Ash nazg durbatulûk

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,

Seven for the dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,

One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne,

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. 

The most amazing story I've heard today has to be the tale of the ring that was found in England. Not just any ring, the "one ring to bind them all and in the darkness keep them." The Guardian reports that a farmer in Silchester, Hampshire found the ruling ring way back in 1785 while plowing his fields.The huge ring, which weighed twelve grams in gold, was engraved with a crowned head and the latin inscription"Senicianus live well in God." The ring is said to be so large that it will only fit a gloved thumb.

Years later a tablet was found in an iron age Roman site near Gloucestershire that was named, the Dwarf's Hill. The tablet was translated "A Roman named Silvianus writes that his ring has been stolen, and invokes a curse against the one he knows is responsible: "Among those who bear the name Senicianus to none grant health until he bring back the ring to the temple of Nodens."

The tablet was concerning this very ring, a trifle, this precious. Give it to me! The story is quite interesting to Tolkeinologists like myself, he being acquainted with the archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler who was researching the site prior to the author starting his famous tomes of Middle Earth.

Lydney was re-excavated by the maverick archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler, who called in Tolkien in 1929 to advise on the odd name of the god – and also spotted the connection between the name on the curse and the Chute family's peculiar ring. It seems that Senicianus only got as far as Silchester before he lost his booty.

It had been assumed that the story of the ring had sprung from the literature professor's study of germanic and nordic myth. A very fascinating tale!