The Dazzling History of Natural Diamond Engagement Rings

Many believe the first diamond engagement ring was given to Mary of Burgundy by the Archduke Maximilian of Austria in 1477. A letter written to Maximilian before he proposed read, “At the betrothal, your Grace must have a ring set with a diamond and also a gold ring.”

Like all precious stones at the time there was symbolism behind the gem. Diamonds sparkled with the purity of fidelity or faithfulness and durability. Lapidaries did not have the tools to cut a diamond. Jewelers mounted them in their natural octahedral form, which looks like two pyramids joined at the base.

A Niklas Reiser painting of Mary from the Renaissance era showing her wearing a solitaire on her right hand, is often used to illustrate the point of her engagement ring. Though it is not known with absolute certainty if the ring in the painting is her engagement ring, it could have been. During the time engagement rings were often worn on the second or the third finger of the right hand, because people believe that one or both of these fingers had veins connected to the heart.

In 1886, the year the Tiffany Setting launched, the Statue of Liberty was open to the public and Coca-Cola appeared on grocery shelves for the first time. Like those other American icons from the era, the Tiffany Setting has endured.

Founder Charles Lewis Tiffany conceived the Setting to glorify a single diamond as a symbol of everlasting love. The design had prongs lifting a diamond above a slender gold band. Light passed between the ring prongs and through the diamond, heightening its brilliance.

The deceptively simple style set the stage for the gem to shine as the star and established the new mode for modern engagement rings that dominated the 20^th century and continues to be popular to this day.

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the first high profile women to wear a Tiffany Setting engagement ring. She received the jewel centering on a 3.4-carat diamond from Franklin Roosevelt in 1904 and shortly after wrote him a note saying, “You could not have found a ring I would have liked better.”

Innovations in diamond cutting brought fancy diamond shapes to the forefront in engagement rings during the 1920s. The advancement in lapidary techniques gave square shapes, the rectangular emerald cut and boat shaped marquise sharper edges. Lapidaries could also cut long slim sleek facets resulting in brighter gems for engagement rings.

One of the most well-known fancy-cut diamond engagement rings of the period belonged to the Hollywood movie star Norma Shearer. In 1927 when the young producer Irving Thalberg, known as “The Boy Wonder of MGM” proposed to Shearer in his office, he showed her a tray full of engagement rings and told her to pick one. The actress chose a large marquise shape diamond set on a slender platinum band. After she received the ring, Shearer wore it in all her movies where she played a married woman.

There are some who believe diamond engagement rings only came into vogue during the mid-20^th century. The theory, which we have clearly proven wrong, is based on the success of the “A Diamond Is Forever” ad campaign conceived by N.W. Ayer copywriter Frances Gerety in 1948.

While the line has become legendary and certainly helped encourage couples to choose a diamond at the time, there were other factors that added to the mid-century enthusiasm for the gem.

In 1947 a few years before she became Britain’s Queen, Princess Elizabeth announced her engagement to Prince Philip and showed the press and public her engagement ring with a 3-carat round diamond center stone flanked by smaller diamonds set in platinum.

The glamour of the fairy tale royal romance and the fascination with every detail of it was another source of inspiration for couples to get diamond engagement rings during the post war marriage boom.

A few years after Marilyn Monroe sang “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” in the 1953 classic film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes two iconic movie stars seem to be embodying the statement with their ginormous emerald cut diamond engagement rings that raised the bar and set the standard for Hollywood glamour.

Elizabeth Taylor received a 29.4-carat emerald-cut diamond engagement ring from film producer Michael Todd at the end of 1956. When asked about it by the press, Todd joked that “it was not quite 30 but twenty-nine-and-a-half carats.” Taylor referred to her big diamond as “My ice-skating rink.”

Prince Rainier of Monaco gave Kelly a Cartier ring with a 10.48-carat-emerald cut diamond flanked by two baguettes. The jewel received international attention because Kelly was going to be leaving Hollywood to become royalty when she married the prince. Before she left, she wore the ring in her final film High Society (1956).

Grace Kelly’s ring is given a Technicolor close-up when her ex-husband in the film, played by Bing Crosby, remarks to her new fiancé, “Some stone George. Did you mine it yourself?” At one point in the production, Kelly rather hilariously polishes the ring on her dress and admires it.

Once the couple landed, Seal popped the question with a 10-carat oval shaped yellow diamond set on a slender pavé-set yellow diamond band. The jewel was designed by Lorraine Schwartz who became the go-to engagement ring source for so many stars after creating Heidi’s ring including Beyoncé and Jay-Z and Kim Kardashian and Ye (aka Kanye West).

More than ever before in the history of engagement rings, today many brides choose styles that have a sense of individuality in the design. The reason for the change is surely the winds of fashion and women’s awareness from press coverage not to mention internet searches that prove a lot of different choices available.

In other words, the ring of your dreams that reflects your personality can be found. For some women, of course this can mean something understated. Jennifer Lawrence wears a gorgeous emerald cut diamond engagement ring that by Hollywood standards is low-key. Individuality in engagement rings can also mean something bold and different.