An early eighteenth century stuart crystal ring, featuring a profile of Queen Anne (1665-1714) over a plait of brown hair, the edges dyed red with spiraling gold wirework border, rock crystal approximately 10 mm by 13 mm, set into a scalloped ring head with a worn, decorated shank, size 5, circa 1715. 

Stuart crystal jewelry, deriving its name from the Royal House of Stuart, was an early form of mourning jewelry originally made and worn in protest of the arrest, conviction, and execution of Charles I (1600-1649) by the English Parliament following the English Civil Wars. Sympathizers of the deceased monarch demonstrated their loyalty discretely by wearing slides, rings, cufflinks, earrings, and other small jewels featuring a gold wire cipher, crown, or portrait over a plait of hair and set underneath a faceted quartz crystal. Later in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, stuart crystal jewelry came to symbolize the deaths of other monarchs or notable figures. Some later stuart crystal jewelry became generalized as a form of sentimental jewelry, symbolizing marriage, love, and devotion and featured cherubs, hearts, and personal monograms.