Historical Belle | 1860's Dearest Ring | Victorian Engagements @HistoricalBelle | Uploaded May 2021 | Updated October 2024, 24 minutes ago.
A Dearest ring is an acrostic ring popular in the Victorian and Romantic eras where the initials of the precious stones mounted on the band spell out a word. The two most popular words to spell out were dearest or regards. These style of rings were generally popular from 1820-1900.
The most common designs were a straight line, octagon or daisy shape with stones arranged to 'spell' the intended word. Mine is a daisy shape.
Traditionally, these rings, though seen as romantic and tokens of love, and were not typically given as engagement rings, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be.
This ring is not our actual engagement ring. My love gave it to me for Christmas as a love token.
Do you want to know my favorite part? The emerald is shattered and the tourmaline stone is cracked. (We knew this when we purchased it, and it made the ring more affordable to us)
This is also to be expected of stones that are of a more sensitive nature. I still find it amazing that the ring has survived 161 years.
From far away you would never know the ring contained broken stones. It is a beautiful floral design with golden leaves. You see the whole flower. You can only see the cracks in the petals if you look closely, at the right angle, in certain light.
This ring reminds me of many things:
It is imperfect and it is still beautiful
It's sensitive, was broken, and still held together for over 100 years.
It is of unimaginable value to me, because value does not come from a dollar sign, but because of what it represents.
I am reading from the Chapter on Courtship and Marriage from the etiquette book "Manners, Culture and Dress of the Best American Society" published in 1892: (You can read this book for free on Google Books)
"After the engagement is made between the couple and ratified by the parents, it is customary in polite society for the young man to affix the seal of this engagement by some present to his affianced. This present is usually a ring, and among the wealthy it may be of diamonds-a solitaire or cluster- and as expensive as the young man's means will justify. The ring is not necessarily a diamond one; it may be other stones or it may be an heirloom in his family precious more because of its associations antiquity and quaintness than from it s actual money-value.
"All lovers cannot afforded to present their lady-loves with diamond rings, but all are able to give them some little token o their regard which will be cherished for their sakes, and which will serve as a memento of a very happy past to the end of life. The engagement ring should be worn upon the ring finger of the right hand."
And it is because of this passage that I am wearing the ring on my right hand.
Support me on Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/historicalbelle
View more video's about our Engagement and the making of my 1880's Engagement Dress here: youtube.com/watch?v=Gx3vVKG1HU4&list=LLTMjDj-NTuyHaNe4lheW4yg
#Victorian #Antique
A Dearest ring is an acrostic ring popular in the Victorian and Romantic eras where the initials of the precious stones mounted on the band spell out a word. The two most popular words to spell out were dearest or regards. These style of rings were generally popular from 1820-1900.
The most common designs were a straight line, octagon or daisy shape with stones arranged to 'spell' the intended word. Mine is a daisy shape.
Traditionally, these rings, though seen as romantic and tokens of love, and were not typically given as engagement rings, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be.
This ring is not our actual engagement ring. My love gave it to me for Christmas as a love token.
Do you want to know my favorite part? The emerald is shattered and the tourmaline stone is cracked. (We knew this when we purchased it, and it made the ring more affordable to us)
This is also to be expected of stones that are of a more sensitive nature. I still find it amazing that the ring has survived 161 years.
From far away you would never know the ring contained broken stones. It is a beautiful floral design with golden leaves. You see the whole flower. You can only see the cracks in the petals if you look closely, at the right angle, in certain light.
This ring reminds me of many things:
It is imperfect and it is still beautiful
It's sensitive, was broken, and still held together for over 100 years.
It is of unimaginable value to me, because value does not come from a dollar sign, but because of what it represents.
I am reading from the Chapter on Courtship and Marriage from the etiquette book "Manners, Culture and Dress of the Best American Society" published in 1892: (You can read this book for free on Google Books)
"After the engagement is made between the couple and ratified by the parents, it is customary in polite society for the young man to affix the seal of this engagement by some present to his affianced. This present is usually a ring, and among the wealthy it may be of diamonds-a solitaire or cluster- and as expensive as the young man's means will justify. The ring is not necessarily a diamond one; it may be other stones or it may be an heirloom in his family precious more because of its associations antiquity and quaintness than from it s actual money-value.
"All lovers cannot afforded to present their lady-loves with diamond rings, but all are able to give them some little token o their regard which will be cherished for their sakes, and which will serve as a memento of a very happy past to the end of life. The engagement ring should be worn upon the ring finger of the right hand."
And it is because of this passage that I am wearing the ring on my right hand.
Support me on Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/historicalbelle
View more video's about our Engagement and the making of my 1880's Engagement Dress here: youtube.com/watch?v=Gx3vVKG1HU4&list=LLTMjDj-NTuyHaNe4lheW4yg
#Victorian #Antique
