Roman Silver Rings, Medieval and Byzantine

Goldsmiths worked mainly with the two most precious metals, gold and silver, and used enamel, pearls, and stones for the decoration of their products. Gold was seen as the most prestigious metal, for which silver-gilt or silver were seen as poorer substitutes, most suitable for lower classes. A large proportion of gold used in late medieval production was recycled gold: goldsmiths used ancient coins, jewelry, or other gold objects as their raw material.

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In the High Middle Ages, the previously produced gold stock of Europe was primarily accumulated in the court of the Byzantine emperors; consequently, little gold was circulated in the Western world. For coinage, for example, silver was generally used until the 13th century, when gold coinage was introduced in Italy, France, and England. This gold, however, was not newly produced but acquired through trade with the Arab countries, rich in gold since the early Middle Ages. From the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, gold production in Europe increased alongside the continuing importation of gold from the Arab world. A significant quantity of gold was mined, especially in Bohemia and Hungary, which two countries provided up to eleven twelfth of the total gold production of late medieval Europe. Most gold was produced by mining, but some gold was also gained by panning (swirling the deposits of rivers around in a pan to separate quartz from gold), especially in the Rhine area. Silver, in contrast to gold, was produced continuously through the Middle Ages in Europe, and even exported from there.

For precious stone decoration, goldsmiths very frequently used also antique cameos and intaglios - precious or semiprecious stones decorated with engravings or reliefs-that survived (often encased in older, medieval metalwork) in large numbers and were highly sought after in the later Middle Ages. Cameos were set into many types of jewelry as decoration, and often reused again. Their usage is a evidence of the conscious attempt to keep awake or revive the spirit of Antiquity. The popularity of antique cameos and intaglios was, in fact, so high, that medieval gem-cutting itself developed in emulation of the classical models. However, Western European Middle Ages knew only clumsy imitations of antique cameos, while in Byzantium stone-carving remained a living tradition throughout the Middle Ages. Byzantine carved stones were eagerly imported to the West. Other raw materials for the decoration of jewelry included freshwater pearls from Scotland, mother-of-pearl, amber-the fossilised resin of pine trees-found in great quantities along the Baltic coast, jet-the black fossilised remains of trees-mainly from England and Spain, and coral from the Mediterranean coast in North Africa.

Emeralds and diamonds were held in almost the same high esteem as rubies. The garnets, amethysts and Scotch pearls did duty for rubies and pearls in cheaper pieces.

Another way to reinforce the magic of a stone was to inscribe it with a "name of power" or a wonder-working formula: If you inscribe a ring with the letters T. B. L. N. C. H. V. S. H. A. , it will keep your body intact and safe from any sickness, and mainly from fever and dropsy. In purchases it brings luck, it makes its bearer able and lovable in war and in litigations and in peace and grants him superiority and victory. It helps women in conception and birth. It gives its owner and wearer peace and harmony and wealth, provided that it is worn chastely and honestly.

Many goldsmiths worked in silver and other metals as well (bronze), while some artists worked in silver only (silversmiths). The term "jeweller" also occurs in medieval sources, but its meaning is not clear. It probably does not refer to makers of jewels but rather to traders, appraisers, or cutters of gemstones, or retailers of jewels.

There were both monastic and secular goldsmiths working in the Middle Ages. In the earlier Middle Ages, production took place predominantly in a monastic setting; later, however, jewelry production was closely associated also with the courts of rulers and nobility. In the late Middle Ages, urban goldsmiths acquired the leading role in the production of goldsmiths' works. They worked in independent workshops but were organised in guilds, medieval associations of craftsmen in the same trade that controlled and regulated the activities of its members. Membership in guilds was compulsory, but it also offered great advantages: guilds provided security and protected the interests of its members. The guilds controlled the prices and the quality of the products and also determined the duration and system of training. The growing number of goldsmiths-parallel with the urban expansion and growth in trade in the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries-made guild regulations more necessary in the later Middle Ages.