Ring

The round, brown toadstone was believed to be effective against kidney disease and a sure talisman of earthly happiness, according to Johannes de Cuba, writing in his Hortus Sanitatis (Garden of Health) in 1498. The stone was believed to come from the head of a toad, but was actually a fossilized fish tooth and was often set into rings.

This ring forms part of a collection of 760 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.