A three stone commemorative gimmel ring

A three stone commemorative gimmel ring, early 19th Century, Dutch, celebrating the victorious battle of Waterloo, both shanks with flattened interiors and twist to the base to allow them to interconnect, one set with a cushion-shaped ruby and a hessonite garnet and engraved La Belle Alliance 18 Juin 1815, the other set with an emerald and engraved Le Pce D'Orange Wellington Blucher. size R 1/2, case

This ring appears to reflect the significant and sometimes overlooked contribution of the armed forces of the Netherlands to the Allied victory over Napoleon Bonaparte on Sunday, 18th June, 1815. The stones may be emblematic of the three principal national entities arrayed against the French, with orange and red representing The Netherlands and Great Britain, and green perhaps standing for Prussia. William, Prince of Orange (the future King William II of the Netherlands) commanded the First Corps of the AngloAllied Army (including the 2nd and 3rd Dutch Divisions) at Quatre Bras and at Waterloo, where he was wounded; and the inscription listing the allied commanders gives precedence to his name. Further suggestive of a nonBritish perspective is the reference to La Belle Alliance, which as the location of Napoleon’s headquarters might have given its name to the famous battle, had not the Duke of Wellington insisted on ‘Waterloo’ over the objections of his allies. In this context ‘La Belle Alliance’ may also serve as a wry commentary on the tensions between the victorious commanders.