Meant to post this earlier but Christmas got in the way
While researching the notes for our Traveller CD 'From Puck to Appleby' Pat stumbled across what we believe to be the answer to an enigma connected to these broken-token songs - the problem of breaking a gold ring in half - try it sometime!
Gimmell rings were designed specifically as tokens (pacts) of fidelity.
They broke apart into two or sometimes three parts, a piece held by the lovers, a third sometimes given to a witness as proof of a promise of marriage.
They feature widely in English literature. particularly in Hardy's 'Far From the Madding Crowd', where Sergeant Troy buys one at a fair for his ill-fated lover Fanny.
Robert Chambers gives a long Detailed description of the custom in his 'Book of Days'
Happy New Year all
Jim Carroll