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 | | Monday, 11 March, 2002, 15:50 GMT Ancient royal ring fetches �5,000  The portrait is said to depict Mary on her fourth birthday A 500-year-old ring featuring a portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots, which she gave away on the eve of her execution, has sold for �5,000 at auction. The 16th Century oval gold ring features a crystal-glazed miniature portrait of the queen as a child, inside a border of seed pearls and rubies. The ring, which is less than three quarters of an inch in size, was sold to a British buyer by a descendent of the Strickland family, who now live on Dartmoor in Devon. The ring was allegedly given by Mary to her goddaughter Mary Strickland on the night before she was beheaded in 1587.
Auctioneer Robin Fenner said the ring's providence had been passed down through the generations. "There are no contemporary documents at all to verify this was the ring given by Mary but it is a family understanding that has been handed down," he said. The portrait of the Queen is dated 1546 and is believed to have been painted on her fourth birthday. The sale price was at the higher end of the estimated price range of �3,000 to �5,000. Mr Fenner said there had been considerable interest from overseas but the ring had remained in the UK, although the buyer did not want to be identified. "It's a piece of our history, it's part of our heritage - more so of Scottish heritage than English," he said. "I'm just delighted that it has stayed in the UK." | |   See also: Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top England stories now:  Links to more England stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||
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