Rings decorated with skulls, cross bones and other funeral imagery served to remind their wearer of the transience of earthly matters and the inevitability of death, prompting the need for prayer and reflection. The crudely modelled shapes on either side of the heart shaped bezel may be intended as skulls. If so, this detail combined with the name 'Iohes Godefroy' on the hoop may make this the first English mourning ring associated with a named individual.

This ring forms part of a collection of 760 rings and engraved gems from the collection of Edmund Waterton (1830-87). Waterton was one of the foremost ring collectors of the nineteenth century and was the author of several articles on rings, a book on English devotion to the Virgin Mary and an unfinished catalogue of his collection (the manuscript is now the National Art Library). Waterton was noted for his extravagance and financial troubles caused him to place his collection in pawn with the London jeweller Robert Phillips. When he was unable to repay the loan, Phillips offered to sell the collection to the Museum and it was acquired in 1871. A small group of rings which Waterton had held back were acquired in 1899.