Some days it’s just too cold and miserable to make the effort and you just want to sling on some jeans and a jumper, but add a splash of lipstick and a (faux) fur coat and you instantly feel fabulous again! Although though I suspect I look a bit like a polar bear in this fur coat – you can make your own mind up about this – photos below… 😉
But this post is really about my vintage engagement rings. I’m wearing all three here: one is my own which was made from a broken and unloved old opal ring which I found in a junk shop and had made into something wonderful. The other two tell the story of my great-grandmother.
When she got engaged (in around 1912 I think), she had a ring very similar to the rose gold ring I’m wearing. The version I have was actually an 18th birthday present from my Godparents and is set with pearls and coral – my Grandmother’s ring was set with tiny sapphires and diamonds but my mum wears this ring.
When fashions changed in the late 1920s she decided her engagement ring simply wasn’t fashionable enough and, not being a sentimental woman, decided to replace her engagement ring with a new one: the art deco-style diamond ring.
Sadly the diamonds on this ring were damaged in a house fire, and no longer sparkle the way they used to, but I still love the ring – and the story that goes along with them! Do you wear any vintage jewellery? If so are they family heirlooms or simply things you bought because you love them?
[4 photos]
Love the coat! Might as well be warm and that looks perfect.
I wish I had some family rings ; the ones I have are very tiny old diamond engagement rings I found at flea markets. I usually wear three of them together.. it makes a nice discreet bit of bling. Your rings are wonderful!
Love, love, love vintage and antique jewellery and have quite a collection (yes, very fortunate but this is way back when I could afford it!) My grandmother’s engagement ring is also sapphires and diamonds and my son proposed to his (soon to be wife) girlfriend with it last Christmas Eve. She now has a new sparkler to replace the old Victorian ring but is wearing it on their wedding day as the something old, borrowed and blue. Love the fact that it has now been worn by four generations of our family.
how lovely! I wore my Grandma’s diamond engagement ring as something borrowed on my wedding day too. My mum wears it normally, it was a really nice addition to the day and nice to feel I was wearing something of hers on such a special day
No polar bears to be seen here! (Just great photos)
The ring I usually wear on my right hand has four little stones on a thin band. Mum thought it might be Dad’s mother’s engagement ring but I think it belonged to my great auntie Olive who had a big collection of jewellery and travelled extensively as lady-in-waiting to a European Princess. I’ve got most of her rings and other jewellery and all of the rings fit me perfectly, physically and they’re just my style. Dad’s mum was tiny, so I doubt she had the larger-than-usual fingers that I obviously share with Olive.
If it is Olive’s ring it was almost certainly not an engagement ring. She never married and as far as we know was never engaged. She was a classy lady and Sis and I call her jewellery our ‘Ollie-bling’.
Oh I’ve seen that ring, it’s really pretty. I had no idea it had such a glamorous history! I can’t wait to see more of your Ollie-bling 🙂 Photos please! x
I wear a rose gold band from the 1800’s that my paternal grandmother gave me. I also wear my mother’s Love Story engagement ring from the 1950’s.
how lovely – wish I could see a photo!
Love this, what a nice idea. I have a beautiful vintage diamond ring I was given for my 21st, I always think about who owned it first – so nice that you have that story to tell!
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thanks – I love the stories behind them, it makes them much more special than the jewellery I’ve just bought on a whim…
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