Subject: Diamonds and Engagement Rings

From: [email-masked] (Walter Juzenas)
Date: 7 Mar 1994 15:09:01 -0500

I just got engaged and my girlfriend, Jackie, and I decided we did not
want to go the gold and diamond route.  Instead we got matching silver
Hopi wedding rings.

During the course of our discussions, we became curious as to when exactly
the whole diamond tradition began and what it is supposed to symbolize. 
Does anyone have any light to shed on the subject?

Thanks!!!

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My supermarket's bigger than your supermarket,         " _/_/_/_/_/ "
that's what America's all about... --Peter Meinke       _/   
________________________________________	       _/_/_/	 	
Eric Juzenas <[email-masked]>	      _/            
----------------------------------------	     _/_/_/_/_/

George Washington University Medical Center
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From: [email-masked] (Pete Berger)
Date: 10 Mar 1994 17:06:03 -0500

Walter Juzenas ([email-masked]) wrote:
: During the course of our discussions, we became curious as to when exactly
: the whole diamond tradition began and what it is supposed to symbolize. 
: Does anyone have any light to shed on the subject?

Probably symbolic of the role of woman as chattel to be bought and sold 
in exchange for valuable goods.

Peter

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From: [email-masked] (Chris Frazier)
Date: 11 Mar 1994 23:06:21 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Pete
Berger) writes:
|> Walter Juzenas ([email-masked]) wrote:
|> : During the course of our discussions, we became curious as to when exactly
|> : the whole diamond tradition began and what it is supposed to symbolize. 
|> : Does anyone have any light to shed on the subject?
|> 
|> Probably symbolic of the role of woman as chattel to be bought and sold 
|> in exchange for valuable goods.
|> 
|> Peter
|>

I understood this question differently.  

Are diamonds engagement rings really "traditional"? I thought that
this was a pretty recent trend.
 
Doesn't anybody out there in netland have a mother or grandmother who was 
given an engagement ring with a stone in it which wasn't a diamond?
I know that one of my grandmothers got a diamond.  I don't know what
my other grandmother got.

I'd  heard that sapphires were the stone of choice among "royalty".
Can anybody confirm this?

ChrisF

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From: [email-masked] (Alison Breeze)
Date: 13 Mar 1994 03:19:41 GMT

>Can anybody confirm this?

	I heard somewhere once that diamonds in wedding rings were
*not* the tradition, but rather something started so that people
who controlled the diamond trade could make gads of money.
My parent's wedding rings were, by choice, plane gold bands.
I think that this came from what was traditional before 
diamond rings became popular.

-- 
    Alison     <[email-masked]>
                  
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/    Condemn no man and consider nothing impossible,    / 
/    For there is no man that does not have a future    /
/    And there is nothing that does not have its hour.  /
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

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From: [email-masked] (Melissa A. Rosato)
Date: 13 Mar 94 18:19:52 EST

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Alison

> diamond rings became popular.

This is probably true, considering that I have heard of the significance of
the circular wedding band a lot, but never of the diamond within it.  Since
most things in this world seem to have a monetary reason behind them, this
is probably it!

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From: [email-masked] (elaine bough)
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 00:14:30 GMT

Ummm....  In my historical costuming class, we learned that women were given
gold-washed iron rings for engagement/edding, and the Hebrews or Jewish peopleshad hollow rings with architectural designs back in the Medieval/Byzantine/Dark
Ages.                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
                      The ring looked like it was a miniature of a temple or
some other important building...   

(Could be wrong on my time period guessing...  Someone please feel free to
 correct me!!)  

e.