Age Unidentified - Lanka
Ruhuna - Copper Signet Ring

SPECIFICATIONS Alloy Copper Type Ring Height 27.5 mm Width 33.4 mm Thickness 6.8 mm Weight 19.32 gms Shape Ring Edge Smooth

Obverse : Caricatures of the side view of two different faces with hair, eye, nose, mouth, and chin clearly carved on either side
Reverse : flat unmarked smooth surface. Bottom : The signet is a elephant standing facing left with upraised trunk. A mahout may be visible standing by side of animals back legs.

The ring hole is slightly elliptical (14.8/15.6 mm) to match shape of finger. I am curious why one side is flat and not decorated, and may be a limitation of the smelting with a single die. The worn but clearly visible elephant on the signet makes this clearly very nice item.

The 1999 catalog by Osmund Bopearachchi and Rajah Wickramasinhe titled Ruhuna. An Ancient Civilization Re-visited , do not list any signet rings either under Seals or Miscellaneous Objects It was obtained from the same collector who provided most of the items for that book.

The signet Ring was scanned at 300 dpi and displayed at 200 dpi. The signet was scanned at 600 dpi and displayed at 400 dpi. It was obtained in 2001 December from Mr A. Ratnayaka a collector in Katharagama, Lanka, from the small collection he sent for display at the Sri Lanka Numismatic Society 25th Anniversary exhibition.