Have you a mourning ring in an ancestor's memorial box? Have you ever heard of mourning rings? Mourning Rings were (and sometimes still are) jewelry worn to remember someone who has died. Such rings ran the gamut from plain bands to diamond studded.
Mourning rings of yore were engraved with the person's name and death date and might have contained a hand-painted image or lock of hair. Today, they might have a tiny box for ashes. The tradition of mourning rings dates to ancient times although they gained popularity during the Victorian era.
The article I was reading gave several examples of metal-detector folks have found such treasures buried in the sand or under a house.
"If you think one of your ancestors may have had a mourning ring, we recommend searching their last name and the keyword "mourning ring" on the Newspapers.com homepage."
(Found this in the official blog of Newspapers.com; bit penned by Jenny Ashcraft, 8 Oct 2024.)