Signet Ring of Childeric I

The Signet Ring of Childeric I (TM 489098 ) is a replica of a golden ring from around AD 481, found in Doornik (Tournai) in 1653. It was part of a large treasure of Childeric, the father of the first Merovingian king Clovis, which was buried with him, and included a high-prestige Roman fibula. The treasure was discovered in 1653 during construction work near the local church. All items were carefully documented by Jean-Jacques Chifflet, the physician of the Spanish Netherland's Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. The Archduke took this treasure with him back home to Vienna, but later presented it to Louis XIV of France, who wasn't impressed (can a mere mortal ever impress a sun god, one can ask?) and stowed the pieces in the Bibliothèque Nationale. In 1831, some 2,000 golden objects, weighing no less than 80 kilos, were stolen from the Bibliothèque, among which Childeric's entire treasure. Most of it was melted down by the thieves; the rest was recovered in leather bags that were hidden in the Seine. Today only two of the ca. 300 golden bees that decorated the king's cloak are some of the few items that are still extant. The ring is a replica on the basis of Chifflet's engravings.