Charming Georgian White Enamel Urn Ring With Diamond Shoulders Mourning A Child

Such a sweet ring, with tiny little face with sepia of an urn under a willow tree. The champleve enamel reads - CHAs (Charles) MEYRICKE OB 14 AUG 1772 AE 2 Ys 5 M

'Children and in the 1700's were subject to many diseases and physical hardships. From the great epidemic diseases of bubonic plague and smallpox, to more common illnesses such as measles and influenza that still afflict children today, sickness put children and youth at great risk. With no knowledge of bacteria or antibiotics, and surgery performed without anesthesia or even hand washing, there were few remedies for childhood illnesses beyond a nourishing diet and keeping the patient warm. 

From parish records historians have gleaned that infant mortality (death during the first year of life) was approximately 140 out of 1000 live births. The average mother had 7-8 live births over 15 years. Unidentifiable fevers, and the following list of diseases, killed perhaps 30% of England's children before the age of 15 – 
the bloody flux (dysentery), 
scarlatina (scarlet fever), 
whooping cough, 
influenza, 
smallpox, 
and pneumonia.'

-Lynda Payne, "Health in England (16th–18th c.)," in Children and Youth in History, Item #166, http://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/items/show/166 

Tests as 18+ carat gold.

size - 7.5 and cannot be sized

weighs - 2.3g

face measures - 7.6mm x 6.7mm

Condition - good antique condition, diamonds are original. Enamel is not pristine white but it is not chipped