Engagement rings!

Ha ha I stand corrected! (Although Diana did say she chose her ring as it resembled her mothers which had been purchased in the early fifties...)

My mum and my Dads sister chose the same wedding ring without realising in 1973! White gold with doves and flowers engraved. Later they were both rather embarrassed by the hippyish sentiment. Happily they both divorced in the mid eighties & were able to take them off

I got chatting with a woman in the bank when I got my original engagement ring, she had a platinum and diamond ring from 1967 & said everyone thought she had delusions of grandeur ehen she got platinum! she'd been badgering her husband to buy her another as she thought she was out of fashion, I told her she had come back into fashion!

Art Deco's point about the dating of engagement rings is spot on.

I married in the mid 90s and found that most of my friends had either trilogies with a centre sapphire or emerald and diamonds at the sides or the cluster or as I call it the Jam Tart (central coloured stone surrounded by diamonds). Nearly everyone had a coloured stone - usually sapphire, emerald or ruby - depending on eye/hair colour. Hardly anyone had a solitaire diamond or a white metal wedding band - either white gold or platinum.

Since I moved to Essex from London I was amazed by the size of the solitaires on some of the young mums. I couldn't take my eyes off some of them. Really huge and many of then in the princess cut, which I hadn't come across before. A lot of the ladies around my way are covered in diamonds - big diamond studs, diamond cross pendant, diamond tennis bracelets and diamond rings and bands on both hands. It is like a uniform. They wear them all in the gym!! Many of them don't recognise semi-precious gemstones such as amethysts or aquamarines. I don't think they see the point of them!

I lived in New York for a couple of years back in the Noughties and again was mesmerised by the huge prominently displayed diamond solitaires sported by the women there. They were so proud of their rings and knew all the diamond specifications - clarity, colour grade and pavillion angles and would openly discuss them amongst each other. I felt sorry for the poor men who had to buy these ladies their rings as they were so knowledgeable and focused upon their 'pet rock' as they called them. None of them ever had a stone other than a diamond. At the time I had a trillion cut tanzanite solitaire with a few diamond accents on the band for my right hand. They were puzzled by this ring - I think they felt a bit sorry for me that it was not a diamond.

rosielinks said:

I lived in New York for a couple of years back in the Noughties and again was mesmerised by the huge prominently displayed diamond solitaires sported by the women there. They were so proud of their rings and knew all the diamond specifications - clarity, colour grade and pavillion angles and would openly discuss them amongst each other. I felt sorry for the poor men who had to buy these ladies their rings as they were so knowledgeable and focused upon their 'pet rock' as they called them. None of them ever had a stone other than a diamond. At the time I had a trillion cut tanzanite solitaire with a few diamond accents on the band for my right hand. They were puzzled by this ring - I think they felt a bit sorry for me that it was not a diamond.

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I found this to be the case when we lived in The States in the early 90s too - and everyone seemed to be wearing tennis bracelets, usually on the same wrist as a watch, and often more than one at a time!

I think it is a shame to wear several diamond bracelets on one wrist. They end up distracting you from their beauty.

Italians are renowned for their love of several ropes of gold jewellery. Though it's not good on me, it does seem to suit their glamorous style.

rosielinks that is so true about the trilogy in the mid nineties! I worked in a jewellers from the early to mid nineties and the most popular engagement ring we sold was a trilogy with a central sapphire flanked by diamonds at each side. We also did a lot of two stone twist rings, two diamonds set on a diagonal. Always in yellow gold too. We sold quite a bit of tricolour gold, that was quite popular I recall, but we didn't stock any platinum or white gold. I remember if we were ever asked for it (which wasn't often) our brief was to say engagement rings weren't set in white metal anymore. How things change!

Linking to QVC, I remember Claire Sutton saying when she got engaged in the late 90s everyone told her she 'must' get platinum, & she had a hard time convincing jewellers that she prefers yellow gold (iPhone changed that to 'hello gold'!)

I think yellow gold really suits Claire Sutton and her engagement ring is so unusual and stylish. Its longer length is flattering on the hand. Good for her for sticking to her guns.

Jill Franks' engagement ring is very unusual too and not something I would imagine she would pick. I think it is also very chic (it's mother of pearl on quite a thick gold band). I would have thought she would have chosen a big flashy diamond.

JR wears a trilogy with, I think, an alexandrine in the middle. She admits it is not a great stone but says it was given with so much love that she cherishes it. I like that about JR - she doesn't seem materialistic about her jewellery.

Ah now I reckon Jill Franks actually has two engagement rings! Both very similar ... yellow gold and mother of pearl. One has straight bands of mother of pearl the other has diagonal bands. The diagonal one has quite big diamonds set in between.

Anyone else spotted this? I am a real magpie. I always notice what people wear and particularly engagement rings.

When we got engaged white gold was trendy (1974) and I have a white gold wedding ring and white gold diamond engagement ring which is twisty and has two diamonds.Northerners may recognise that I got them from 'Preston's of Bolton, the diamond centre of the North.' They didn't tell you that white gold reverts to yellow and I had to have them re - whited after about 5 years but I haven't bothered again. My wedding ring is too small for me so it lives in its original box but I wear my mother's diamond solitaire platinum engagement ring and platinum wedding ring (1940s) with my engagement ring all the time.

Prestons of Bolton. Now there's a blast from the past!

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Still going strong Weathergirl- I buy charms for my Pandora from there. Needless to say I have a pig and a cat amongst others.

I moved south when I was 14, but still count myself from Bolton. I remember Prestons well.

Snap with the Pandora.....and the cat charm! Add to that wedding cake, pram, dummy, handbag, and an apple with worm to symbolise New York where I got engaged. I love my bracelet and wear it every day. The charms represent all the milestones in my life (as an adult). My mum liked mine so much that she got one too, and my 17 month old daughter has one too. I bought those Lori Greiner trinket boxes with the anti tarnish lining to store them, they work a treat and don't tarnish. As you can imagine the charms are a pain to clean otherwise.

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I was bought the wise old owl by some colleagues when I retired.

how lovely! I think my mum has the owl. Very pretty charm, the owls eyes twinkle, don't they..

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rosielinks said:

I think it is a shame to wear several diamond bracelets on one wrist. They end up distracting you from their beauty.

Italians are renowned for their love of several ropes of gold jewellery. Though it's not good on me, it does seem to suit their glamorous style.

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I don't have several diamond bracelets to wear on one wrist but I definitely prefer keeping it simple. I like quite bold pieces as well as more delicate pieces but I rarely wear more than one ring on each hand ... unless its a stack of slim bands. I always wear a watch but not with a bracelet. I usually wear two bracelets on my other wrist. Sometimes three but they're all quite delicate. If I'm wearing a bigger bracelet then I would only ever wear one.

Being a child of the 80s I still love three colour pieces. They're the in thing again apparently. I'll be back in fashion before you know it!

I still have my tiny solitaire engagement ring but it has worn so thin I don't wear it so my OH bought me a three stone diamond ring for our 50th anniversary last year and I wear it with my wedding ring and love it.

How lovely. What a great story Bettyboo.

My mum was given two small diamonds in a twist setting when she was engaged aged 19 in 1954. One day she lost the ring and was horrified. They did not have any money for a replacement and it was not insured. At the time they were living in rented accommodation. When they had to leave and clean the place up, my mum found both diamonds in the fire grate. All perfectly fine.

My dad died of cancer aged 38 and my mum eventually remarried but she still wears this ring, re-set, on her right hand.

I have really enjoyed reading this thread but I flew into a panic when I realised I couldn't remember where I had put the valuation for my engagement ring! Panic over I finally found it! I got engaged in 1973 and my ring is a diamond solitaire, circa 1920. It is white gold set with one central round old cut diamond in a rubover collet setting and approx. 2.60 carats, above an ornate gallery. Sorry for the long description but I can't do photographs. I wear it all the time and love it as much as the day I received it.