Myths and Facts: The Definitive History of Engagement Rings
The history of engagement rings is complicated yet fascinating. There are myths, legends, facts, princes and princesses, and of course, lots of gold, diamonds, and jewels.
Let us take you on a journey through the history of engagement rings, where they come from, and potential sources of inspiration.
Finding the History of Engagement Rings
“A marriage has three rings: an engagement ring, a wedding ring, and a lot of suffering.”
- Common Dad Joke
Are you looking for inspiration for your engagement ring? Maybe you’re interested in where the tradition comes from, but not sure if it’s one you want to take part in? Or maybe you are committed and want to know more? There is a lot written about the history of engagement rings, but here, we’ve worked hard to bring you a complete history of where the tradition hails from, how it has evolved, and how you can participate in it.
The history of engagement rings isn't just about the rings, it's about the people who wore them, gave them, and made them. It reflects the times they came from. Sit back for your ringside seat to this tale of engagement ring history.
What are Engagement Rings?
Engagement rings today signify our intent to marry, as opposed to wedding bands that publicize our married status, which is how we often understand them in history. The difference between announcing a desire to wed and indicating marital status hasn't always been clear; some societies have customs for each situation, while others completely ignore it.
As a result, the history of engagement rings is replete with varying customs going back thousands of years and crossing many cultural and ethnic lines which do not always correspond to our modern notions of engagement or marriage.
That can make the history of engagement rings very confusing at times but also incredibly amusing. It is a mystery hidden among the waves and folds of time that occasionally peek out like a friendly Nessy but with more sparkles.
The Engagement History Timeline
It would be wonderful to say that, after thousands of pages and hundreds of hours of research we had pinpointed when the history of engagement rings began.
Sadly, that is not the case. There are numerous myths out there, amidst the sometimes elusive facts. Even the earliest accounts of engagement rings—which date from only a few hundreds of years ago—are up for debate. The true history of engagement rings begins long before they become what we associate with an engagement ring in the present era.
Early on, engagement rings (as opposed to wedding jewelry in general) may certainly have been given, not necessarily as a societal custom, but possibly, if only occasionally, as a romantic endearment. Later, rings were adapted into the doctrines of various legal and religious communities throughout the Mediterranean and spread into most of Europe. Curiously, though with relatable practices in marriage and engagement, the custom did not spread to eastern societies until very recently, and is still not the norm in parts of the world. So the history of engagement rings largely runs parallel to western history.
Engagement rings really came into their own and entered into popular culture during the Renaissance, but they still weren’t mainstream. At this point, engagement rings with center stones appear commonly, especially ruby engagement rings, sapphire engagement rings, emerald engagement rings and the now ubiquitous diamond engagement rings. While the essence of what differentiated an engagement ring’s style from that of a wedding became common, those who could afford them were still few. However, by the 19th century revolutionary changes in societies across the world were reflected in the growing popularity and accessibility of engagement rings, and it was then that further stylistic changes developed intomany of the designs that have stayed with us into the present era of the history of engagement rings.
In the 20th century, the truly modern engagement ring was born with the universal popularity and greater accessibility of diamonds, and the 20th century advances in diamond cutting and polishing that have produced the most popular diamond cuts.
The next important transition in the history of engagement rings comes in the 21st century. Our journey into the history of engagement rings starts in ancient Egypt, which is frequently credited as the birthplace of the wedding ring, engagement ring, or both, depending on what you are reading or watching.
Ancient Engagement Ring History
Egypt: The Possible Genesis of Engagement Rings
One thing that stands out about the ancient Egyptians is that of all ancient cultures, Egyptians were into bling more than anyone else. Jewelry flowed across the stratified society without impediment. It seems that all Egyptians from the Pharoah to the slaves; men to women; indigenous Egyptians to immigrants, all put a great deal of effort into their often elaborate jewelry repertoire.
In the history of engagement rings, the custom of giving rings as a romantic notion to signify marital intent may have begun in Egypt. However, there is little direct evidence, and many claims that this is a case without any proof. But though there is reason enough to doubt the authenticity of this claim, there is some reason to believe it was, at least, possible.
For example, a love poem dated tentatively to the reign of Rameses V during the 20th dynasty of Egypt, New Kingdom, expressly mentions romantic notions related to rings:
Do you think the writer was speaking to a woman he was intending to marry or to whom he was already married? It is still quite possible that the writer was a bachelor, and this poem was intended for a lover. We may never know, but the very mention of a ring associated with romance is important.
From the responsibilities of children to the mythology of their deities, Egyptian culture revolved around the nuclear family, and being in a committed relationship was important to the ancient Egyptians.
Marriage in Egypt was solely a social custom, unaffected by law and with only limited religious importance. To marry, a couple simply announced it to whomever they chose and lived together. While premarital promiscuity was of no concern, infidelity in marriage was treated harshly.
Couples married young but were not always arranged as youths, and married only when the man could sustain the marriage on his own. Marriage contracts are only recorded at the end of the Egyptian episode in the history of engagement rings.
Although the Egyptian term for marriage appears to imply a transfer of property, it seems equally likely that this transfer was made between the partners of the marriage themselves and not the same type of business transaction between the families of the couple as it was in many other cultures.
Women in Egyptian marriages were not considered property and retained the rights to property they brought into the marriage, including property they acquired independently while married (as in the case of divorce, which was also more socially acceptable in Egyptian society).
While there is a common claim that the history of engagement rings started in Egypt, in the form of hemp, bone, ivory, ceramic, though rarely metals we cannot ascertain where that claim originated. However, there are at least some mummified Egyptian remains that do indeed have rings of tied hemp, bone, ivory, and other materials that may very well be engagement rings.
In April of 2020, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the discovery of the mummified remains of a teenage girl. This girl was presumed to have been buried with her wedding regalia, including bridal cloths, and a great quantity of elaborate jewelry. Along with the gold, copper, various semi-precious and precious stones, glass and ceramic jewelry, was a bone finger ring.
Read Further:
Ancient Egyptian Society and Family Life, by Douglas J. Brewer, Emily Teeter, University of Chicago
Egyptian Jewelry: A Window into Ancient Culture
Near East: The Genesis of Engagement as a Custom
Before we move on in the history of the engagement ring, it’s important to mention a few related customs. Even though there is little proof that ancient near eastern societies used betrothal or wedding rings, it is significant to mention them anyway because, from these communities we inherited the social, religious, and in some cases legal custom of a separated engagement and marriage.
Paying a “bride price” was common throughout the ancient world as a function of betrothal and marriage, and some cultures still practice this ancient custom.In early recorded history, women often were considered property or something very simialar in most societies. What we may politely call marriage, might in many cases be better termed a high-stakes livestock trade. In the later bronze and iron ages, the position and liberty of women in near east societies is believed to have varied greatly.
For early societies in ancient Israel, the process of becoming wed was divided into two parts: engagement and marriage, which were eventually codified in the rabbinic doctrine of jewish laws. This largely benefited the two families of the betrothed and may have been a practical decision.
After studying engagement ring history, it is evident that marriages in these societies were almost always arranged well in advance of any wedding. It was common and even necessary to secure a future marriage before it could be carried out because of factors such as a semi-nomadic existence in which all members of a clan, tribe, or set of tribes were rarely in one location.
As a result, in order to cement the union before it could actually be practically manifested, betrothal became its own process, sometimes preceding marriage by years, and even without the two partners meeting until the wedding. The decision to contract the marriage was often celebrated as much as the final union, especially if they had to wait years for the engaged couple to marry. At these proposal celebrations, financial or valuable gifts were often exchanged.
Later, in the process for some early israelite societies, if the bride was unhappy with the groom, the marriage could be called off. Engagement as an act of its own gave a greater amount of family security to these tribal people living nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyles. Eventually codified in the tractates of law compiled as the Mishnah, engagement became a legal preliminary to marriage that incorporated something we would recognize today as a form of prenuptial agreement.
In addition, even though it is not used here as a source for a specific event, the Biblical account of the betrothal of Isaac to Rebeka by Eliezer, Abraham's servant, is one of the earliest literary sources of the significance of jewelry as a proposal gift. It elaborately describes what an ideal betrothal might look like in that society.
Rome: The Origin of Many Modern Marriage Customs, including the Wearing of Rings
Roman engagement and wedding traditions are described in a variety of sometimes contrasting ways, and these practices themselves vary depending on the period and social class of Roman society. For Roman citizens, marriages were legally documented and regulated, and enabled certain rights and responsibilities to either party depending on the type of marriage. In some types of marriage, women were considered mere property to be exchanged, while in others Roman women remained under the protection and responsibility of their fathers.
In some cases, women were de-facto independent citizens with the benefit of their own rights unaffected by their marriage status. There were also quasi-marriages that were not legally accepted, but where the participants were considered married according to the community they lived in. These cases were typically between members of non-citizen classes who were not allowed to marry such as immigrants, slaves, people ineligible to be married, or any species other than an a Roman citizen. Among the many lurid rumors of his reign, the Roman emperor Caligula is reported to have attempted to marry his favorite horse, but there is no mention of an engagement ring. Perhaps it was an engagement horseshoe?
It is unclear (read: confusing) the parameters of Roman religion that were involved in marriage rights, and evidence from many scholars points to varying amounts based on the class and attitude of the families. In any event, Roman religion and law are sometimes knitted together in theory but not in practice.
In Rome, the history of engagement rings finally starts to take on some defined shape though. Pliny the Elder, a Roman author who wrote at the beginning of the empire, states in his treatise Naturalis Historia, “...An iron ring is sent by way of present to a woman when betrothed.”
The Romans liked their wedding rings and swords made of the same materials. Early on in the Roman Republic, iron was preferred, and gold was rarely, if ever, used. Later on, patricians (the upper classes) began to wear gold or precious metals outside the home and on special occasions, while iron continued to be used for everyday purposes and inside the home. From the evidence revealed in the archeological digs at Pompeii, gold became the preeminent material used in the Empire after the dissipation of the Republic and many of its old roman traditions.
But why did the early Romans want to use iron? While many today exaggerate the apparent symbolism of an iron circle binding a woman to a man and house - ie shackles? - it’s probably not how the Romans saw it. They viewed iron as a highly valuable, semi-precious metal, and it was revered for having almost mythical properties.
In his Naturalis Historia, Pliny the Elder devotes numerous passages to that element, stating, “For if a circle is traced with iron…it will preserve both infant and adult from all noxious influences…Water in which iron has been plunged at a white heat, is useful, as a potion, in many diseases, dysentery more particularly.”
Early Romans used the same iron for their marriage rings as they used for their swords in battle, nails in shoes, and pots in homes because they wished their marriages to imitate its durability and strength. Iron rings were still being worn well into the empire by many because of its symbolism.
The use of two rings, one of gold for outside the home and another of iron for inside the home developed to reflect changes in Roman society, where public pomp and fashion became more important as time progressed.
Since it symbolized strength, giving a marriage ring of iron to a wife was a symbol of giving her the right to run the home. And since it was cheap, iron rings made all brides equal, in theory, according to what Pliny wrote. Also, the Romans may have loved its silvery-white color when polished, more akin to the bright polish of modern platinum, rather than bright white, but tarnish prone silver.
There is a major significance to the use of rings in betrothal and marriage in Rome. The early Romans were not exactly known for wearing much jewelry, and finger rings were not common for women. However, one of the most common kinds of rings, and the most socially acceptable form of rings for men, was the signet ring.
Later in the Roman republic, as Pliny the Elder noted, “The greater part of the nations known to us, peoples who are living under the Roman sway, are not in the habit of wearing rings. Neither in the countries of the East, nor in Egypt, is any use made of seals, the people being content with simple writing only.” Pliny could be mistaken about the use of signet rings in other cultures, but it is worth pointing out how Romans viewed their own use of signet rings as particularly important to their largely illiterate society.
Signet rings represented a man, his family, and their name. Signet rings were used everywhere instead of signatures, to stamp documents and ensure that sealed goods remained untouched, and though no evidence points to their use as engagement rings, marriage rings in ancient Rome may have had a similar meaning as a form of signet ring, to Romans.
In many forms of Roman marriage when a woman moved from her father’s house to her husband’s, she was essentially adopted by his family, took on his name, and was given a ring. This is where our present custom of changing names began. Giving a ring in early Rome was another symbol of her adoption into her new family and position in charge of the household, and indeed, some rings contain reflections of that with key charms or symbols fastened on, or engraved into the ring..
We also received the ring finger from the Romans. According to Roman author Allus Gellius in Attic Nights (177 CE), the Greeks learned from the Egyptians who discovered through body dissection that a nerve or blood vessel ran from the heart to the second-to-last finger on the left hand, and that it was prudent to take advantage of this connection. "I have heard that the ancient Greeks wore a ring on the finger of the left hand which is next to the little finger," said Allus Gellius.
This is where we derive the concept of “vena amoris,” even though there is no such nerve. But to ancient societies that believed there was such a nerve, “it therefore seemed quite reasonable that this finger in particular should be honoured with such an ornament, since it seems to be joined, and as it were united, with that supreme organ, the heart.”
The history of engagement rings doesn’t stop there. By the end of the Roman Empire, fede rings which depicted two clasped hands, often in gold, became popular for couples. This style of ring continues in popularity today, having taken on many variations over the years. The most common form seen today is that of the Irish Claddagh ring, where the two hands clasp a heart with a crown.
You can take this tradition into your own hands, so to speak, and a jeweler working with expert artisans and craftspeople will be happy to produce a fede style ring with clasped hands. They can even create a ring with hands holding a center stone, like the one that starred in the movie “A Price Above Rubies,” starring Renee Zellweger, especially if you are looking for a ruby engagement ring.
The experts at Michael Gabriels can bring this tradition to life in the 21st century, and your relationship, although we do not currently have rubies in stock.
We don’t recommend using iron, nor do we offer it, but if you like the idea of iron representing strength and durability in a relationship, order a ring in white gold or platinum for those lasting qualities, greater strength, and a beautiful silver-white brilliance reminiscent of polished iron.
Read Further:
The Roman Wedding, Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity; By Karen K. Hersch · 2010
Nuptiae: Roman marriages by: M. Horatius Piscinus
Engagement Rings Become a Thing
The Middle Ages and the Catholic Church: Engagement Rings are Not Marriage Rings
In our examination of engagement ring history, we found that early Christian marriage traditions generally followed the format of Jewish wedding rituals, adapted to whatever particular culture that Christian community derived from. With the increasing power of the Catholic Church over early Christendom, Roman laws and customs concerning marriage were adapted and added to Christian doctrine.
Under Pope Nicholas I, rings are recognized officially as part of the Christian engagement and marriage rituals, declaring in his letter to the Bulgarians (866), “...after the betrothal is celebrated - which is the promised pact of future marriage made with the consent of both those who contract the pact and those under whose power they are - the betrothed man joins the bride to himself with vows through the finger marked by him with the ring of faith and the betrothed man hands over to her a dowry pleasing to both people along with a document containing this agreement in the presence of those invited by both parties. Then, either soon after or at an appropriate time, namely in order that no such thing be presumed to be done before the time defined by law, both are brought to the wedding.”
Pope Nicholas I implied in his letter that separate engagements were an established custom already in use in western Christian communities that he wished to spread to the eastern and newly converted Bulgarian community, and that rings were a welcome part of that custom. Later doctrinal positions made clear that rings were not an impassable requirement for an accepted nuptial, but rather recommended. A few hundred years later, Pope Innocent III oversaw many changes to the Catholic Church, a number of which were codified in the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215. The Fourth Lateran Council's Canon 51 codified the "Banns," the waiting period between engagement and marriage, which further distinguished betrothal as a separate event from the wedding. This doctrine, combined with that of his predecessor, Pope Nicholas I, meant from then on, for Christian communities at least, engagement rings would be defined separately from marriage rings.
Read Further:
Catholic Encyclopedia, NewAvent.org
Renaissance, Reformation, and Enlightenment: The Engagement Ring Enters Popular Culture, Becomes More Common
Until this point in the history of engagement rings, they are largely reserved for the upper class who can not only afford two rings, but also have access to rare materials used to make them. Even if they have come to be recognized as a part of particular western cultures, this does not imply that they were widely used or accessible to the general public. Despite its encouragement, church law did not forbid marriage if an engagement ring was forgotten, and it made no difference to secular laws one way or another if a bride got a ring at all.
However, poets and playwrights cared. As did musicians and artists. At this point, we see a real change in the history of engagement rings as they begin showing up in popular culture. One early literary reference to engagement rings comes from William Shakespeare. In his play “Richard III” Richard, the then Duke of Gloucester, engages himself to Lady Anne with a ring, and waxing with false romance, says, “Look, how this ring encompasseth thy finger, Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart; Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.” - Richard III; Act I scene II.
In his famous tragedy “Hamlet”, Shakespeare references a kind of engagement ring popular at the time. When Hamlet shouts, “Is this a prologue or the posy of a ring?” in Act 3, scene 2, referring to a “posy ring” Posy, also spelled posey, rings developed a great popularity during the later part of the Renaissance, especially in northern and western Europe. A “posy” was a term for an oftentimes romantic poem, and posy rings included a verse dedicated to or in reference to the wearer, commonly as a form of romantic engagement ring.
As we can see, the engagement ring became associated with romance during the Renaissance. Not just a Hollywood invention, a marketing ploy, or a social weapon, romantic inspiration for engagement rings began organically from masses of loving couples who wanted to show everyone how happy they were before the big day.
Rubies, which for milenia had been thought to contain metaphysical properties that enhanced health, strength or power, wealth, and success in love, were common in matrimonial jewelry, and show up regularly in engagement rings. In fact, ruby engagement rings are among the most popular after diamond engagement rings even today, making them one of the longest trending engagement ring customs. The ruby has historically symbolized love, devotion, integrity, courage, vitality and happiness. Sapphires, which were also regarded as auspicious and connected to love, health and wealth were also common as center stones. Especially before the cutting and mining revolutions in the 19th century diamond industry, ruby, sapphire, and engagement rings featuring center stones of emerald, aquamarine, and even pearl were all more common, and affordable, than diamond engagement rings.
Another romantic ring type that gained popularity during this period of engagement ring history was the gimmel ring. These rings made up of two or more interlocking rings would be split up at the time of the engagement, with each partner keeping one half, and a witness for the marriage kept a third piece, if there was one. At the marriage ceremony, they would be symbolically fitted back together and placed upon the bride’s finger. These were especially common amongst the new communities of protestants, who wanted to distance themselves from the Catholic Church, but not as much as those, like some puritan groups which would eventually colonize Massachusetts, who attempted to forbade nuptial rings entirely in the Millenary Petition of 1603, though this was rejected by King James I. The history of engagement rings does have its share of intrigue after all.
Martin Luther, who began the Protestant reformation, gave his wife a gimmel ring upon which was inscribed "Quod deus conjunxit homo non separet” or translated “What God hath joined together let no man tear asunder.” Shakespeare references this kind of ring in “Othello” though in this case with the symbolism of the ring as the splitting asunder of characters Othello and Desdemona. The use of gimmel rings associated with romance is also seen in the 1648 poem by Robert Herrick “The Jimmall Ring” or “True Love-Knot.”
Gimmel rings and their romantic symbolism of connection is an important element in another piece of English pop culture from the time, “Don Sebastian” (1690) by John Dryden, where Don Alvarez remarks, speaking of both the ring and its wearers:
We shouldn’t be surprised at the increasing regularity of engagement rings in literary sources by this era, since the effect of the printing press simply meant more was being recorded. This includes some of the first specific references to engagement rings in history, such as the use of a diamond ring as part of wedding gifts in 1475 in the marriage of Costanzo Sforza to Camilla D’Aragona. As it appears that a diamond ring was given in advance of marriage, it might be the first diamond engagement ring in history!
Otherwise, the distinction goes to Archduke Maximillian of Austria and Mary of Burgundy, who were married a few years after Costanza and Camilla. Along with other engagement jewelry, a diamond ring was included in their wedding in 1477. There is some dispute about the nature of the ring since there are few contemporary sources on which for us to rely. It may have been an elaborately shaped M made out of cut diamonds. Although unconfirmed, a ring of this kind is rumored to exist — or once did — at the Museum of Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria.
At this point in engagement ring history, engagement rings were becoming a more noticeable custom, but remained largely in the upper classes of western societies. However, this was soon going to change.
Modern Engagement Ring History
The Nineteenth Century: The Emancipation of the Modern Engagement Ring
The 19th century brought with it revolutions in science, industry, technology, economics, fashion, and many religious and cultural traditions. The changing styles of engagement rings reflect the changes in society happening during this time.
The 19th century saw the birth of the middle class in two waves. In the first half of the century, the “middle classes” or the "Bourgeoisie," previously among the wealthiest people without a noble title, gradually began to include land owners and educated professionals of more modest means, though they still had prodigious agency compared to most. The owner of a mill could now afford to marry the daughter of a land-owning lawyer and give her not one, but two rings: one for the wedding and one for a “proposal” just like in the stories she read about and the plays she went to see.
Times were changing. Newly flush with greater wealth, the middle class also had greater access to the natural resources of the world than ever before. Engagement rings were appropriately sized up. Big, loud, and colorful is the best way to describe most engagement rings in the first half of the nineteenth century, particularly at the beginning of the Victorian Era. Even Queen Victoria’s own ring was a harbinger of what was to come. Prince Albert proposed with a buttery gold ring of a coiled snake with gleaming emerald eyes. This delicate snake coil would eventually work its way through fashion culture to become the bypass “toi-et-moi” rings developed in the second half of the Victorian era.
Along with a larger general push for civil liberties, social progress, and the welfare of society in general, the second half of the nineteenth century saw the emancipation of the majority of people in the western hemisphere who had been in some form of imposed servitude up until then, whether it was slavery in the United States or feudal serfdom in Russia, the Meiji revolution in Japan that emancipated the pesantry, or the Reform Acts of 1832 and later Parlimentary Act of 1911 which reorganized the British parliment and effectively ended most of the powers traditionaly accorded to the House of Lords in the British Parliment.
It also saw the burgeoning, bellowing might of industrialization charging full steam ahead. Industrialization made engagement rings more available and affordable than ever before, and there were vast numbers of newly liberated, working middle-class people to buy them. It was finally time that most women could expect some form of engagement ring with some kind of center stone.
Engagement rings produced towards the end of the Victorian era are precursors to many of the styles and designs we know today. Rings get lighter, settings focus more on stone exposure, and new materials are introduced, such as platinum. Colored stones are still widely used, with ruby and sapphire engagement rings among the most popular. It would not be until after World War II that the majority of engagement rings featured a diamond center stone.
The true emergence of the modern diamond engagement ring occurs at the end of the 19th century. The solitaire diamond engagement ring was initially made popular by Tiffany & Co. in 1886 and since then, the solitaire diamond engagement ring has become an integral part of the history of engagement rings. The fact that this ring was immediately popular was not a fluke or result of a marketing campaign. Diamonds, having been until then extremely rare, were now almost as common as many other precious gems, even if still more expensive.
Until the end of the Victorian era, diamonds were exclusively found in only a handful of places around the world, and only in modest quantities. The discovery of massive deposits of diamonds in South Africa in 1873 meant that the number of gross carats mined in the world jumped from being measured in the tens of thousands to millions of carats almost overnight. Diamonds flooded the market.
Not only were they more fashionable than before, but their inclusion in popular culture was now ubiquitous. Even lower middle-class characters in 19th-century literature could expect an engagement ring before they marry, as seen in “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Dumas, when the doomed Edmond Dantes proposes to Mercedes by wrapping a thread around her finger.
Engagement rings pop up in literature all over the place with commonplace mentions, signifying that engagement rings had by this point become a universal custom, at least in western culture. References in “Anne of the Island” by Lucy Maud Montgomery, “Night and Day” by Virginia Woolf, P.G. Wodehouse’s “Uneasy Money”, and “A Room with a View” by E.M. Forester do not relate to the romantic notion of giving an engagement ring. Characters instead reference the real-life value of the ring, from its diamonds to its potential to cause jealousy, to how its absence is significant.
However, in the great epic tale of upper-class society in New York City at the end of the Victorian era, “The Age of Innocence,” by Edith Wharton, some romance peaks through:
“It was only that afternoon that May Welland had let him guess that she "cared" (New York's consecrated phrase of maiden avowal), and already his imagination, leaping ahead of the engagement ring, the betrothal kiss and the march from Lohengrin, pictured her at his side in some scene of old European witchery.”
Read Further
Victorian Engagement Rings
Victorian Style Engagement Rings: How to Get the Look
20th Century: Development of Engagement Ring Styles we See Today
In the years following the Industrial Revolution and before WWI, the practice of giving engagement rings grew enormously in popularity as most working people with a comfortable wage could now afford to purchase an engagement ring. Following the destruction of multiple generations of Europe’s youth in the trenches of WWI, and with them most of the class distinctions that had previously defined societies, engagement rings became a universal custom among couples in western cultures.
The early 20th century schools of the Edwardian and Art Deco movements had a tremendous effect on the style and design of modern engagement rings. Both the Edwardian and Art Deco periods of jewelry design are not the first to feature diamonds, but they did popularize them. Inasmuch as diamonds become an integral part of engagement rings and are more and more often featured as center stones, both Edwardian and Art Deco movements featured magnificent emerald, sapphire, and ruby engagement rings, as well as engagement rings featuring many different colored stones.
However, as advances in mining and cutting continued, it was during these movements that the history of engagement rings was changed forever, again, since it was during and because of these movement that we gained true brilliant cut styles of diamond shapes. After several hundred years of experimentation by scientists and cutters, in the early years of the twentieth century, the first true Round Brilliant diamonds were produced due to improvements in technology and knowledge. These improvements extend to other cuts we use today, and settings that are still familiar, still modern looking. Oval brilliants, pear shape brilliants, marquise, princess cut, and eventually radiant diamonds have all been derived from the early 20th century development of cutting technology and scientific understanding of diamonds.
White gold was introduced to make up for limited supplies of platinum, which was by that point becoming more popular than yellow gold. There is more use of stones to create borders around other stones, and settings are angled instead of curved, reminiscent of the modern architecture rising at the time. Availability of engagement rings steadily increased during this period, and by the 1940s department stores began housing jewelry counters that promoted engagement rings.
The Edwardian movement was in full swing during this time. Evolving out of the late Victorian style, engagement rings of this period are characterized by sweeping curves, asymmetrical designs, the first large-scale use of pave and platinum, and large, bold stones, especially diamonds in the new brilliant cuts being developed.
A reaction to the Edwardian movement, the Art Deco Movement was a polar opposite. Symmetry and geometric lines are the first easily noticeable differences. Even a cursory examination of various rings from the two movements shows how much the taste of the times applied to these rings.
From the very beginning of its enterprise, DeBeers, the largest diamond mining operation in the world at the time, began working on marketing campaigns to improve diamond sales. During the 1930s, they hired the ad agency N.W. Ayer who was able to produce a jump in sales immediately. In 1947, Francis Gerety, a copywriter for Ayer, penned perhaps what is now the most famous line about diamonds. One of the most successful marketing campaigns in history, DeBeers' tagline "A Diamond is Forever" captioned photographs and commercials, was written into songs, and made its way into popular culture, boosting sales for the company and perhaps changing the jewelry world.
Diamond engagement rings are now the most preferred form throughout western culture. They are becoming ever more popular globally, as Gerety’s words still sink deeper and deeper into our subconscious over generation after generation of proposals with diamond engagement rings. In the second half of the twentieth century, social changes in our increasingly accepting society have also been reflected in the recent history of engagement rings. As same-sex marriages became more accepted, and as social norms of the past were discarded, engagement rings for men came into being.
Originating in the 70s and 80s, male engagement rings, sometimes called “management rings” are more than “masculine” versions of women’s engagement rings, though they often incorporate similar materials and features in less delicate ways. This is history of engagement rings in the making, as styles for men’s engagement rings are still vying for popularity.
Additional Resource: How an Ad Campaign Invented the Diamond Engagement Ring, The Atlantic
Today: Making History with Engagement Rings
The 21st century has so far seen one major evolution in the history of engagement rings. Until recently the entire jewelry industry was at the mercy of the mining industry for most materials. However, many industry-wide advancements in the past two decades have substantially changed where your engagement ring can be sourced.
While the recycling of precious metals is no new thing, it has recently become a more important aspect of our business here at Michael Gabriels, due to the reduced price of raw materials, and the reduced environmental and social impact.
The gold is still gold, the platinum is still platinum, it’s just that now hundreds and thousands of cubic feet of the earth have not been blasted away for every carat, in an environmentally damaging mine using oppressive labor practices in a far-off region of the world to obtain your gold and platinum. While mined diamonds still make up the larger percentage of the market, lab-grown diamonds are growing fast in popular demand and availability.
First developed in the 20th century, lab-grown diamonds really came into their own in the last two decades, as technology and scientific advances have helped us to produce gem quality stones of varying sizes and types.
Lab-grown diamonds are real diamonds, that is, they have the same carbon crystal makeup as mined diamonds do. They differ mostly in the nature of their origin. While mined diamonds take up to millions of years to grow, and then enormous amounts of energy, capital, labor, and water to extract and deliver to the market, lab grown diamonds use a fraction of the cost, energy and water to produce.
They are tremendously more environmentally friendly, and are easier to trace to eliminate conflict diamonds. In addition, since most labs are not far from major cities and cutting centers, the cost to market is much less; ie fewer fossil fuels used in the change of hands the diamond goes through to get to you. They require as much or more skilled labor, so lab-grown diamonds support as many jobs, and the diamonds are more standardized, opening up the labor pool for cutting jobs that previously required much more expertise.
Michael Gabriels is Making Engagement Ring History
Michael Gabriels exclusively uses lab-grown diamonds from some of the finest grow houses in the world. They are cut by experts and then evaluated and analyzed by IGI, the premier testing resource for lab-grown diamonds. We then work with the best artisans and craftspeople in New York City to set them into stunning works of art, alternatively known as jewelry.
We began carrying lab-grown diamonds as soon as they became regularly available in gem quality. That was a decade ago in 2012, when the world’s largest available lab-grown diamonds maxed out at about 2 carats, and very rarely exceeded that size. Since then magnificent technological advances have allowed producers to grow more, larger and better quality diamonds. We can now obtain diamonds in carat sizes larger than most people could comfortably wear on their fingers.
We were attracted to these man-made diamonds because while they are atomically identical to their mined counterparts, they lack many of the associated problems. Our diamonds are traceable, reliably sustainable, and more ethical than most of the mined diamonds available on the market to the average consumer. And as an added bonus, their dearth of expense makes them available to more people. You can now wear conflict-free, sustainable and ethical, diamonds weighing more than 10 carats at a fraction of the millions of dollars you would have to pay for the mined equivalent.
Throughout the history of engagement ring giving, the reasons and styles have changed. Ultimately, the history of engagement rings may include you. How will you participate in crafting it? What is your vision?
If the next step in the history of engagement rings is the one you take yourself, it would be our privilege at Michael Gabriels to help you take it. Reach out to one of our experts and we will be happy to help you design the bespoke or customized engagement ring of your dreams.
Read Further:
History of Diamonds In Engagement Rings
Here’s the Real Reason We Propose With Engagement Rings
Bridal Party: Put A Ring On It! (An Origin Story)
A HISTORY OF DIAMOND CUTTING
