Jewellery, Objects of Vertu, Silver and Watches

A 16th - 17th century posy ring, the plain band inscribed within in seriffed Roman capitals script ‘A FAT WENCH HATH NO FELLOW’, ring size G, weight 2.1gm. £800-£1,000

This ring was discovered by a metal detectorist near Andover in the early 1990s.

The term ‘fat’ was used in the 16th-17th century to indicate prosperity and abundance or wealth; a ‘fat man’ (or woman) would be one who is comfortable and not-wanting. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (Act 1, Scene 2), Caesar declares: "Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights.
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look”.


The phrase ‘hath no fellow’ could also be interpreted as ‘hath no equivalent/comparable’.