This ring is said to have belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots and has been in the Hamilton Collection apparently since 1587.

The ring has a fine, table-cut sapphire set on a black and white enamelled gold hoop. The inscription on the back of the bezel reads, in 17th-century writing, ‘Sent by Queen Mary of Scotland at her death’ and on the hoop are the words, ‘to John, Mar(quis) Hamilton’.

The 1st Marquis of Hamilton had been one of Mary’s staunchest supporters and in 1567 there had even been talk that she would divorce James, 4th Earl of Bothwell and marry him instead. He went into exile after her defeat at Langside in 1568, but in 1585 James VI welcomed him back, praising his fidelity. When Anne, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton died in 1716, a list of the items in the black cabinet in her bedchamber in Hamilton Palace included 'a fine sapphire ring left by Queen Mary to the family' and it was probably the duchess who had the inscription engraved on the ring.