With this ring Part 2

Round up a bevy of 100 or so brides, and it's likely that the majority of the bunch will be sporting a lovely diamond set in platinum, silver or gold with perhaps a coterie of pave diamonds singing backup on either side. It's suprising to me that with all the choices available in gemstones, the diamond still maintains a chokehold on the engagement ring business. Perhaps I underestimate the power of advertising. Only a handful of those brides will be rocking a sapphire in addition to her diamond and maybe just one who opted out of the diamond business completely. Funny how merely a hundred years ago variety was the name of the game.


For all their buttoned up, straight-laced notoriety, the Victorians were the paragons of freaky-naughtiness when it came to the variety of their engagements rings.

Before the South African diamond rush made the precious stones more readily available, Dearest and Regard rings were popular ways of declaring one's love when diamonds proved themselves a bit scarce. The gemstones spelled out the term of endearment:

D=Diamond
E=Emerald
A=Amethyst
R=Ruby
E-Emerald
S=Sapphire
T=Topaz

and

R=Ruby
E=Emerald
G=Garnet
A=Amethyst
R=Ruby
D=Diamond

With nature becoming a popular motif in Victorian art and song, snakes, still hurting from a bad rap since the Garden of Eden days, saw a sudden resurgence in popularity, particularly in jewelry. A favored engagement ring style featured the coiling, golden body of the snake around the finger, its eyes studded with rubies or emeralds. The trend exploded in popularity after Queen Victoria was presented with the Ouroboros-style serpent ring, an ancient motif depicting a snake swallowing its tail.



Snake ring available here.
Dearest ring available here.