'Vivas in deo' or simply 'Vivas' ('Live in God' or 'May you live in God') was a common inscription on Roman objects. The inscription 'Vivas', sometimes added to a first name, was used on pagan objects but was also associated with other Christian symbols such as the chi-rho monogram (the first letters of Christ in Greek), palm branches or the Lamb of God and may therefore be a Christian inscription. If so, the use of a overtly Christian phrase on a finger ring suggests that the wearer wanted their religious beliefs to be clearly identifiable and that Christianity, though still a minority religion, was now acceptable.

The same inscription is found on the 'Vyne ring', a Roman ring belonging to Silvianus which is believed to have inspired the author J.R.R. Tolkien to write 'The Lord of the Rings', on a ring found in a Roman tomb in the Catacombs, Rome and on spoons in the Hoxne hoard and the Mildenhall Treasure (both in the British Museum).

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.