A vintage engagement ring is an engagement ring with a style that is inspired by the elegance of the past. They are also known as antique rings and these pieces can be found in many different styles.
What is a vintage engagement ring?
A vintage engagement ring is an engagement ring with a style that is inspired by the elegance of the past. They are also known as antique rings and these pieces can be found in many different styles.
Vintage engagement rings have been around since the end of 19th century when they began to replace wedding bands as the symbol of marriage. The idea was that women would wear their rings on their left hand and men would wear theirs on their right hand. This tradition was started by Queen Victoria, who married Prince Albert in 1840 and wore his first wedding band on her left hand instead of her right like everyone else did at the time.
Vintage style engagement rings are timeless and will never go out of style. They come in all sorts of styles, We’ll tell you how the designs of vintage rings have evolved over time, and which eras inspired their most popular styles in the following sections.
Victorian Engagement Rings (1835-1900)
Victorian engagement rings were often made with diamonds or other precious stones set in platinum or white gold. Many times these rings featured a unique center stone surrounded by smaller diamonds or gemstones. The rings could be very ornate and intricate with filigree designs and scrollwork on the band, which would make them look like jewelry pieces rather than just a simple band with a diamond on top. A high level of craftsmanship and technical expertise was required to create a valuable Victorian engagement ring style, so the more ornate the ring, the more expensive it was to buy.
Edwardian Engagement Rings (1900-1920)
Edwardian engagement rings were inspired by the Victorian era, which was famous for its ornate pieces. However, Edwardian engagement rings were much more simple in design with less ornamentation and large diamonds. This was due to the change in the royal family line; Queen Victoria did not have any male heir and so she passed the throne down to her eldest daughter, Princess May. This meant that many young women began wearing simple engagement rings with a single diamond set within a white gold band.
Art Deco Engagement Rings (1920-1930)
The Art Deco Era rings have a very different style than that of the other eras in engagement rings history. This style period is characterized by its geometric, geometric and symmetrical shapes. The Art Deco engagement ring features a lot of geometric patterns, flowing lines and circles. Art Deco rings often included metalwork with repeating, sharp angles and tiny beads called milgrain. The most common design is having an emerald cut diamond with a fancy cut diamond on either side of it and a tapered baguette running down the center. In some cases, you can see just one emerald cut diamond surrounded by baguettes or in some cases even smaller diamonds as accent stones around it to give the ring more sparkle and shine.
Retro Engagement Rings (1935-1950)
In the 1930s, few engagement rings featured a diamond as the center stone. However, after World War II and the highly successful De Beers diamond marketing campaign which encouraged people to spend more on the diamond center stone. In this area engagement rings almost exclusively featured diamonds. Unlike earlier rings, engagement rings from this “Retro Era” featured simpler designs. Solitaire rings and baguette side stones were very popular in the early 1900s, and the typical size of the center stone grew larger once the Depression ended.
Are vintage engagement rings cheaper?
In a lot of cases, vintage engagement rings are cheaper than modern-style engagement rings. There are many reasons for this. First and foremost, the price of gold has gone up dramatically over the past few years. This means that it is much more expensive to buy a ring made with gold today than it was just a few years ago.
However, if you want to know if vintage engagement rings nowadays are cheaper than modern engagement rings, the answer has a lot to do with the type of ring and metal used. If you want to buy a vintage engagement ring, then you should know that there are several factors that determine the price of this type of jewelry. For example, vintage rings in platinum are usually more expensive than modern rings because they're harder to come by. Also, vintage rings are often made of yellow gold instead of white gold, but again, this depends on the style of ring. However vintage engagement rings might be cheaper than modern styles is because of the fact that they aren't as popular as they once were. As a result, there are fewer people in the market looking for vintage engagement rings which makes them less expensive.
How to clean a vintage engagement ring?
The best way to keep your vintage engagement ring sparkling is to clean it regularly. Fill a bowl or sink with warm water and add a drop of antibacterial dish soap to it. Rinse the ring with the soap solution until all traces of dirt are gone from the surface of your ring. Dry the ring completely before putting it back on and wearing it again. Be sure not to use any cleaner that contains ammonia or bleach though because these can damage the stone in antique rings if they get too close to its surface
If you'd like to remove more stubborn stains or tarnish from your antique engagement ring, there are specialty cleaners available at Barrington jewelry store that will work well on older pieces as well as newer ones.
How to update a vintage engagement ring?
If your engagement ring doesn't have any sentimental value and you're not interested in selling it, there are plenty of ways to update a vintage engagement ring without destroying its originality. If you're looking to update your ring but don't want to lose its vintage feel, you can separate the stone from the band. This doesn't mean replacing the diamond though, It just means that your diamond can be set into a new band design that will give it a fresh look without losing its vintage charm. Consult with our jewelry designers on what is the best way for you to create a new and fresher-styled engagement ring for you. We will help you to make your inspiration a reality.
Closing Thoughts
If you are considering buying a vintage engagement ring, you should have a good understanding of the eras and styles. Maybe it's not all that surprising that such a different trend exists in engagement rings. The sentiment behind why someone wears an engagement ring doesn't change much over time. Today, a lot of couples create their own trends, often melding old with new and "rebooting" a vintage classic with the help of jewelry experts just like our team here in Barrington Jewels. A vintage-style engagement ring is just another instance of this concept.
