_Pharaoh's Ring_ (Vol. viii., p. 416.).--The mention of the ring conferred on, or confided to, Joseph by the Pharaoh of Egypt, as stated in Genesis xli. 42., reminds me of a ring being shown to me some years ago, which was believed by its then possessor to be the identical ring, or at all events a signet ring of the very Pharaoh who promoted Joseph to the chief office in his kingdom.
It was a ring of pure gold, running through a hole in a massive wedge of gold, about the size, as far as I recollect, of a moderate-sized walnut. On one of its faces was cut the hieroglyphic (inclosed as usual with the names of Egyptian kings in an oval), as I was assured, of the king, the friend of Joseph, as was generally supposed by the readers of hieroglyphics: I pretend to no knowledge of them myself.
The possessor of the ring, who showed it to me, was Mr. Sams, one of the Society of Friends, a bookseller at Darlington. Since railroads have { 522} whirled me past that town, I have lost my means of periodical communication with him. He had, not long before I saw him last, returned from the Holy Land, where he assured me he had visited every spot that could be identified mentioned in the New Testament. He had also been some time in Egypt, and had brought home a great quantity of Egyptian antiquities. The lesser ones he had in the first floor of a carver and gilder's in Great Queen Street, between the Freemason's Tavern and Lincoln's Inn Fields. He was then anxious that these should be bought for the British Museum, and I think that at his request I wrote to the Earl of Aberdeen to mention this, and that the answer was that there was already so large a collection in the Museum, that more, as they must most of them be duplicates, would be of no use.
What has become of them I know not. I was told that a number of his larger antiquities, stone and marble, were for some time placed on Waterloo Bridge, that being a very quiet place, where people might view them without interruption. I did not happen to be in London that season, and therefore did not see them.
[The whole of Mr. Sams's collection of Egyptian antiquities were bought by Joseph Mayer, Esq, F.S.A., of Liverpool, about two years ago, to add to his previous assemblage of similar monuments, and are placed by him, with a very valuable collection of mediæval antiquities, in the Egyptian Museum, 8. Colquitt Street, Liverpool. The small charge of sixpence for each visit opens the entire collection to the public; but it is a lamentable fact, that the curiosity or patriotism of the inhabitants does not cover Mr. Mayer's expenses by a large annual amount.]