Museum Explorer
Death in Europe
Skeleton ring
From: England
Date: after AD 1679
When people die, they often leave a will. A will says what they would like to happen to things they own or money they have saved after their death.
In the seventeenth century, some people would leave instructions in their will and money for rings to be bought and given to relatives and friends to help them remember the dead person.
This gold ring has a design of a skeleton on it to mean death. On the inside of the ring is the name of the dead person, John Lee Warner, and the date he died: 11th June 1679.
