Traditional Engagement ring

People or companies that can benefit the most from the tradition have exploited the traditional engagement ring in the  personal or family tradition. Manufactures and jewelers that have the most to gain from this tradition have pushedthe traditional engagement ring and wedding bands.

Pope Innocent III in 1215 can be known as the first to use an traditional engagement ring when he made it a law that there was a certain amount of time between engagement and marriage. Back then there were laws that  separated different classes of people and only the privileged few were able to wear jewels on engagement rings. Other used just a plain band of gold, silver or metal. Then over time the laws were changed to allow others to wear jewels and their wedding or traditional engagement rings.

First there were traditional engagement ring and wedding bands that had stones and one the biggest traditions was to have six birthstones to represent the engaged couple and the parents of the engaged. The diamond producer DeBeers began standardizing the diamond engagement ring in the middle of the 20^th century with a massive advertising campaign.

The male engagement ring was not a tradition but the United States jewelry companies tried to establish it as a tradition by using a historical theme of the medieval times but it did not take off. But up until this time you did not see male wedding rings but after this intense advertising campaign the male wedding ring became more prominent.

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The price of a wedding band or engagement ring was determined by what a man could afford and this was acceptable. Even in the cases where all the man could afford was an iron ring it was accepted. Today’s cost of a wedding or engagement ring can be as high as three months of a man wages.

In the United States a wedding ring is a conditional gift and if the women calls off the marriage the ring is to be returned. But if the man calls off the marriage then the women can keep the ring. Gifts are not to be taken back with this exception in the Meyer vs. Metnick said that an engagement ring is a conditional gift. So in the case that there is a divorce or an engagement is called off. It has to be known who stopped the engagement or started the divorce so that it can be determined if the rings should be returned or not.