Celebrate your engagement with an antique ring

I am a magpie when it comes to jewellery. This has been true since I was a child when I would play dress up with my moms beads and bangles and it has not abated in my adult life. I think it is true to say that I follow in a long line of magpies – my mom has an extensive and beautiful collection of jewels, and my nan’s bedroom was always a treasuret trove filled with heavy charm bracelets, Sovereign rings and other pieces that could only make my eyes goggle when I was young.

Where I differ from my mother and grandmother is that, in general, my jewellery is of the paste and costume variety. I own only a few pieces that could be considered truly valuable, but one of these pieces is actually one I wear every single day. On my right hand I wear an antique engagement ring. It is a beautiful yellow gold and diamond piece that belonged to my grandmother, which makes its value and provenance so important to me. I know that this was not her original engagement ring – she got engaged just after World War 2 and had a plain band, but that this ring was an antique piece that my grandfather presented her with a few years later. My nan died in 1998 and I have now been wearing this ring for almost 20 years – it is irreplaceable and beautiful and I wouldn’t part with it for all the money in the world.

If you are getting engaged this year, an antique ring is a beautiful alternative to a High Street jeweller.  Berganza is a reputable dealer in antique jewellery, including engagement rings. The company, based in London’s famous Hatton Garden, is also a wealth of information about vintage and antique pieces, including the key pieces from different styles and era’s, birth stones for each month of the year, and different cuts of stone.

I think there can be nothing more romantic than sealing your love with an antique ring, one that may have a story of past love behind it. You can find the perfect gift for the one you love by choosing something from their favourite era (for me this would be anything Art Deco), or maybe looking at something that they may have seen on TV (in a series like Downton Abbey or a film like ‘The Great Gatsby’).  You can still set your own budget,  and could maybe even contact Berganza to see if they could find a specific style for you.

For romance with a touch of history, an antique engagement ring is hard to beat.

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