It was a beautiful day. The birds and the bees, fluttering about,
were busy living up to their reputations. In a cozy corner of an Italian
courtyard, back in the early part of the 19th century, two romantic
young people were crowding years into brief moments of ecstasy. Again
and again their lips made passionate contact as they pledged their
undying devotion through all eternity.
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| Thirty-one unusual rings, each with a story, belong to Charles Harris of New York. |
“Let us toast our love,” gasped the fair young thing, coming up for air.
They drank a toast to their future happiness together. With that they
embraced again—and lived happily ever after . . . ???? Beg pardon!—
They??—Correction, please! She lived happily ever after—he dropped dead
ten minutes later!
The blood was still hot in his veins when his heart grew cold. What
could have caused his untimely demise? Prostration? Palpitation?
Passion? . . . No! … It was POISON! That sweet little charmer with whom
he had been planning a glorious future put the kibosh on him with the
aid of a tricky little ring she wore. By flicking a tiny hidden catch on
the ring, she had caused the emerald and its elaborate setting to
spring open, exposing a secret compartment from which she casually
dropped a pellet of poison into the gentleman’s drink.
That ring, a masterpiece of fine workmanship and deadly design,
originally owned and operated by the Cigliano family, famous in the
court life of the period, is now a treasured part of a unique collection
of rings owned by Charles Harris, a New York jeweler who has been
collecting them as a hobby for many years. His collection of over thirty
odd rings, the oldest of which is Greek and dates back to 750 B. C.,
represents a cross-section of history little known to the public. From
the most sentimental designs to the most deadly, each has its own
interesting history. Some, in fact, have even shared in making history.
There is Napoleon’s signet ring, made for him by one of his men from a
cannon. Napoleon used this ring to impress his seal on messages.
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| Top, Close-up shows hair ring and one from ancient Greece. Bottom, Top center, Simon Bolivar's love ring. |
Chaperon rings, dating from 1855-1875, open to hold treasured mementos such as locks of hair.
Frequently Mr. Harris gets requests to make up unusual rings. Though
love itself has remained unchanged, lovers are continually cooking up
new ways of expressing their emotion. One romantic couple wanted to seal
their commingled blood in a wedding ring. Harris obliged them by
selecting a bloodstone, (the girl’s birthstone). Splitting the stone, he
grooved the lower half to hold the blood, then sealed the upper half in
place with diamond cement.
His favorite story concerns the old Syrian superstition that a ring
with a beryl will prevent child-bearing. Some years ago a Manhattan rug
merchant, sire of eight healthy sons and daughters, came to have his
wife’s plain wedding ring exchanged for one with a beryl. Harris, who
knows better than to argue about superstitions, did the job.
“Did it work?” we wanted to know.
“In a way—at least the woman had no more children,” Harris replied. “But,” he added, “the husband died four months later.” by Louis Hochman
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| Did you know that during the 1920a many women in England, who divorced from their husbands, continued to wear their wedding ring, but had a fracture cut in it by a jeweler, as an indication of that fact? Those who had parted from more than one husband, had notches to indicate that number made in the edge of the gold band. |
"Here they are! The top ten MOST UNUSUAL wedding/engagement rings ever
made. From the spooky to the bizarre, take a peek at some of the most
unusual rings on the planet!"
More Ring Trivia:
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