Claddagh Ring

"I would like to present to you a Claddagh ring that my Father made when he was interred in Spike Island as an IRA prisoner between 1920 and 1921. James Ryan was born in New York in 1891 to Irish parents and returned to Knockeen, Kilkenny when he was three years old. In his late teens and early twenties James Ryan was an active member of the Irish Volunteers which eventually led to his arrest by the Black and Tans and his incarceration in Spike Island. While in Spike Island he made the ring from an old shilling coin that was smuggled into him in a tin of shoe polish. The inside of the ring shows marking from the old shilling. Upon his release James presented the ring to his girlfriend whom he later married. The couple settled in Clonakilty where James served as a member of An Garda Siochana until the mid 50's. He died in 1965. The ring has been in the possession of the Ryan family ever since."