Alongside its beauty and financial value, jewellery had an important protective and amuletic purpose in the middle ages. Religious symbols, figures of saints, inscriptions and magical phrases also served to protect the wearer from physical and spiritual dangers. The inner hoop of this ring is engraved 'God help Anna Maria', invoking divine protection with a special appeal to the Virgin Mary and Saint Anne. As people often had a particular devotion to their name day saint, it is possible that the ring also belonged to a woman named Anne or Mary.

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.