I picked up this Tunis ring last week. I haven't been able to determine who would have worn it, German or American? No other markings except a dot on the back of the ring that looks like a seam. Any thoughts are appreciated!

Most of these as pictured were made in the souk as souvenirs of the North African campaign for the allies; many were for USA GIs. I have seen ones for the French and British soldiers but I would suggest this is likely for a USA serviceman and some had dates etched in and some did not. The turks head mark may be what you are seeing on the back which makes it correct for the area of production. These continued to be made as souvenirs post war so it could be one of those as no date is on it. The greatest amount though came through pre 45 largely because of the large allied armed forces numbers looking for souvenirs and mementos.

Thanks for the information Mike!

the german spelling is tuni. mike

Aaron, nice ring.

Mike, thanks for your interesting info.


Here a ring with no place and no date.

Hi Benten
Nice ring- appears to have the niello on it. Those were common in 44/45 for Persian gulf states hence the dhow and palm. When USA and western allies were sending materials and munitions to the Soviet Union near the end of the war through Iran, many soldiers, engineers, etc were involved in that transport. Iraq 43, Persia 44,45, etc were the more common date and place designs; often upon the shanks. Some of these were very heavy substantial rings, solid, and with designs in niello, some even in gold. Any design a GI could think of would be made for them by the local artists, and they did not skimp on the material. Like the earlier ring they were made both pre and post war so without a date it could be an unsold design an earlier or later souvenir, or just a basic piece that was never personalized by a serviceman. Lot of nice sweetheart and mother pieces you will see from there, even some victory rings. I attribute this info to our departed member Dak41, who spent many years collecting and specializing in allied rings of all types. He was an absolute font of information and detail on all these pieces. I tried to pay attention whenever he was discussing these because tragically he passed last august, just as he was beginning his book on USA and allied rings.

Hi Mike,

As you wrote about our departed member Dak41, it is good to remember those who made our interest in rings special, who inspired us.
When I look at my ring collection, I have good memories too of the people and situation , sometimes 20 years ago...
Thank you for your reply.