all right everyone welcome to gia knowledge sessions uh for those of you who are not familiar with it this uh the knowledge sessions are a series of talks and seminars about gemology that are fueled by our decades of research um at gia we consider ourselves so fortunate to study and learn from gems and it's our mission to share our discoveries and learnings um about the world i'm excited to kick things off today my name is natalie jaden i am the content marketing manager at gia and i am joined by kate waterman one of our gemology instructors at the carlsbad campus um before we get started just a few housekeeping um uh things to tell you everyone attending this is automatically muted if you have a question please submit it in that q a spot at the bottom of your screen um you'll see a feature below feel free to ask any questions um as the talk progresses there will be a q a session at the end where kate will have the opportunity to answer some of your questions um we will also send a recording of a session later today along with a survey so we'd love to hear your feedback um and with that i am gonna pass the torch to kate okay thank you so much natalie appreciate that so thank you all for joining me i really hope that you're going to find the history of the engagement ring as interesting as i do so a couple disclosures before i get into it this is the history of the engagement ring not the wedding band although some of the history is definitely intertwined there uh historic dates often are slightly misaligned or they overlap among references so we're going to focus on the historical historical relevance and not necessarily precise dates we know that current traditions differ around the globe so we do tend to focus on the united states when discussing more current trends as we move down the timeline and finally i don't speak french italian or latin so please forgive any of my mispronunciations so let's first discuss how the tradition of the engagement ring began although it is worth noting that the term engagement ring actually didn't exist until relatively recently in history and they would have considered this gift more like a token and so it was actually often referred to as a hoop in earlier times so when we talk about the invention of the concept some credit the ancient egyptians with inventing the engagement ring they were using things like braided hemp and reeds and hair and then it said that the ancient greeks adopted this tradition using things like leather and bone and ivory but reliable data really just traces back to the ancient romans we have written accounts and archaeological finds that are evidence of this so in 200 bce in ancient rome this is where our story begins so at first they were using things like chains and bracelets but this eventually evolved into the symbolic ring um the ring really signified a business contract it wasn't romantic it symbolized obedience it meant that one was owned although some others did believe that it represented handing over control of the household goods um but we started to see metals being used during this time so things like bronze and copper and silver and even gold although typically gold was reserved for public officials so women tended to wear a very simple band typically made of iron pictured here we have a roman key ring made of iron obviously much more ornate than the average person would wear and then we can move forward into the second century ce so the common era so things are becoming slightly more romantic it started to represent a financial sacrifice that engagement ring was a symbol of true commitment um but marriage remember was actually a vow of present consent it wasn't religious there was no betrothal ceremony it wasn't even legally binding at this time but also during this time the bride-to-be was often given two rings so there was an iron ring to be worn at home and then perhaps a gold ring to be worn in public and this was a way for them to show off their affluence so if you're looking for an excuse for two rings blame the romans as we move forward into the fourth century we started to see some inscriptions some elaborate but most were quite simple and they embellished the inside of the band so the ornamentation was really meant to emphasize the symbol of the man's trust with the home it certainly wasn't meant to ornament the woman or the wife to be so let's talk real quick about some historic references of where to wear it and we'll sort of move backwards in history in the 17th century during short george first of england's reign it actually wasn't unusual for them to wear the engagement ring on the thumb because they were so large we can move even farther back in the 11th century there's french rituals that dictated it be placed on the right hand middle finger we move further back and we have documents of in the 7th century christian priests touching the betrothal ring to three fingers stating in the name of the father the son and the holy ghost and then the priest would be the one to place it on the wife's finger but we can go even further back in the fifth century where marcobias who was a roman writer is typically credited with declaring that the betrothal ring be worn on that fourth finger of the left hand because it said that's where the venus amoris is or um that's latin for the vein of love he spoke of this vein which runs from that particular finger straight to the heart he wrote because of this nerve the newly betroth places the ring on this finger of his spouse as though it were a representation of the heart this information he said he derived from an egyptian priest and the tradition has endured through time although it's actually based on false information there is no specific vein that goes from that finger to the heart eventually we know that all of our veins lead to our heart the ring here is a gold ring that's dated around the 5th century so as we move forward to the 9th century specifically 850 pope nicholas the first stated that the engagement ring symbolized a man's intent to marry so pope nicholas was asked to explain the difference between the roman catholics and the eastern orthodox practices and so this was the first written account of the connection of the engagement ring with the catholic tradition specifically at this time gold became the material of choice although it wasn't uncommon for the man if he wore a ring to wear the gold version and the woman to wear silver version and this signified the ranking within the household pictured here we have a gold ring that dates around the 9th century so a reminder up until now marriage was that simple vow of present consent it wasn't legally binding men could and often would not follow through with a formal marriage ceremony and this would leave the woman shamed and sullied but at the 12th century there the christian church established the betrothal ceremony so perhaps this was when that separate engagement ring and wedding band came to be in the early 13th century specifically 1215 pope innocent iii stated that marriages must be made public in advance so this symbolized agreement to mary in the eyes of god and it really solidified the tradition of a man presenting an engagement ring for that established period before the ceremony historically it wasn't until 1477 that we have the first record of a diamond in an engagement ring now this wasn't the first diamond in jewelry just specifically in an engagement ring and archduke maximilian of austria is credited with this for when he proposed to mary of burgundy it said that the engagement ring had tiny diamonds in the shape of an m now whether the m stood for maximilian or mary i don't know but this actually influenced those of high social class to start giving diamond engagement rings although it did not set the precedence for a diamond engagement ring that really didn't come until the 1900s so just a side note at this time in history very few diamonds have been discovered so india was actually the only source of diamonds and these were alluvial which you can think of as kind of randomly found diamonds only the wealthiest possess them they typically weren't cut in fact the first polish polished diamond wasn't until the late 1300s and this was called the point cut so here we have pictured one of those point cuts it's unfortunate that the point is actually chipped off but again this is the earliest technical cut but really what they did is follow the octahedral shape that natural shape of a well-formed diamond and they just smooth the rough exterior so very few of these point cuts exist today because they were recut once technology improved now improved technology during this time really simply meant grinding that point down and the table cut was developed in the 15th century popular through the 16th century and those that who could afford diamonds might have had their point cut diamonds cut into these table cuts with this development so really it's just a flattened top a flattened cue lit and it ends up looking like a square and a square so here's some additional examples of table cut diamonds in engagement rings these are from the 17th century and i want you to know the ornate metal work and a bit of enamel on one of them and that was meant to counterbalance the diamonds because the table cut really did not have a lot of sparkle like we think of modern day cuts they didn't accentuate a diamond's ability to return light at this time so in brazil they were starting to discover diamonds in the 1700s and more diamonds met more diamonds ending up in engagement rings also more diamonds meant more experimentation with cutting so in the late 17th century the rose cut emerged and that's where the diamond has a domed shape to it and it definitely offers more sparkle more light return however remember that the diamonds were only for the affluent so a respectable substitute for a diamond was often rock crystal during this time rock crystals are far easier to cut and polish than diamonds excuse me and diamonds at this time they were mainly coming from the galconda mine in far away india a little bit coming out of brazil so these rock crystals although this one looks dark typically they are colorless like diamonds they resemble diamonds and these were mined in europe so in the alpine regions of switzerland and southern germany and france so completely um respectable substitute for diamond so at this point in history engagement rings are definitely becoming more commonplace although they're fairly simple because of the materials available and those rudimentary methods of fabrication so i want to look at how those designs really evolved well popular around the 14th century lasting through the 17th century was the federing from mana de fere which means italian or it's italian for hands in faith it's two right hands that are clasped and it's meant to be a symbol of pledging vows or pledging eternal friendship it is worth noting though that this style actually does date back to roman times um they were found to have been used as engagement rings in medieval and renaissance europe amazingly enough this one is from the third century ce so we're actually going to see how the feta ring evolved into other styles in later years this is an interpretation of a federing which is incorporating that table cut diamond this one was probably given as a friendship ring as opposed to an engagement ring so popular around the 15th century lasting through the 17th century was a gimel ring it's from gumeles which is derived from gominus which is latin for twins it's also known as the puzzle ring as you can see sort of from the back of the band it was traditionally two or more bands that fit together to form one ring and this was meant to symbolize the intertwining of two lives so each the man and the woman would wear one part during the engagement and then reconnect them at the betrothal ceremony for the bride to wear so many royals used gimmel rings to propose marriage most notably in 1525 martin luther married catharina von bora using a gimmel ring and the one pictured here dates back to the late 16th century so today gimel rings can still be found in fact this is a more recent design by the designer todd reed we could also see a combination of design elements like this one which we could refer to as a fit a gimmel ring so that puzzle ring with clasping hands in fact this one pictured here the hands separate to reveal two hearts that are engraved with the letters f and m so these rings were often engraved with things like romantic mottos or phrases from the marriage ceremony or just the names of the couples and so this really suggests that they were being used as wedding rings popular in the 15th through the 18th century was the posey ring many different spellings for that um but it's named for posse which is french for poetry so they would be engraved with short love poems or ballads and this was meant to reflect the giver's literacy giftedness or their education level i imagine someone was really trying to show off with this ring and but these these posey rings were actually mentioned quite frequently by shakespeare and this one pictured here is from the mid 16th century so there's many varieties of posey rings these were really popular in england and france and they were typically exchanged between friends or relatives lovers and definitely at those betrothal and wedding ceremonies typically the engagement version would be silver and then it would be exchanged for gold at the marriage ceremony this one here is from the 17th century and it's engraved on the inside with hearts united live contented although we're at the mid-17th century now and the puritans actually repealed the idea of the engagement ring they linked it to the clergy they linked it to the church ritual they thought of it as very frivolous and so instead they would present the woman with a symbol a very practical item and but after the woman would actually insist on it on the basket portion being cut off to create a band after they had the ceremony and i think that this is actually a unique lesson because sometimes we can think of jewelry as being frivolous or an expendable luxury but really some people find very very deep symbolic meaning with it that just can't be ignored so in the 17th century we also saw the cluster ring come to into play and i haven't talked too much about colored stones in engagement rings but definitely the affluent would want to sort of flaunt their wealth by way of rubies or sapphires or pearls just to name a few here we have a cluster ring from the late 17th century with those table cut rubies popular in the 17th and 18th century was the clatter ring notice this is a type of feta ring remember meaning the hands clasped in faith although we have some additional elements so the hands represent friendship that heart there represents love and the crown is meant to represent loyalty so the clouded design is said to have originated in a small fishing village in galway although it has definitely come to be known as just a symbol of ireland itself and it's kind of neat to have this secret language ring because how or where it's worn actually conveys the where's relationship status so whether it's worn on the right hand or the left hand with the heart facing in or the heart facing out it's supposed to have the secret language of that relationship status they're still popular today although not commonly used as engagement rings i myself actually wear clad a band that i purchased in galway when i visited just a few years back the one pictured here however is from the 17th century and it has some of those rose-cut diamonds here's a dutch adaptation of the clattering from the mid-18th century all right so popular in the 18th and 19th centuries was acrostic ring so this was like the secret language of gemstones another one of those secret language rings so typically not worn as an engagement ring more often it would be used as a promise ring so sort of a promise of exclusive commitment and intent to engage maria antoinette's jewelry designer jean-baptiste malero is credited with inventing this style so it is when you take the first letter of each gemstone in that piece of jewelry or in that ring and it spells a secret message to the recipient so these are special styles for those who could afford and some of the more common uh messages that they would write are things like regard or beloved or adore so you could spell out that you adore your loved one by using an amethyst a diamond an opal a ruby and an emerald what i have here is actually a kunzite an alexandrite a tanzanite and an emerald spelling out my name kate so it's just kind of fun to think what message would you spell out in gemstones popular in the 19th uh late 19th and early 20th century was the ring french for you and me it's also known as a crossover ring so this is a modern interpretation of that sade ring instead of the hands coming together it's gemstones and these two stones would be set side by side or kind of passing by each other and this was meant to symbolize two souls intertwining so in 1776 this trend was really attributed to french emperor napoleon bonaparte and his uh first wife josephine however it was revived in 1953 when jfk gave one to jacqueline really revived this uh emua style pictured here both of these are from the late eighteen hundreds another hybrid here the toi ring this one is from 1814.
So remember those two gemstones coming together and gimel you can tell from the back of the band that it's that puzzle ring another hybrid here is the tua posey ring so this is from the 1400's it's a sapphire in garnet set side by side inscribed with monkey which is french for with all my heart and pictured here a unique mixture of design elements this is from the mid-18th century get ready for this so it has the tua element of the two gemstones the klatta element of the heart created by those two pair cuts and the crown the fede because the hands are coming together the gimel you can tell from the back of the band that it's a puzzle ring and it's actually a posey ring as well because it's engraved with uh gazja mate i think i hacked that i'm sorry um but it's a token of friendship so let's recap some of the styles that defined engagement rings throughout some historical periods and you will know that some of these historical periods tend to overlap in dates but let's start out with the georgian period so this was 1714 to 1837 this period is divide or sorry defined by grandeur elegance and there was an excessiveness of affluence and there was lots of fine silver high caritage gold large gemstones however they were typically set in closed back mountings and because of that often we would see foil back to counteract that lack of cutting ability during this time and we'd even see them use something called paste which is really just a simulant or an imitation gem there's some sub-eras in the georgian period barack sorry baroque which is the symmetrical grand ornate and showy period the rococo which is asymmetrical very elegant and light and delicate and then the neoclassical which is really inspired by greece and rome so it's that boldness but refined and then we move into the victorian period so this is 1837 to 1901.
this was a profoundly creative period for jewelry there was a resurgence of silver as a really stylish metal and there were a lot of symbolic themes that started to flourish so we saw a lot of animal motifs particularly serpents and snakes because those represented wisdom there were a lot of flower motifs because it was said that each flower would symbolize a feeling or an emotion without words kind of like the language of flowers and then this is when acrostic jewelry that acronym or initialism jewelry is really popular remember the language of gemstones so this victorian period can definitely be divided we have the early part where we saw color garnets and amethyst and turquoise and enamel to bring color into it and the sub-era during this period was the romantic period so it was influenced by classical and gothic renaissance and then even ancient greek and roman mythology and then as we move into the later part of the victorian period there was an emergence of middle class and then we have some sub-arrows there the grand period which was very much influenced by the queen's mourning period so we saw a lot of black materials jet and onyx and even black glass during that period and that moved into the aesthetic period where we saw a return to refined designs smaller and lighter diamonds were actually reserved for evening events it was a little taboo to wear your diamonds during the daytime as we move into the edwardian period 1901 to 1910 although sometimes it's extended to 1914 so this is also known as la belle epoque period which translate to the good times the diamond industry really started to take hold with some major sources being discovered in south africa during this time so royalty was based on wealth as opposed to lineage and also the american market emerged at this time so we were seeing very ornate pieces the affluent really wanted to show off their wealth and their rank so we saw lots of immense detail things like scrolls and lace and tassels um garland motifs open filigree milgrain embellishments on the edging very elaborate but still very delicate and we started to see platinum's first emergence into the jewelry industry because platinum really helped to achieve that as it is somewhat of a stronger metal so this period was really influenced by parisian architecture a very monochromatic look white on white on white and this is said to have been influenced by robert perry's historic exhibition to the north pole in 1909 to achieve that monochromatic look they were using platinum and pearls and diamonds and when it came to diamonds specifically the marquis cut because they said it was reminiscent of a racing yacht concurrently with the edwardian period was art nouveau so this was 1890-1910 and we saw a backlash against industrialization so it's really defined by the free-form asymmetry of nature things were elegant and organic and flowery we saw lots of curves and swirls and sweeping lines and a celebration of the female form this is a time of arts and crafts so creativity was seen across all the arts during this period we were seeing lots of alternative metals to platinum so base metals were coming into play alternative gems to diamonds so more organic gems and enamels were being used during the art nouveau period and then we move into art deco this was 1920 to 1945.
art deco represented the age of the machine so it was very much influenced by cubism's geometric forms things were bold and angular with very clean lines it was all about the glamour all about luxury platinum was the primary metal with white gold beginning to be used in jewelry yellow gold was not often seen during the art deco period but what we did see was pops of contrasting colors so pops of sapphire ruby emerald and onyx and these would contrast with those colorless diamonds and actually the halo style of today is a nod to this era so there was a new wave of feminism that rejected conservatism and they rejected the traditional femininity and the art deco period was once described as not for the faint of heart but for the bold of spirit and then we move into the retro period this is 1939 to 1950 this overlapped with the late uh art deco period so this was really inspired by the effects of world war ii so it was meant to counteract those somber clothing styles there were a lot of softer elements like flowers and butterflies to kind of soften the air's overarching masculinity a lot of florals and animals were meant to contrast that grave reality of the devastation of the war platinum really became scarce so white yellow and rose gold started to emerge we were seeing lower budget gems like aquamarine and citrine instead of the expensive diamonds and sapphires and and rubies and emeralds so we were seeing sort of the emergence of the concept of semi-precious gemstones during this time we had the symmetry of the art deco but it carried on to be bolder and larger and stronger and we often think of the retro period as kind of chunky and playful and then we moved to mid-century 1950 to 1950-1965 so in reaction to world war ii ending in 1945 we saw much more feminine and elegant style so lots of elements of nature or flowers like this piece here vines and starbursts and there was actually during this time a real rise in popularity of matching jewelry sets and then we come into modern time and some refer to it as mid-century mod but 1965 to turn of the century so we were starting to really see abstract things organic looks textured yellow gold we were borrowing from other cultures so we saw some bohemian influences and really towards the end of the late 20th century it was all about more there's more so at this time just for fun i thought we could put up a poll and find out what your favorite period is for the engagement ring we're just going to leave this up for a few moments and then reveal the results in a little bit towards the end of the presentation but which style is your favorite georgian victorian edwardian art nouveau art deco retro or mid-century mod feel free to go ahead and fill that out just for fun all right so we're going to pick back up with the diamond engagement ring and we're going to look at how styles really evolved in more recent times so in 1867 eureka diamonds were discovered in south africa and the diamond industry really began so in south africa these were the first primary sources so much more diamonds being discovered and then that meant an eventual trickle down to the less wealthy so a market started to develop in the u.s although diamonds and engagement rings still remain fairly uncommon until almost the mid-1900s it is worth noting however that in 1886 uh charles lewis tiffany who is the founder of tiffany and company he introduced the tiffany setting this was revolutionary in terms of setting styles so until then remember stones had been set really low typically in bezel settings where metal goes all the way around this was a turn away from that so this is a diamond solitaire meaning just one single stone one main stone it sits high to catch the light very unusual from how stones were being set in earlier times and it has since the term tiffany setting has since become synonymous with the setting and not necessarily the company although you might want to check out tiffany and company versus costco if you want to know a little bit more about that backstory so in the 1910s we had the end of the edwardian period so we were seeing intricate metal work a lot of that milgraining to enhance detail they were using platinum this uh the 1910s were greatly impacted by world war one so there was really a shift in focus to all things that supported the war as we moved into the 1920s diamonds started to gain traction because more of that supply was coming out of south africa with that the industrial revolution had actually allowed for better diamond cutting abilities so we were starting to see more cut and polished diamonds in engagement rings and other jewelry and then even during this time the modern round brilliant cut was developed so this is the round modern round brilliant that we know today and if you want to learn more you can learn all about the evolution of diamond cutting in our diamonds and diamond grading course but this is when that art deco style really took hold think the great gatsby everything was glamorous white uh white gold and platinum was big rhinestones and diamonds and geometric shapes like the asher cut and the emerald cut were really popular and those rich colored accents that i talked about we started to see jewelry houses really start to emerge during the 20s cartier and then van cleef and arpels really take foothold and then just when diamonds were starting to find their way into culture in 1930s came around and we entered the great depression which lasted the beginning part of the 1930s so during this time diamond engagement rings were a sacrifice luxury in the u.s diamond sales plummeted engagement rings really lost their importance and people would start to use substitutes if anything so using that pace that i talked about or even rhinestones nickel silver came into play then but towards the end of the decade we started to see a re-emergence of seeing luxury markets being created yellow gold coming into style and that solitaire single stone was really popular because it was simple and at a lower cost because of one single stone so with the 1940s world war ii impacted engagement ring sales immensely so platinum was prohibited to be used in jewelry during this time and de beers came into play and they were really working to keep the diamond industry strong de beers was focusing on this idea with diamonds of supply and demand to keep the engagement ring tradition alive in 1940 department stores started to carry diamond engagement rings which was sort of revolutionary to see that and the double ring tradition took hold of the engagement ring and a wedding band and then grooms also started to more commonly wear a wedding band during the 1940s and then in 1947 de beers marketing campaign a diamond is forever really solidified the notion that a diamond engagement ring was essential to any marriage commitment so they used a lot of well-known artists in their campaign they embedded this message into movies to do the campaigning for them and it worked so it's noteworthy to look at the fact that over the next 40 years so 1940 to 1980 the diamond sales rose from 23 million to over 2 billion so not all diamonds were going into engagement rings but pretty much all engagement rings were set with a diamond and in fact if you look at the cost difference in the 1940s the average engagement ring was about eighteen hundred dollars if we ingest uh adjust for inflation today the average engagement ring is about 5600 so in the 1950s it was all about sprays of diamonds so particularly those baguette cuts they acted as a sign of renewed prosperity and that that world war ii ban on platinum was lifted remember the [ __ ] moa style was revived thanks to jackie o lots of bold colors during this time audrey hepburn started a craze of these stacked delicate engagement bands and then in the 1960s we started to see unexpected center stones being streamlined in white metal so emerald sapphire's rubies were all the rage everyone wanted something different something unique celebrity engagement rings had a huge influence during the 60s particularly elizabeth taylor's 33 carat asher cut diamond and then we enter the 70s so with the 70s the princess cut emerged the princess cut was developed in the 60s but it really took hold in the 70s yellow gold and bold shapes defined this disco era wedding sets made to fit together like puzzle pieces were really popular kind of a throwback to that gimmel ring and a lot of cocktail-inspired statement rings were big during the 70s and then the 80s it was go big or go home over the top oversized bling bling bling so think of these swirling lines of baguettes we had thicker metal bands white metal was classic but yellow was the new standard and during this decade there was a motto of sort of greed is good and then remember also at this time princess dye's sapphire engagement ring caused a ripple effect of copycats of that and then in the 1990s 180 degree turn of ground or turn around sorry it was a reaction to the excessiveness of the 80s it was all about simplicity minimalism that solitaire setting came back remember the single stone along with a very simple and straightforward three stone ring and the marquee cut became all the rage it was said that it was much more refined than the boldness of the 80s of the past decade and remember that marquika is kind of a tip to the edwardian era there was a resurgence of white metal during this time so white gold and platinum because at this time yellow gold was really associated sort of with gaudy costume jewelry and then also you can't deny it the internet really changed the way that brides to be searched for inspiration for their engagement ring with the 2000s it was all about the halo halo halo more bling for your buck um yellow gold started to come back slowly by way of two-tone pieces and as we moved to the 2010s halo halo halo especially around new shapes like the cushion cut so we can kind of divide the 2010s by the early 2010s which it was all about round versus princess skinny pave bands rose gold really started to emerge and take hold and there was a resurgence in colored center stones thanks to her royal highness kate middleton and what was once considered precious sorry semi-precious gems like maybe morganite entered into that fine jewelry market and then the late 2010s it was round versus princess or cushion or emerald or especially oval because brides started to appreciate fancy cuts for the first time in a long time old was new and there was a re-emergence of art nouveau and art deco styles the re-emergence of that three stone ring thanks to her royal highness meghan markle there was the placeholder ring so that temporary stand-in for the forever ring and there i don't know if you remember but there was a helzberg ad campaign with a posey style ring that was engraved with this is a ring not the ring and then also we saw man engagement rings so believe it or not that was a failed attempt from the 1920s but it's the man or the male engagement ring and it actually is still gaining popularity today so now we're in the 2020s we've just started this decade but i would say anything goes although it is still about the halo halo halo at least for right now we're seeing lots of alternative gemstones like colored center stones lab grown diamonds if you're interested you could check out our advanced lab ground seminar coming up and even moisonite has come into its own as a diamond substitute we see a lot of unique settings so maybe the horizontal east east-west setting of the center stone or compass prong setting or claw shape prongs if you're interested in jewelry like that and learning more we do offer a two day joy forensics seminar you can check out engagement bands are becoming popular as opposed to the singular stone solitaires and we're seeing a lot of heirloom inspired pieces so replicas of period pieces telling us that old is still new so my personal prediction here is engagement ring doesn't need to be expensive doesn't need to have diamonds doesn't even need to have a gemstone but just it does need to honor that 2000 year old tradition so i thought i would share with you my favorite engagement ring so this was my paternal great grandmother's engagement ring from the early 1900s it was passed down to my grandmother and she removed the larger stones and she placed them in her own engagement ring they were all old european cuts and she um she passed this mounting down to me in 2005 shortly before her passing i couldn't believe it was a perfect fit and i had those orange and yellow sapphires set into the empty spaces where her larger diamonds were to give it sort of a unique mixture of old and new it's one of my most precious possessions it blows my mind to think that it is about a hundred years old so i thought i would take just a quick moment and touch on how to buy an engagement ring first off decide how much you want to spend in the 1930s we were looking at one month's income in the 1980s it was supposedly two months income in the 2000s three months income so what i would suggest is calculate extra income for one year and then that way theoretically it's paid off in a year do your homework um at the very least learn about the 4cs gia.edu is a great free resource for that but understand that you kind of need to have a little wiggle room because nature is unpredictable so i would say pick which one of the four c's cut color clarity or carat weight is most important to you and focus on that when you go looking to buy understand their taste in jewelry do they like modern or classic delicate or do they want to make a statement do they like white or metal or yellow metal if you can know their ring size just don't guess and find a jeweler that you trust ask questions ask opinions they are the professionals um don't feel rushed and i would say yes you can buy online but i always kind of say would you buy a car online maybe maybe not also check out some of those vintage and antique rings if you want something that feels like you have a piece of history but just celebrate that being having an engagement ring is being part of this ancient tradition and and keep in mind the symbolism that the engagement ring really represents so there's a lot of great information there's an infographic to recap the history of the engagement ring you can check that out go on gia.edu there's lots of other great articles there to check out and there's a book by george frederick coons called rings for the finger oh it's fantastic and then also i will kind of just throw out there there is museum of diamonds.org it's an online museum where you get to share the story of your engagement ring you even get to officially name your diamond i think that's fantastic so real quick let's find out the results of the poll i'm curious to know which one was the most popul art deco yes i'm not surprised 41 for art deco that period i wonder if i had you guys with my little um my little quote of it being described as not for the faint of heart but for the bold of spirit maybe i have some people watching that really want to embrace that so i think that's absolutely fantastic i'm kind of with you on that with art deco it's one of my faves and with that i'm going to throw it back to natalie hi kate what a great presentation i will have to say that my favorite is mid-century modern but you and i've talked about that already that is i i just think it's fantastic um we have a few questions for the audience and we've got about 15 minutes left um so just a couple if this is an interesting one if a couple breaks up who gets the ring oh i've heard this question asked so many times and unfortunately there's really no straightforward answer it kind of varies by jurisdiction so sometimes it has to be legally returned to the giver no matter who is quote unquote at fault for ending an engagement um but sometimes it actually depends if the marriage ceremony has taken place because it could be considered that the gifting of the engagement ring has become complete with the ceremony um in some places it's argued that if it was given on a traditional gift-giving holiday like valentine's day or christmas that it is a gift that would that belongs to the recipient um and even there is this interesting story that i read that took place in i want to say australia if i remember correctly where a couple broke up the man said the woman could keep the engagement ring she threw it away she wanted nothing to do with it he found out got really angry soon her um for the amount that it cost in one so she actually had to pay about eleven thousand dollars to replace the ring that she threw away so it is kind of different depending on where you live all right so do you know the average price of an engagement ring today today so like i said it's really interesting to look at the fact that in the 1940s we were looking at i believe it was about 1800 you know if you adjust for today's inflation compared to what i've read recently or most recently the average in the states is 5600 although of course that differs and changes depending on where you are in the united states or if we're talking united states versus other countries it's a really hard number to nail down and but there's lots of articles out there that you can just jump online and see and it's really interesting i think to compare prices throughout the decades and and watch um both prices and both styles interest me very interesting all right can you tell us a little bit about wearing the ring on the left finger does everyone wear the engagement ring on the left finger yeah so i touched on that a little bit about the different traditions going through history but really in anglo-saxon countries the ring is customarily worn on the ring finger of the left hand but customs vary considerably across the world so in some countries the engagement ring is worn on the fourth finger of the right hand and this tradition is commonly followed in places like russia and india scandinavian countries some east european countries and south american countries i myself actually have friends that are from iran and iraq and they wore their engagement rings on their right hand here in the states so to each their own okay that kind of leads into our next question um what are we talked more about kind of engagement rings in western europe and in the west can you tell us a little about engagements um maybe in other parts of the world um engagements in other parts of the world engagement ring you know our engagement rings used all over the world are they mostly so i i will say most of the information that's out there it touches more in the european cultures and then um coming into the u.s in more recent 21st century times um 20th 20th century and 21st century so most of the research that's out there that i could get my hands on doesn't extend you know all around the globe as you can imagine engagement rings they have they have a similar history in terms of their meaning especially if we go back to the very beginning of my presentation where it was really just talking about the ancient roman times where the engagement ring was that symbol and so it's so the tradition itself we have found that it comes from that ancient rome uh era but it's sort of altered and changed in other countries it would be impossible to to kind of touch on every every country and their engagement ring styles great okay one question can you tell us a little bit about the halo can you give an exact definition for what a halo is on the engagement oh absolutely um so the halo is typically when you have one center stone and then a circle of smaller stones around it so from far away it gives this big impact so i would say that the halo style started probably more in the late 1990s when it was revived obviously we talked about how this is a kickback or a nod to the art deco style but um in the late 1990s early 2000s we saw for engagement rings what were called jackets so it is where a band would fit with a solitaire ring and kind of bling it up a little bit and i think from there people really wanted to always have the bling with that center stone and so from there jewelry designers started to say hey let's just do a circle of tiny stones to really capture the light and accentuate that center stone hopefully that answers the question perfect all right so did engagement rings always have a diamond so no i i touched on that a little bit but it's actually that fairly new tradition with engagement rings so between the 1300s and the 1700s some of those diamonds were being found in the fields of india but they really couldn't be cut during that time they didn't have the technology or the understanding because diamonds were harder than any other gemstone they had come across yet so they were actually thought to have mystical powers um and because of that typically they would end up with the nobility of china or definitely european nobility at that time in the 1700s gold miners in brazil discovered design uh discovered diamonds and so it was kind of funny they were gold miners so they're searching for gold and they came across these colorless rocks and didn't really know what they had at first um and they were actually using them as gambling placeholders which is kind of funny but eventually they discovered what they were that they had discovered a new diamond source besides india and so that meant more diamonds it meant more kind of playing around they learned that they could rub two diamonds together and start to affect one another and smooth each other out they determined how or they discovered how they could rub a rock with olive oil and diamond dust and grind it down to make that table cut and so because the cutting was still pretty crude and difficult at the time we saw a lot of really ornate metal work in the 18th and the 19th centuries kind of disguise the poorly cut diamonds and and then like i had mentioned in the late 1800s when diamonds were discovered in south africa those were from the first primary source ever discovered so primary source meaning they they actually learned that diamonds came up from um from deep deep within the ground and so a lot of those diamonds are what we call um still in the pipe so they had to dig for them but it meant that there was more diamonds much more diamonds than ever before being discovered and it was that discovery that changed the face of engagement rings um along with the fact that cutting technology the rotary saw was developed during the early 1900s and that made a huge difference in being able to cut diamonds into a shape that made it look desirable so once it was cut into this like sparkly shape people were wanting them more it was almost like everything coming together in unity with the diamonds being found the technology of cutting coming around and then also with the wealth changing from nobility to um to to really that monetary wealth and the u.s market emerging and that's when we started to see engagement rings with diamonds in them very cool okay so another question um why why a diamond engagement ring why all the vaginas yeah i know there's so much controversy over like marketing just wants you to to buy a diamond well that's part of it it is mainly because of good marketing but the flip side of that it's just the preferred gem to be worn every day for a lifetime and then to pass it down like my great-grandmother got to pass her ring down to my grandmother and down to me because diamonds can withstand that wear and tear they have this immense uh what's the word i'm looking for resistance to scratching and so if you were to wear something like an opal engagement ring although i know that they're out there they they really aren't meant to be worn every single day so something like an opal engagement ring would be a horrible standard for engagement ring because eventually it would probably we call it crazing but it would basically crack um but many other gemstones would as well now there are some alternatives to diamonds that are great um in terms of their hardness their wearability things like the ruby and the sapphire so corundum is a great alternative morganite's a great alternative topaz is a great alternative but none of those are as hard as diamonds so you will see wear and tear on any of those other gemstones throughout like i said a lifetime of wearing an engagement ring which hopefully one hopes that they're gonna get to wear it for let's say 50 years right and then pass it down um and so i would say that yes it's marketing but it's it's marketing the best gemstone for it great great answer um can you tell us a little bit about maybe the most common cut today for engagement rings oh yes by far the round so we're starting to see and i i think by cut you meant shape right yeah sorry yeah so we're definitely starting to see people pay more attention to the fancy shaped diamonds and i'd say some of the more popular fancy shapes still the princess the cushion the emerald the oval the marquee the heart has a following as well i think i touched on all the biggies um but by far if you were to look at the number of round diamonds being cut versus the number of fancy shaped diamonds being cut by far people are turning to the round brilliant and there is reason for that it is all about light and we talk about this in our diamonds and diamond grading course here at gia and you learn all about light return but really light enters a diamond and it's very unique in how it bounces around and it's cut in such a way that the light bounces back up at our eyes so when we have it on our hand and we look at it the lights entering and then bouncing back out at us and looking sparkly and beautiful and so it's that round cut that has the capability to maximize light return more than any other cut so i think that that's why people tend to still gravitate towards that um but i will say that i don't think i mentioned the pair the pair has probably been the shape that has not gone in and out of style throughout the decades recent decades as much as all the other shapes we saw the princess cut really have its time to shine in past decades we saw the marquis really have its time to shine in the oval more recently but i will say that the downside of picking a fancy shaped diamond over round diamond is that as you can see from my presentation they do start to get associated just like colored different colored metals start to get associated with different time periods and it could look a little bit dated but what we also learned from the presentation is that what goes around comes around and so it's almost like don't worry it will become very much on trend at another point in history so that's my two cents on that kate thank you so much that was a great answer and unfortunately this is the end of our knowledge session for today if you all have any other questions please feel free to reach out to us on instagram facebook linkedin and twitter um don't forget next week is our knowledge rocks week and we will have another knowledge session with dr erin kalke and emerald tanner to tell us all about southwest gems and kate thanks so much for your time today was fantastic thank you all and i appreciate everybody who came and joined me today
