The most collectible engagement rings are those from the Victorian, Edwardian and Art Deco eras.
Designs for Victorian-era engagement rings often featured repoussé work and chasing, in which patterns are hammered into the metal.Įngagement rings, which are reliably intimidating to shop for, are still widely recognized as symbols of love and commitment. Jewelry devotees have long pined for rings adorned with reptiles, thanks to antique Victorian rings - well, specifically, Queen Victoria’s illustrious engagement ring, which took the form of a gold snake set with rubies, diamonds and an emerald (her birthstone). The serpent is now a popular motif in fine jewelry. Italian luxury jewelry house Bvlgari has become famous for its widely loved Serpenti motif, for example, and its Serpenti ring, like the other accessories in the collection, began as an homage to jewelry of the Roman and Hellenistic eras. Over time, rings have frequently taken the form of serpents, which have long been associated with eternal life, health and renewal. Rings have also forever been emblematic of eternity. They’ve carried deep meaning since at least the Middle Ages, when diamond rings symbolized strength and other kinds of rings were worn to signify romantic feelings or to denote an affiliation with a religious order.
No matter their origin or specific characteristics, rings are timeless, versatile accessories.
Finding the Right rings for YouĪntique and vintage rings have long held a special place in the hearts of fine jewelry lovers all over the world. On 1stDibs, find a stunning collection of Harry Winston jewelry that includes bracelets, wedding rings, engagement rings and other accessories. His storied past and long legacy is continued by the House of Harry Winston and its salons in Japan, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. He regularly showed off his collection in touring exhibitions, such as the 1949 “Court of Jewels,” which featured the Hope diamond. Winston was renowned for his eye for the finest of gemstones and the ability to design pieces in order to best flaunt their natural dazzle. Winston was also a pioneer of marketing as the first jeweler to dress an Academy Awards nominee when he loaned some diamond jewelry to Jennifer Jones for the 1944 Oscar ceremony. The rarity and beauty of the gemstones he pursued and presented in his boutiques made the Winston brand synonymous with excellence. Many others followed, including the 726.60-carat Vargas from Brazil which, in 1938, he tracked down across multiple continents after he read a brief newspaper notice about its discovery. The first of the celebrated diamonds to be purchased by Winston was the 726-carat uncut Jonker, acquired in 1935. in 1932, where he influenced 20th-century-jewelry trends by always elevating the stones rather than adding the lavish decorations that had pervaded jewelry in the 19th century. His early success involved turning that eye to estate sale collections that he transformed by freeing gemstones from dated ornamentation, giving them new cuts and modern settings. Winston’s father had immigrated to New York from Ukraine and ran a small jewelry shop where a young Harry learned about precious stones, enough, the story goes, to identify a real emerald in a heap of pawnshop jewelry at the age of 12. Today, Winston is regarded as the “King of Diamonds” and the “Jeweler to the Stars” as one of the first to recognize the branding power of lending glitzy earrings, necklaces and other fine jewelry for red-carpet events. Among the famed gemstones that Harry Winston (1896–1978) encountered over the course of his career was the Hope diamond, which he donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958.
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