I don't know that you're wrong at all Rhiannon.
There was this exchange between John Hooker and Paul Barford on Britarch years ago -
____________________
John Hooker wrote:
> They are used, not as money, but as a means of getting money from gullible
> visitors to Ebay.

Paul Barford -
"But - leaving that aside - the myth (if such it is) of 'ring money' has an
earlier beginning, it seems to go back to the early part of the twentieth
century (didn't Evans
use the term in his seminal work on Celtic coins ?). I cannot recall seeing
it in early written sources referring to the Celts, but "rings" of various
kinds being given and worn as marks of respect/prestige/'wealth' in quite a few germanic sources (Beowulf for example). Has the notion been transposed
in modern times in an idealising view of the past from one ancient barbarian
group to another? Any ideas when the term actually appears in the
literature?
Of course that's not much help if all one has got in an old antiquarian note
that "Celtic ring money" had been found at a site in the distant past."
_____________________

"an idealising view of the past from one ancient barbarian group to another"....

I love that!