The First Diamond Engagement Ring.

Rings were first used as a symbol of unity without diamonds. The ancient Greeks used a simple iron band to symbolise the unity we now call marriage. This was eventually followed by using gold bands, once the metal was discovered of coarse. The ring, or unbroken circle, represents the shared bond that 2 people have together, its eternal shape inspiring and very significant in the evolution of the engagement ring. The Greeks had used the ring before marriage and was known as a betrothal ring. Nowadays this can be interpreted as a promise ring.

The ring itself, did not become a symbol of marriage, untill the 12th century, when Pope Innocent III, instigated and initiated that rings be incorporated and used in wedding ceremonies. This is the same Pope that decreed, weddings be held in a church! Sounds like the guy had some vision… even if this was following the wide spread trend at the time of using rings to symbolise weddings, anyway.

Diamonds were not discovered untill around 800BC, in India, where they thought that the beautiful gems possesed magical powers! Societies at the time were more impressed by the fact that this amazing gem was so much harder and stronger than anything else they knew, that it derived its name from the Greek word “adamas” which means unconquerable.

The first recorded gifting to a woman of a diamond set engagement ring, was given to Mary of Burgundy by the Archduke of Maximilian of Hamburg in 1477. Now the story goes, that prior to this, women used to give diamond rings to the men they were betrothed to, as a symbol of trust and faith, that they now belonged to the man, so that he would then take her as his wife. Mary and the Archduke, were so in love that they hated being apart, and one day he was called to war, right before they were due to be married. So our inventive Archduke, decided that he would buck the trend and create a diamond engagement ring for his true love, so that she could remember him, have something of him close to her while he was away at war. This is the first real diamond set engagement ring, as we know it. Quite a story.

After this, the trend was set and as time went by, especially from about the Renaissance period, they really began to take off as a fashion accessory. People used to wear them to balls and dinners, of coarse at this time only the wealthy could afford them, and they were generally used as a statement of position and rank.

Through the Victorian ages, diamond rings became much more romanticised and began to resemble miniature sculptures, with lots of floral decorations, birthstones, love letters and lots of smaller diamonds set in rosettes. They quickly became the subject of love, wealth and fashion.

Even today they are the subject of much debate, but the one thing still remains constant: they are amazingly beautiful and will always adorn the finger of a beautiful woman.