In one of his better tales, of which the original version was
rejected by the miopical editors, Clark Ashton Smith presents a
secred record made by a sorcerer, describing the way he banished a
devil that had come to earth from a comet. The setting -- a
fictional province in medieval France:

> Then I bethought me of the ring of Eibon, which I had inherited
> from my fathers, who were also wizards. The ring had come down, it
> was said, from ancient Hyperborea; and it was made of a redder
> gold than any that the earth yields in latter cycles, and was set
> with a great purple gem, somber and smouldering, whose like is no
> longer to be found. And in the gem an antique demon was held
> captive, a spirit from pre-human worlds and ages, which would
> answer the interrogation of sorcerers.

Shall we conclude that the writer no longer possessed the said the
ring when he put his tale on paper? Should you want to read the
paragraph in context, here is the full story:

   http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/11/print

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