wedding rings and things

[innerkitten]

60 or 70 years ago did people have solitire engagment rings followed by a wedding band or is it a newish idea? Did people generally just have one ring, was it usually a diamond? Just curious about what people have used through the ages.
-Kitten

 

[winyan]

Well, lets see...my parents would have been married 60 years yesterday, had they lived...they had wedding rings, and my mom had a 1/2 carat platinum 'blue-white' diamond engagement ring...gorgeous ring, she gave me when I turned 16, (April baby), then proceeded to steal back when I got engaged.




Woe is me, I think now it was either an OEC or transitional (they were engaged in the 30's) in a fishtail mount with side diamonds, a very beautiful ring.




For wedding bands, she had about a 1/2 inch wide platinum w bead set diamonds, in a sort of filigree setting, but he had a plain narrow gold band.




So yes, I think it's been engagement rings since the turn of the century or so.




win

 

[Hest88]

Here's some history:
http://wedfrugal.com/files/engagementringhistory1.html

Engagement rings are an old tradition, though I suspect it was less common in lower classes than in upper classes who could afford jewels.

That just reminded me of the sweet scene in "Those Happy Golden Years" when Laura Ingalls got her engagement ring.

Also note, though, that men's *wedding* rings weren't used until WWII, so there was no ring exchange per se prior to that, but basically just a wedding ring for the bride.

 

[glitterata]

"What would you say if a man offered you an engagement ring?"

"That would depend on the man."

"And if it was me?"

"Then it would depend on the ring."

Right, Hest? Something like that? And wasn't her ring an amethyst with pearls?

My grandmothers (as I'm sure you're all sick to death of hearing) got diamond engagement rings set in platinum in 1921 and 1929. One I don't know what the original setting looked like, but the other was a deco setting with lots of little single cut stones and a pair of small marquises. That grandmother had a thin platinum wedding band with a slightly beaded texture; I often wear it as a thumb ring. The other grandmother had a thin platinum band with three tiny single cut diamonds and engraving. I wear it with her engagement stone, reset in a period setting.