engagement ring settings : I remember seeing a documentary that made the same claim many years ago.Summed up to - jewelry has always been traditionally exchanged betweenaffianced couples, but only this century has a diamond ring from the man tothe woman been seen as obligatory, due mostly to De Beers clever gifts tomovie stars in exchange for mentions in interviews, plus staple marketingpromotions.A few cites follow ---------------------------------------- ------------------------Diamonds are (supposedly) "a girl's best friend," so most movies did theirpart to promote them, an effort heavily underwritten by De BeersConsolidated Mines, after the opening of the South African diamond mines inthe 1930s.Q. Why a diamond?A. The diamond being the hardest substance on earth was valued as early as the 15th century. The first diamond engagement ring was given in 1477 by Archduke Maximilian of Austria to Mary of Burgundy. The wedding took place 24 hours later. In these times, diamonds were uncut, so they were valued as a symbol of strength and protection, not beauty. This is where the tradition began.Currently the largest consuming nation of diamond engagement rings is theUnited States, followed very closely by Japan. The irony in this statisticis that the diamond engagement ring was not part of the Japanese cultureprior to 1945. Only after the war ended, and hundreds of millions of dollarswere spent to promote the romanticism of the diamond engagement ring, didthe Japanese begin to purchase them. Today 80 percent of Japan's bridesreceive diamond engagement rings prior to marriage.
engagement ring settings : History of the diamond engagement ring."Settings were elaborate and did not necessarily show the diamond in its"best light." Royal patronage encouraged goldsmiths to reach a peak ofperfection, but it actually wasn't until the discovery of diamond mines onthe African continent in 1870 that diamonds became accessible to a widerpublic, increasing demand and influencing design. Modern materials made wayfor the design to concentrate on enhancing the diamond's brilliance withinthe setting." ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------So, it seems thata. Diamonds have been used as engagement rings since the fifteenth century,but only by royalty and nobility due to their rarity until the South Africanfields were discovered in the 1870s.b. De Beers is known to have heavily promoted diamond jewellery in generalin Hollywood movies.c. Certainly the diamond engagement ring is a "synthetic" tradition whichhas been widely adopted in Japan since occupation in WW2.d. It could not have been a widespread tradition before the South Africandiamond fields were worked, so that its adoption as a "tradition" in only acentury or so must be due to some powerful marketing, with De Beers thelikeliest ringleader as they had the most profit to gain.
engagement ring settings : You will not regret the decision of going platinum! I told my hubbythat white gold would be fine, and he said he hated gold (even whitegold), so it would have to be platinum. So much for saving him money,but let me tell you, it has been worth it. The rings have only had tobe polished up 2 times since I've had them. They *never* scratch ordent! It's amazing. I wear them *every* day. I have never lost astone and I bang my hands up. I would have ruined a gold ring already. Just make sure you have your prongs checked once or twice a year.One of the best things you can do, besides surfing around on the net andlooking at styles (i assume you're probably looking at bridal mags,too?), is to go and flip through all the catalogues of settings thatyour jeweler will have. Go to a jeweler who specializes in custom madestuff, the "mall jewelers" won't be able to help you too much. Now, here's what I did. I got a book called "how to buy a diamond", andlearned about buying shy of a carat to save money (but it still looks acarat), about how platinum settings make a stone look two shades whiter,etc. Then I went to a gem and mineral show with a friend who had a taxid number and bought a stone wholesale. I don't know if you're capapbleof that, or going to the diamond market in nyc, but these are options. Anyway, that stone is now in a necklace but I digress...
engagement ring settings : My engagement ring wouldn't "work" with a wedding band for two reasons. Thereare "bands" of white gold perpendicular to the e-ring band which would preventit from matching up with my wedding band unless I notched it, which is not anoption. Also, the bands are different styles, my wedding band is rounded, andmy e-ring band is more square. If that doesn't make sense, take my work forit, they look weird together.My solution? I moved my e-ring to my right hand, and everyone's happy. Idon't wear any other rings, so it seemed silly to double up rings on one handwhen I had all these other lonly fingers =)--While this email address is valid, I don't check it due to spam. Please post all replies.Oh yes! Someone at our wedding wanted to see how my engagement ring andwedding ring looked together, despite my explanation that they werenever meant to be worn together. The wedding ring is a plain gold 7mmband (so, pretty wide), and the engagement ring is equally wide at thewidest part, with a band that curves out a bit to accomodate the stone(amethyst) set flat. So they don't fit together, and attempting to wearthem together gives me metal up to the knuckle.
engagement ring settings : This was not a surprise -- traditional engagement ring settings lookditzy on my (large) hands, and a non-flat setting is a real annoyancefor cooking, gardening, and wearing gloves during our six-month winters.(Also, I can destroy a pair of nylons just by looking at it -- *sure* Iwant a ring that would catch on it...) Yup! I still have to have my engagement ring resized, as my right-handfingers are a good half-size bigger. For the wedding, I wore myengagement ring on the little finger of my right hand, but it's loosethere, and it feels weird to have a ring on that finger.I was rereading the Laura Ingalls Wilder ("Little House on the Prairie,"etc.) book in which Laura gets engaged -- I never noticed before thatall the girls wore their engagement rings on their *first* fingers. Thismay have made it easier for the groom-to-be to give them one of hisexisting rings, but the custom is taken for granted and not explained.On Wed, 02 Sep 1998 08:40:24 wrote:**I was rereading the Laura Ingalls Wilder ("Little House on the Prairie,"*etc.) book in which Laura gets engaged -- I never noticed before that*all the girls wore their engagement rings on their *first* fingers. This*may have made it easier for the groom-to-be to give them one of his*existing rings, but the custom is taken for granted and not explained.
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