Ring
ca. 1890 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The gold band of this ring is set with a row of five open-set diamonds in deeply engraved star shaped settings. Women wore rings across all their fingers in the nineteenth century although the quantity worn decreased towards the end of the century.
The discovery of substantial diamond deposits in South Africa, which began around 1867 with a chance find by Erasmus Jacobs on his father's farm, transformed the availability of the stone. By the 1890s South African mines were yielding more diamonds than had been found in the previous 2000 years. Customers often preferred to make an impression through the number and size of stones used rather than the overall design of the ring. An Illustrated London News columnist wrote despairingly in 1887 of 'fine stones set in straight rows with as much notion of beauty and originality in their arrangement as in an old-fashioned box edging to a garden.'
The discovery of substantial diamond deposits in South Africa, which began around 1867 with a chance find by Erasmus Jacobs on his father's farm, transformed the availability of the stone. By the 1890s South African mines were yielding more diamonds than had been found in the previous 2000 years. Customers often preferred to make an impression through the number and size of stones used rather than the overall design of the ring. An Illustrated London News columnist wrote despairingly in 1887 of 'fine stones set in straight rows with as much notion of beauty and originality in their arrangement as in an old-fashioned box edging to a garden.'
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Gold with diamonds |
| Brief description | Gold ring with diamonds. Sponsor's mark 'WGM', probably England, ca.1890. |
| Physical description | Gold ring with diamonds, marked '18 CT. Sponsor's mark 'WGM' |
| Dimensions |
|
| Marks and inscriptions | marks '18 CT.' and sponsor's mark 'WGM' |
| Credit line | Bequeathed by Rosemary Eve Lawrence |
| Summary | The gold band of this ring is set with a row of five open-set diamonds in deeply engraved star shaped settings. Women wore rings across all their fingers in the nineteenth century although the quantity worn decreased towards the end of the century. The discovery of substantial diamond deposits in South Africa, which began around 1867 with a chance find by Erasmus Jacobs on his father's farm, transformed the availability of the stone. By the 1890s South African mines were yielding more diamonds than had been found in the previous 2000 years. Customers often preferred to make an impression through the number and size of stones used rather than the overall design of the ring. An Illustrated London News columnist wrote despairingly in 1887 of 'fine stones set in straight rows with as much notion of beauty and originality in their arrangement as in an old-fashioned box edging to a garden.' |
| Bibliographic reference | Church, Rachel, Rings, London, V&A Publishing/ Thames and Hudson, 2017, p.82-3, fig. 107 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | M.23-1996 |
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| Record created | November 7, 2005 |
| Record URL |
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