Antique jewelry glossary

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Thumb ring

A decorative ring worn as a finger ring on the thumb. A broad ring originally designed to be worn by an Oriental archer to protect his thumb when drawing a bow-string, but later worn generally. They were made of bone, jade, ivory, and also of glass in China during the K'ang H si period (1662-1772).

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson