Apparently in POW camps the confederate prisoners made gutta-percha rings (also crosses, etc.) out of gutta-percha buttons, as a way to earn some money. https://archive.org/details/immortalcaptives00josl/?q=gutta-...

Seems like gutta-percha rings became a confederate symbol. https://esploro.libs.uga.edu/esploro/outputs/994936595870295... https://books.google.com/books?id=PUZyui6tt98C&dq=Gutta-perc...