This ring was described as a 16th-century Jewish wedding ring from Italy when it was acquired by the Museum in 1894.

The description of Jewish marriage or betrothal ring is often applied to elaborate rings with Hebrew inscriptions. Their role is not entirely clear. Jewish wives wore simple gold wedding rings but these rings seem to have been used symbolically and only during the marriage ceremony. They are often too large and bulky to have been worn routinely.

There has been much discussion about their age and origin. In the 19th century, rings with gold filigree and enamel decoration like this one were universally assumed to be 16th-century Italian. There is little or no evidence for this attribution, but there is no agreement on their true origin. The use of the words ‘mazal tov’ suggest that it must be somewhere where the Ashkenazi rite was used. Recent research suggests that they might have come from Transylvania, and that is reinforced, in the case of this specific ring, by the complex and very unusual construction of the wire border. This type of twisted wire is also found on the 17th–century pendants, called Heftels, which were part of the traditional costume of Transylvanian Saxon women.