The bezel of this ring is engraved with a winged female figure binding her sandal. She is Nike, the goddess of victory. She is usually depicted flying and holding a palm, a crown or a garland of laurels for the winner, but is also is often represented stopping to bind her sandal. The most famous representation of this iconography is the bas-relief on the Temple of Athena Nikè in Athens.

There are many rings bearing figures of Nikè or of her attributes (mainly palms). Some might have been worn by soldiers, to protect them from defeat.The gold plug is certainly more than a decorative element. It presumably had a magical significance as a symbol of the sun, wisdom or healing qualities.

This ring forms part of a collection of over 600 rings and engraved gems from the collection of Edmund Waterton (1830-81). 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.

Edmund Waterton used the fortune which was made by his family’s involvement in the British Guiana sugar plantations to put his collection together. His grandfather owned a plantation known as Walton Hall and his father, Charles Waterton, went to Guiana as a young man to help run La Jalousie and Fellowship, plantations which belonged to his uncles. When slavery was abolished in the British territories, Charles Waterton claimed £16283 6s 7d in government compensation and was recorded as having 300 slaves on the Walton Hall estate.