This is very interesting. A Roman-era ring with a possible curse placed upon it has been put on display. It's possible, even likely, that Tolkien studied the ring before writing LOTR.
QuoteBritain's National Trust and the Tolkien Society are putting the artifact on display Tuesday for fans of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" to decide for themselves whether this was Tolkien's precious ring of power.
Found in a field near a historic Roman town in southern England in 1785, the gold ring is inscribed in Latin, "Senicianus live well in God," and inset with an image of the goddess Venus. It is larger than average, weights 12 grams, and is believed to date from the 4th century.
The ring is believed to be linked to a curse tablet found separately at the site of a Roman temple dedicated to a god named Nodens in Gloucestershire, western England. The tablet says a man called Silvianus had lost a ring, and it asks Nodens to place a curse of ill health on Senicianus until he returned it to the temple.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/04/02/ring-that-may-have-inspired-tolkien-goes-on-show/
Very interesting, I had not heard about this before.
Maybe. Just maybe. He was devoted to his wife otherwise his wedding ring would have been my most likely suspect.
But ya gotta sell newspapers and advertising space.