10,000 euros or just 1000 euros?

- Golden find from Coburg raises puzzles

Created: 09/27/2022, 12:47 p.m

By: Yasina Hipp

The coat of arms of the noble family Schottenstein can be seen on the find from Coburg.

© Screenshot/BR/Art and clutter

In 1973 the ring with a coat of arms was found in the field.

Today, the finder's grandson has it appraised by experts, but that doesn't seem to be that easy.

Coburg - The find that the Herr couple presented near Coburg in the program "Kunst und Krempel" is quite impressive.

Florian Herr's grandfather discovered the special piece of jewelery many years ago while working in the fields: the golden ring, decorated with an unusual coat of arms, must have caught his eye at the time.

Today, around 48 years later, the ring is owned by the Herr couple, together with the farm, Florian and his wife Tanja inherited the golden ring.

And grandfather in particular would probably be interested in how much the ring is worth, the two reported in the

program “Kunst und Krempel” from September 17th.

But the estimation turns out to be complicated.

Coburg: Mirror-inverted initials actually indicate a signet ring

The experts in the TV show describe the find as a "strong gold ring with a decorative pattern".

The letters “HS” are also engraved.

Expert Cornelie Holzacher from the Jewelry Museum in Pforzheim can assign the coat of arms to a family Schottenstein, an old Franconian noble family.

In the past, the Schottensteins lived in a castle near the site where they were found.

Thus the initials HS probably stand for "Hans Schottenstein".

The only strange thing is that these were engraved in reverse, which is actually common for signet rings.

But the Herrs' ring is a monogram ring.

Expert Holzacher wonders "what they wanted to do with it" and suspects that the ring could be a copy of a signet ring.

Some experts have already examined the ring and have come to different conclusions.

A jeweler even wanted to steal it.

Coburg: Jeweler wanted to steal ring

Florian Herr reports that the ring has already been analyzed by the Germanisches Nationalmuseum.

There it was dated around the end of the 16th to the beginning of the 17th century.

A Coburg jeweler was also supposed to appraise the value, which backfired quite a bit.

Because the jeweler claimed after a week to have lost the ring.

However, due to his grandfather's "stubbornness", he reappeared.

However, one crucial detail in the show caught the attention of Jeanette Fiedler, Managing Director of the "Deutsches Diamant Institut".

She focuses on the embossed “900” inside the ring.

Because such a so-called hallmarking is not usual for a 500-year-old ring, since there was no hallmarking at that time.

According to the Herr family, this embossing is said to have been incorporated later by the Coburg jeweler.

Such an approach to such a special ring is, according to Fiedler, "almost criminal".

The age of the Coburger Ring cannot be conclusively determined

After the analysis, expert Holzacher assumes that the ring was recast in the 19th century.

This makes a big difference when estimating the value, as Jeanette Fiedler explains: "If we were to rate the ring as a new ring, we would be looking at a price of 1000 to 1500 euros.

If it were actually an old ring from the 15th or 16th century, then we would be around 10,000 euros”.

In order to actually be able to date the mysterious ring, however, a complex process is required.

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The real value is not important to Florian and Tanja Herr.

After the show he says: "We don't research anything else, it has its ideal value."

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