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Gold Ring in the Woods - Need Help with Hallmark

Went to Concord, MA today and found John's 18 year old brother's headstone along with other relatives. Unfortunately, there isn't a record of John's death.

-Tim
 

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That ring needs to be on Antiques Roadshow. Really spectacular! It's also interesting that John Ball's 18 year old brother was named John Ball. And their father's name was... John Ball.
 
I also just realized that you placed the ring on the corner of the headstone in the second picture. Nice touch.
 
And THIS kind of team work and study makes this forum the BEST out there....love the hobby, the teamwork and the finds! Absolutely incredible to all involved.
 
To continue, are you going to get this appraised???? We all want to know...... :shock:


To think, this guy could have made wedding rings for any of our founding fathers. That is an absolutely unreal find and research!!!!!!
 
Another mention of him......

https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/1370

Bartlett’s reasons for leaving besieged Boston are easy to imagine, but any professional appeal Concord would have held is harder to see.21 Silversmith John Ball had been working in Concord for ten years without conspicuous success; his silver is rare and he seems to have had to recapitalize periodically by mortgaging inherited land.22 Concord probate records from the end of the eighteenth century, reflecting midcentury households, portray a limited market for silver. The inventories note silver teaspoons and buckles but little else. Tankards are rare, only five or six recorded, and predictably occur in households with the other reliable markers of wealth, eight-day clocks and looking glasses. The most extensive assemblage of silver in eighteenth-century Concord belonged to physician and moneylender Abel Prescott. Prescott owned three tankards, six canns, a large pair and a small pair of porringers, a small porringer, a sugar box, a creampot, pepper caster and sugar tongs, two sets of pepper casters, a silver teapot, and seven large spoons and twelve small. He also owned three pairs of gold sleeve buttons made by John Ball—the one instance of local patronage documented in his inventory.23
 
Went to Concord, MA today and found John's 18 year old brother's headstone along with other relatives. Unfortunately, there isn't a record of John's death.

-Tim

Also, further on in the article I posted, it says that John witnessed a deed for the Bartlett guy in 1781, so he was alive at least until after the revolution......

Samuel Bartlett knew John Ball (he witnessed a deed for him in 1781), but there is no indication he knew him before coming to Concord in 1776 (Kane, Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths, 167).
 
Sorry, but I love history, and being nosey..... So I just keep looking and finding stuff....... :lol: Let me know if this is all old news, as I didn't see it posted.

https://concordlibrary.org/special-collections/historical-markers/

Lexington Road:
Grape Vine Cottage where Ephraim Bull lived and introduced the CONCORD Grape- in part a seventeenth century house.

Meriam House here occurred the first attack on the retreating British.

Dr. Samuel Prescott house here lived the young doctor who brought to Concord the news that the British were coming.

Reuben Brown house built about 1667 by Peter Bulkeley Esq. Governors Assistant and agent in London of the Bay Colony. Home of Reuben Brown in 1775 used to house prisoners taken that day.

Thomas Dane house built by first settlers and later owned by John Ball a pre-Revolutionary goldsmith.

21 [now 57] Lexington Road fine example of brickend Federal Period architecture.
 
Went to Concord, MA today and found John's 18 year old brother's headstone along with other relatives. Unfortunately, there isn't a record of John's death.

-Tim


Sorry, one more thing (If it wasn't mentioned earlier). You notice the headstone has the exact same symbol that is on the inside of the ring. You translated it as "with ?", but it appears that it's an "and" symbol, much like "&" is used today......
 
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Wow an amazing find and great story that you are trying to piece together! Congratulations and keep us updated with any additional information that you come across.
 
Are poesy rings very common over there?

Keith, I know they've been found over here before and are super rare. But this one is special as it can be identified to being made prior to our revolution. (Less than 25 miles from Boston) From my understanding, Posy rings were kind of like the "Baseball Cards" or "pins" of the day with the younger crowd.

Vermonster: Keep that info coming! I haven't seen the https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/1370 link before. Thanks! What I would ultimately love to find is John Ball's death record. Where is this guy buried?

As an FYI... Here is the only other known gold posy ring made by John Ball.
https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/35755


Thanks again,

Tim
 
What an amazing find! It's really unbelievable to think about all of the history that is just sitting there waiting to be plucked from the ground! I'm glad you found a piece of it

Best of luck on your continued research
 
What an amazing find! It's really unbelievable to think about all of the history that is just sitting there waiting to be plucked from the ground! I'm glad you found a piece of it

Best of luck on your continued research

Definitely glad he found it. Just imagine what would of happened had it been found by someone with no desire to research the history. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this so that we can all be informed.
 
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