The device of two clasped right hands (dextrarum iunctio) signified a contract, and it is generally agreed that the specific contract referred to on these rings was that of betrothal or marriage. A Romano-British jet pendant from Vindolanda (Henig 1978, no. 759 Check) bears a cameo carving of the dextrarum iunctio on one side and the head and shoulders of a kissing couple on the other which would further suggest that rings bearing either of these two devices were probably given as betrothal gifts.

Cf. British Museum nos. GR1917.5-1.276 and PRB1911.10-26.1 and a similar ring from Thetford, Norfolk; A. Garside (ed.), Jewelry: Ancient to Modern, New York, 1980, p. 152, no. 426; M. Henig, A Corpus of Roman Engraved Gemstone from British Sites, British Archaeological Reports 8 (2nd ed.), 1978, pp. 278-279, pl. XXII, nos. 775-778