Rare Byron memorial ring sells for £9,200

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-44910845

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A rare gold and enamel ring created in memory of Lord Byron following his death in 1824 has sold at auction.

The ring, which is thought to have come from Byron's Nottinghamshire home of Newstead Abbey, was sold for £9,200 at Tennants sale room in Leyburn.

There are thought to be only two other rings of this type in existence.

Auctioneer Jane Tennant said: "It was an unusual piece, very rare and exciting. There was a lot of interest beforehand and in the sale room."

Born in 1788 in London, George Gordon Noel Byron rose to fame after the publication of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, the poetic tale of a young aristocrat's travels in Europe.

He went on to become one of the world's most renowned romantic poets.

He died in 1824 from fever at Missolonghi, in modern day Greece.

The ring, which had been estimated to fetch between £3,000 and £5,000 and has been kept at Pepper Arden Hall, in Northallerton since about 1919, was sold to a UK buyer.

One of the two other rings known to exist is held in the Pforzheimer Collection in the New York Public Library.

The other, sold at auction in 2013, contained a lock of Byron's hair.