This small ring is set with a turquoise, long reputed to have protective and talismanic qualities. It was considered to protect the wearer from harm and to reflect the health of its wearer. Turquoise was also believed to restore harmony between husbands and wives. The Cambridge scholar Thomas Nicols's 1659 "A Lapidary or History of Precious stones" claimed that turquoise was not only a delight to the eye but strengthened the sight and renewed the bond between man and wife.

The number of very small turquoise rings that survive may suggest that the stone had some particularly beneficial or protective effect for young children.

It 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.