Although the cut of the emerald is 16th century and Queen Mary acquired the pendant on the basis of the stone’s traditional association with Elizabeth I, its early history remains undocumented. The inscription on the reverse is a facsimile of Elizabeth I’s signature and was probably engraved c. 1860-70, at a time when jewels and relics associated with Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, were much sought after by antiquarians.