This book provides a corpus of inscribed hawking rings (vervels) reported Treasure via the Portable Antiquities Scheme over the last twenty years. Since vervels are normally inscribed with information about their owners, they constitute an important social and archaeological record. This information is explored through the corpus, which shows the objects to have been owned predominantly by men of status, particularly in the Stuart period. Also included is a discussion of the development of hawking and the use of vervels, and analysis of their form, function and dating, as well as variations in design. Particularly significant is the information on their distribution, as many inscribed vervels are found in the vicinity of estates owned by the individuals mentioned upon them. This publication thus provides a unique resource to the scholar and to the casual enthusiast.

Michael J. Lewis and Ian Richardson