[Maine-Marine]

I think this was my grandfathers.. any idea to what the symbol is??
I could tell you a little about him but do not want to sway the opinions..

 

[Back Pack Hack]

If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it a wax seal.

 

[newtopreppin]

probably a compass ring for north east south west

 

[Kevin L]

I'm going with a ring used to put wax seals on envelopes.

Using wax seals was a very European custom with a long history that included political intrigue, espionage, trysts between high-profile scheming lovers, treasure maps, and so forth.

I've heard of a specialist at the Library of Congress who specializes in wax seals, but I don't know--off the top of my head--who this person is . . . but I'm sure that you can find out if you poke around on the Internet.

 

[bigwheel]

Whew. Thanks. It looked sorta like a demon or something.