Finger ring, posy ring

A plain gold posy ring of D-shaped section inscribed internally in cursive script 'United hearts death only parts' with the maker's initials 'IE' in Roman capitals in a rectangular punch. There is a pellet between the initial letters. The maker is unidentified.
See ring number 62.4/34 in the Museum of London's collection and a posy ring in the British Museum (Egans bequest) inventory number 1961, 1202.442 with similar marks. See also 62.4/85 in the Museum of London's collection with the same posy inscription. In her introduction to English Posies and Posy Rings', Oxford, 1931, p xxv, Joan Evans writes: 'In 1659 the loss was advertised of a 'ring which was a wedding ring tied with a black ribbon with a lock of hair and the poesie United hearts death only parts [ref. Fosbrooke's Antiquities, i. 248; quoetd in Hon. R C Neville 'The Romance of the Ring...a Lecture delivered to the Literary Society at Saffron Walden, Feb. 21st 1856. Saffron Walden, 1856).