Here is the story that was inspired by this family emerald ring. We hope you enjoy it:
1692, the time of the Salem witch trials, an ancestor called “Granny Mann” by the townspeople of Salem Town was known as a midwife and “wise-woman”. It was noticed on her visits to birthing mothers and sick people that she wore a large emerald ring surrounded by diamonds, the kind of ring that would be worn by royalty or women of noble lineage, not a simple peasant woman. When questioned as to where she had acquired this ring, her answers were vague and varying. Sometimes she spoke of receiving it as a token of gratitude from a “noble lady”; other times she told of a past love affair with a “man of high birth.” However she got it. when the hysteria and accusations grew in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, they came to include Granny Mann and her emerald ring. Soon after she was arrested and tried for witchcraft. The witnesses against her said that she had made a bargain with the devil and in exchange for her soul, he had given her a beautiful emerald ring that gave her the power to heal. She was found guilty of witchcraft and sentenced to burn at the stake. The night before she was to burn, the judge, who was also the town’s richest man came to her and told her that if she would give him the ring, he would see to it that she escaped in his own carriage and that he would provide her with enough money to last her lifetime. She accepted, handed him the ring, whereupon he turned and walked from the room. The next morning Granny Mann was led out to the square. As she was led to the post In the middle of a large pile of wood, she began screaming that she had traded her ring for her freedom. No one believed her, and so then she began to scream curses at the townspeople and at the judge in particular, “As the flames consume my body”, screamed Granny Mann, “so the ring shall consume all who dare to posses it!” Some of the townspeople later claimed that, when Granny Mann’s body was completely engulfed in the flames, a brilliant flash of green light blinded them for a moment, and when they could see again, she was gone.
The town’s demise is recorded in the Massachusetts’s Bay Colony records. Shortly after Granny Mann’s death, Salem Town began experiencing a large number of unexplained deaths and disappearances. There were murders, an outbreak of smallpox, and several cases of insanity. Finally, in 1697 the entire town burned to the ground. There were very few survivors but it was recorded that those who did survive all reported that the flames, instead of being orange and red, were shades of emerald green. And what became of the ring? The story goes that in an effort to try and stop what was happening in Salem Town, the judge’s wife gave the ring to Granny Mann’s grandson. This was my great-great-great-grandfather. In 1903, Johan Mann, a Communist sympathizer, gave the ring to the Tsarina Alexandra while she was pregnant with Alexei. He was born with hemophilia and not expected to live. By 1918, the Tsar’s whole family was dead and their dynasty ended. Rasputin, apparently aware of the power of this ring, tricked Johan’s Mann’s son into taking back the ring and it wasn’t too long after that this son committed suicide. Since then, this family has had more than its share of deaths, murders and insanity. The latest has been my father’s second wife, who after wearing the ring for many years, recently was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. Her “other selves” include Anastasia Romanov and The Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz.
This story is fiction, but here is what is true about the ring – In 1999 the ring was appraised by Ali Baba Inc. in Norfolk, VA for $5100. They said it was a natural emerald of deep green color with “jardin” mostly toward edges of stone which is 7mmx9mm and 1.5 carat. Grade AA. There are 16 round .O2 ct. diamonds set around the emerald all laid in 14K Gold.
This ring is up for auction here.
She Brings Me Water 
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