'Rare' ring on display at stately home

A gold ring with tassels with three small diamonds in it, against a black backdrop
The ring was made in 1970 by Louis Osman for his daughter Marie-Louise [James Dobson/ National Trust]

A "rare" ring made by the man who created the coronet for King Charles III's investiture as Prince of Wales has gone on display in a stately home.

The ring, made by Louis Osman, will be showcased in the Painted Parlour in Canons Ashby near Daventry, which was used as Osman's sitting room during his tenancy from 1968 to 1980.

It features a tassel design with faceted diamonds.

Rebecca Harvey, the cultural heritage curator at the National Trust, said: “It’s rare to have the work of an artist and craftsman that was created at a National Trust place."

The frontage of a three-storey stately home, Canons Ashby, in the midst of lots of shrubs and plants
The ring will be on display in Canons Ashby - the house where designer Louis Osman lived and worked [James Dobson/National Trust]

Osman, best known for designing the Prince of Wales's Investiture Coronet in 1969, was both an architect and a goldsmith.

Osman’s work attracted high-profile admirers, including actor and jewellery collector Elizabeth Taylor, who visited him at Canons Ashby and “bought what I’d got made".

He first visited Canons Ashby in 1935 and later named the historic house and its surroundings as his inspiration for establishing a workshop there three decades later.

The National Trust acquired the ring and an accompanying drawing at an auction last year.

The ring will be part of the ‘Lost and Found’ exhibition at the historic house, running from 29 August until summer next year.

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