front face bears a detailed engraving of the Jenison family arms, two swans separated by a diagonal bend. This would have been pressed into melted wax in order to seal the family crest on important letters and documents”

Staples went on to say that:

As a boy I wandered through Sherwood Forest, daydreaming of Robin Hood and his legendary adversary – the Sheriff of Nottingham. The ring we (sold) is related to a later Sheriff as tales of Robin Hood emerged in English folklore as early as the 13th and 14th centuries.”

Jennison was born in 1654 and became a knight in 1683. As sheriff, his job was to keep watch on the trees in the Sherwood Forest.

Despite starting his life defending the law, and being elected to British parliament, Jenison got himself jailed for refusing to pay legal costs from a lawsuit he was involved in, according to Wikipedia.

He went on to die in prison in 1734. 

Despite his tragic end, his ring went on to be auctioned off at $10,500 USD. Staples said that the Jenison family grew their wealth by taking from Civil War valuables that others had left to them for safekeeping.

“This theory was seemingly corroborated when a buried hoard of Civil War silver coins was unearthed from the very same field where the ring was found,” he said.

Sources: Daily Mail | Upworthy | The Florida Star