Rings: Diamonds or Otherwise.

Still on types of jewelry... today is rings... something we don't think about.  Not really think about anyway.


I mean, we all love rings, you don't have to be male or female... a ring is one of those pieces of jewelry that is gender-less and forever popular.

So many rings, so little time... I won't bore you with 20 pages of ring history, but I want to get to a few types of rings that are worn by both genders that are very popular, and a few that aren't..

Rings throughout history are symbols of faithfulness, unity, eternity, and so forth. The unending circle is such a strong symbol, most religions use it to exemplify unity.

There is such an emotional attachment when rings are exchanged. That made me think back to an article I read a while back, called "What is a Diamond Worth?-Piggybacking Value on Emotion, by Hitesh Khandelwal on LinkedIn, July 26, 2014.   
  
Very nice article about the sentimentality of a piece of jewelry... It doesn't have to be just the diamond that the value is piggybacked to the value of any ring.

 The ring itself is more the thought in  buying it, choosing because it is the 'right' one, Then the emotional, surprised, receiver of the ring, is so very overwhelmed in the act, that immediately there is an attachment to it. 
When I was young and in love, my then boyfriend proposed with a double golden Tiger's Eye set in a silver mounting, along with a necklace, bracelet and earrings to match.
I loved that set, I knew he picked it out for a very specific reason, and it meant a lot to me. I wore it instead of the diamond he bought me for many years. Later on, I added to the collection with other rings and necklaces with that stone,  pieces that complimented the set in some way,  so I have never lost that attachment to the ring.  

Rings aren't just given as a symbol of love, over the centuries, they have been worn as talisman, as reminders of family, as simply a beautiful decoration. Dinner rings fall under that category. They don't have to be expensive to be beautiful and fun to wear. 

Many wear semi-precious stones or quartz of some type and can be mixed with diamonds or cubic zirconia to create the look of lavish taste. The larger the piece, the more fun it is to wear. And don't get me wrong, women aren't the only ones who wear dinner rings. 

Throughout the ages, men have worn lavish rings as well. Kings and courtiers have worn magnificent, large rings to show wealth, later on, performers such as Liberace and Sean Combs, Elvis Presley, DJ Khaled, and even Brad Pitt.

Joe Theisman's rings Washington

It isn't just performers, it's sports idols as well, like Michael Jordan, but that brings us to another type of ring, large and full of bling... The playoff rings that sports top players receive for making it big. Major League Baseball, Basketball, and Football, Hockey, Nascar and Indy racing all give rings for winning the finals in their respective leagues.


No one has done it better than the Dallas Cowboys when it comes to rings.. Charles Haley won three with the Cowboy Team, after winning two with the 49ers.  That makes a total of five (that's 5) rings... so when he wears them... they make some serious bling. 
Neal Dahlen actually holds the record for the most Superbowl rings, at a whopping 7. His were not from playing, but from being on the Staff and as Player Personnel (San Francisco) and as General Manager (Denver). 

Men and women share similar rings from  graduating High School, there are a variety of class rings that may be purchased, or you can have one made by a local jeweler. If you have a personalized ring made by a jeweler, you can have any style possible... there are a number of styles you can choose from  companies, like Balfour that specialize in Class rings. 
  Other companies like  Zales, and even Walmart offer these type rings.

College graduation brings more rings, though more people skip that tradition, maybe because at the end of college you are so broke? Though graduates at some of the top schools in the country are proud to wear the symbol of the University from which they have graduated.

Edward the Confessor and famed ring

Signet rings have been worn for many, many centuries. the word Signet comes from the Latin word Signatus, which means marked, sealed or signed.  Many signet rings were worn by nobility, had engraved on the face, the symbol of that house. 
Thus, when a document was signed and sealed, the ring was set into the wax, to make the print of the ring. Very cleaver when a symbol needed to be issued so everyone would be able to 'read' the document as authentic.  The Signet would have been engraved in reverse so that the imprint would have been shown in the correct way. 

 The Lord Chancellor usually made sure the ring was kept safe, the King would wear it during matters of state, such as treaties and an appointment to an office. 

It is said that the signet was first used by Edward the Confessor, as far back as the mid 1000s. However, recorded use of a seal used by a King was in Daniel, 6:17. 

The Hebrew word Hotam and the Greek word, Sphragis were used interchangably in the ancient world, the definition is: To seal shut, or to seal shut.  

Even further back were the Egyptian Pharoes, who used a signet Even back as far as Genesis 10:10 the tool was mentioned. It is believed that the forerunner of the ring was a cylindrical stamp that came from Uruk, as early as around 3500BC. 

Edward II was known for bring the signet into full use, with every paper had to have a symbol of the great seal or the privy seal. 

Men who had been given the grant to bear heraldic arms in the middle ages, had to have a signet, so that the papers they bore would have the seal of their office. 

The procedure of placing a seal was used for more than 600 years. It grew in favor during the 1600s, the use was changed in the mid 1800s and instead become used for sealing letters and personal papers.




 
 

 
 






References:

 Pritchard-Barrett, Bella. Signets and Cyphers, The History of Signet Rings.  retrieved October 7, 2016 from: http://signetsandcyphers.com/signet-history.html

Scripture Backdrops, Relavant Historical Insights into Scripture, Signet Rings. Retrieved October 7, 2016, from: http://www.bible-history.com/backd2/signet_ring.html



The Art of Ancient Egypt, Revised by Robins, 272 Pages, Pub. 2008