Wedding Blog
Need I say more? Actually I should. This is my disclaimer, and I have no objections to anyone else wearing new diamonds. I eat meat and others don’t. No harm no foul. Now that that’s out of the way…
About 6 years ago I read about diamonds called Diamond: The History of a Cold-Blooded Love Affair. The book put me off on diamonds, well, more the industry, ever since. Because of the book, I wasn’t sure I wanted a diamond engagement ring. I definitely didn’t want one mined out of Africa and while I know there are Canadian diamonds, I wasn’t sure about which company owned which mine. I think if I really, really knew where a diamond came from and knew everything about the company that mined it, I might be OK with a diamond ring. That’s a lot of research to do, and these days you can never be so sure. I see other people’s rings and wish I didn’t feel that way about diamonds. They are really beautiful.
Knowing how I feel about diamonds made it tough on Mr. Joey. He asked me if I was opposed to an engagement ring with a pearl or other stone. I told him I didn’t care. It was up to him. I was no help at all.
A few months before getting engaged, Mr. Joey and I were stuck behind a passing train and we were all agitated in the car, so we decided to pull into an Antique Mall we passed frequently but had never been in. I’m so glad we did. In one of the cases were these beautiful antique wedding sets. Absolutely gorgeous! I told him so, and he asked if I’d wear one of them. I told him I was actually happy with a diamond as long as the money went to someone besides a mining company or big international jewelry chain. Ding, ding, ding. He found his loophole.
The ring is from the 1940s and reminds me of our reception venue. I love the detail and love that he picked something I would have picked!
Now, need I say more….
On the coffee plant
Again, on the coffee plant
For Mr. Joey!
Mr. Joey got this in a fortune cookie and we loved it so much I framed it!
A Cava cork we turned into a magnet
More cork
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Share this post: Zee Ring!
Well, I lucked out and got his great-grandmother’s ring. Its an old miners cut set in platinum with milgrain on the sides-absolutely beautiful! The ring is about 102 years old, and it’s so special to know that his grandmother liked me enough to give the OK!
Awww, it’s so cute that Mr. Joey was involved in the process and learning about your preferences — and the ring you found is beautiful!
Beautiful! I was drooling over similar rings when we were looking. However, we opted for a new antique-inspired ring.
OMG he’s so sweet 
Mine’s an antique.. it’s his grandmothers and his great uncle cut it himself!
LOVE the vintage detail and that it is so one of a kind (not to mention responsible)! Beautiful!
Love that it is vintage and eco-friendly!! And would you think I am totally crazy if I told you that Mr. Peep use to work at Quivera- one of the corks in the second and third pic from the bottom! ha ha.
Love it! I have an antique engagement ring that my fiance and I picked out together at an antique store in my neighborhood. I was also totally opposed to diamonds, but once I put on that sparkly sucker I was hooked. Same as you, I figure that there’s a loophole for antique diamonds.
I love vintage rings. Mine is new but I love the history a vintage ring has. Very pretty!
Love it! Mr. Rye got me an estate ring through family friends.
I love fortunes from fortune cookies! One time I got the best fortune: You are someone who likes Chinese food.
@sorry: We didn’t actually drink all the wine ourselves We asked friends to keep their corks for an entire year. We’re swimming in corks now.
I am in love with your ring and your photos!
and you have a coffee plant?! awesome.
@LatteLove: Yes, isn’t the coffee plant ironic for someone who doesn’t drink coffee.
Beautiful!
I have looked into antique/estate rings, and there are so many unique options out there. We have also talked to someone at Brilliant Earth (Canadian mined diamonds) and have really appreciated their help and advice. It is nice to know we have several responsible alternatives.
My diamond is about 4x older than me and had been in a necklace but he had it reset in a beautiful custom designed setting modeled after an antique. I love it!
Your ring is beautiful! It reminds me of my grandmother’s. I sometimes wish mine was an antique!
I have an antique too! We pored over pictures of engagement rings together and I could never really commit to any of them until we saw this one — on Craigslist, no less! It was completely unexpected and PERFECT in every way. I told my fiance it was THE ONE immediately and 3 months later, he offered it to me on bended knee. Of course, I thought it had sold to some other lucky couple weeks before our engagement, but he had snatched it up right away!!!! What a find!
That is a beautiful ring. I love all the geometric detail on it.
I really appreciate your disclaimer, as well. The lack of disclosure and transparency in the diamond industry troubles me as a consumer. I am Canadian and while we have decent labour laws here that are enforced pretty fairly, there’s just no way to demonstrate that our mines and companies are 100% non-complicit in what happens elsewhere. There’s also the environmental impact of mining, and the efficiency of the Kimberley Process to consider. I think bridal mags are trying harder to promote more ethical and environmentally-friendly consumerism, but it’s always nice to see recycling promoted here on Weddingbee.
Yay Miss Joey!
@lotus: Thanks for your comment. I wasn’t sure about doing this post since most people don’t share my feelings about the diamond industry. I hoped with the small disclaimer, I was preventing anyone from feeling offended.
yes! my fiance picked one (1930’s art deco filigree) out all on his own a month before he proposed. he surprised me for doing so well, he knows me and his antiques well!
I’ve got an antique ring- about 75 years old. I got it from Bostonian Jewelers in Boston (duh!).
When we (hubby and I) went looking together I described what I was looking for to the jeweler and he said, “I think I have something in the back.” Well he brought out my unfinished ring!
Our jeweler had purchased the ring from the estate of a jeweler. So it was started 75 years ago and finished just for me!
What a beautiful ring!! And I love that it’s environmentally friendly and socially aware Go Joeys!
Vintage jewelry always make me wish we could know the story behind them. Do you happen to know the history of your 1940s ring?
So pretty!
Mine is an estate ring as well (from the 1930’s we think). After being put off by the cost of new diamonds (yikes!) I was pointed in the direction of estate jewlery and absolutly fell in love.
The tricky part for me was finding a wedding band to go with it and lo and behold found an estate band (after sizing and adding two more teeny tiny diamonds so the row of them would go across the front of my big old fingers) I have a set. Percectly matched? No. Unique and wonderful? Yes! And I get many compliements on my estate ring too (can’t wait to wear the wedding band on 10/03/09)
Beautiful ring, and a beautiful reason for wanting it! I am often obsessively green, esp. towards paper and people give me funny looks when I am fishing paper out of my garbage to re-use. I don’t think people will be offended when you are just trying to do a little bit of good in this crazy world!
Your ring is so pretty!! I would love to see that cork board!
Oooh I love your ring. Mine is also an antique, from the 40s or 50s. I love old rings!
Lovely! It’s great that it’s easy to wear, will not get hung up on sweaters with it’s beautiful low profile design…nice that it has a history too!
I wanted an antique style ring, but my fiancee couldn’t find anything that he liked and thought I’d like in any antique stores, so he went for a conflict free diamond in a new ring. Good for you for being socially conscious.
I love your ring! It’s so unique. Mine is also an antique from an estate dealer. My poor boy only had the following 3 things to go on when ring shopping: nothing large, conflict free, and I like old things. I wish I’d had the same luck as emmeeay-L above on a band. However we finally found a trade-in tacori band that matches the engravings and small stone setting on my e-ring almost exactly.
What are your ideas for a band to compliment?
Beautiful ring. I love all the character that antique rings have. Your ring pictures are super fun too.
I have the exact same attitude toward diamonds! We bought mine from an antique store as well, and I love it. I don’t feel guilty when I think about that awful monster known as the diamond industry, and that my money went to some nice person in TX instead of some rich guy in the Bahamas.
You handled the topic well, good job at not making people feel guilty for their own choices!
I want a vintage ring so badly! Whenever I tell my BF I want one he says “why would you want something that belonged to someone else?” I think in his mind the e-ring should be for one person only, but I think he’ll follow through and get me one
Love your cork board!
aaw! that’s so awesome!!! I love that you took a pic on a Guinness can! Brilliant! 
I have been dying to see your ring and it is beautiful!! Wow, Mr. Joey sure is good!
I’m TOTALLY with you on the diamond thing! I haven’t wanted a diamond ring since high school (when I learned about where they come from). It’s kinda like going vegan…you just can’t go back.
So I told my Mister: “NO DIAMOND.”
Thanks to WB (where else?) I found the perfect alternative that suited my FI (who wanted something “fit for a queen” and for me! We opted for a colorless sapphire!
We both couldn’t be happier! (Now if he would just propose officially already so I could see it!!!!)
My future DIL fell in love with a ballerina ring my mother had given me. My daughter had already claimed it (when I’m gone!)so I helped my son look on the internet for months to find a ballerina style ring. I finally found a ring from the 40-50s era from http://www.newyorkestatejewelry.com. They have beautiful vintage rings and are very helpful. We had a week to return it if he hadn’t liked it. We took it to a jeweler and it appraised for 3 times the price. He gave it to her and she absolutely loves it! They will be married 12/12/09. I’m helping design the wedding and just love all the blogs specially “the bees”! Thanks for all your great info and secrets!
MOG…..Patti
Your ring is gorgeous! Mine is kind of an antique..it belonged to my fiance’s grandmother. There is one center stone with a lot of little stones surrounding it. The middle stone is his great grandmothers original engagement ring from the 1920’s and it was made into a cocktail ring in the 60’s. I love that it is a family heirloom and it making picking out a wedding band really difficult…
Very Nice ring, However, I do find you position on diamonds a bit contradictory. Today the Diamond Industry is far more regulated then it was during the time that this ring was made. This diamond would have been mined most likely in africa, during the 20-30:s one would assume. Now what would make you think that the diamond industry was a better industry then?? Then the owners of the mines also owned the staff, basicly slave labor, where people where not paid a decent salary.
Today for a diamond to go throught the Kimberly process it has to come from a mine who takes social responsibility for it’s miners, it needs to pay them a decent salary, the diamond traders/the money can not be used to fund warfare or terrorism (something it was mainly used for before). I’m fully aware that there are diamonds that slip throught this process it’s not perfect. But it sure beats any process that would have been in place during the early 1900 houndreds.
It’s the same thing with coloured gemstones, it’s a highly unregulated business, many small family business mines gemstones in Asia and Brazil under inhuman conditions. Now people say they don’t want diamonds, but are happy to have coloured gemstones.
Now I love gemstones, more then anything, all of them almost (I’m a gemmologist), I’m aware that it’s one of the most unevironmental industries in the world, highly unregulated, and cause a lot of human discomfort.
All we can do if we want to have gemstones,I think is to as you say investigate the company where they come from.
In this case, I would have taken the diamond from the Canadian company, as they are required by Canadian law not to impact the nature where they mine, they pay the staff a decent salary. Those diamonds have cause a lot less human and environmental suffering then Antique Diamonds.
Regards Maria
Thank you for going this route. We re-used his grandmother’s stone too, due to opposition to blood diamonds (so many loopholes mean that it’s near impossible to determine if a diamond’s really NOT from Africa).
This was important to me as well. My fiance got me a conflict-free diamond, though I really don’t know how sure we can be about that, at least we tried…
@ Maria, I totally agree with you on the colored gemstone issue. Just cause there aren’t books and movies about other gemstones doesn’t mean they really have a different past. However, I think Ms. Joey’s point was that this diamond was already purchased out of the diamond industry. Now the money they paid for the ring did not go to the diamond industry, but to the antique store where they bought it.
Although the money paid for antique diamonds goes to small business owners rather than De Beers, merely wearing a diamond of any kind, regardless of origin, serves to potentiate the popularity of the stone. Everyone who sees the ring on your finger will not know where it came from.
Whatever choice a woman makes, I think it is important that we all realize that wearing diamonds, old or new, real or imitation, continues to support the diamond industry.
I choose to wear the beautiful diamond ring that my fiance gave me, and I would not feel any less guilty if it were an antique stone.
I love your ring!
I (will) have a 1920’s art deco style ring but the diamond is from the 1870s or so.
I found it in a pawn shop….. I KNOW! Crazy right? It was a complete accident but I’m so glad that accidents happen.
That’s beautiful, I love the detail on the sides! My fiance gave me a ring that had the 3 stones from his great-grandmother’s engagement ring. We’re having them reset into a design I chose… although we are having to buy some teeny diamonds for the pave sides.
Your ring is gorgeous!! I looooove antique rings. Even after I got the e-ring of my dreams (white gold edwardian-style ring from the 1920s) I still look at other rings just because they’re so amazing.
And Maria, thanks for the explanation…I think many of us assume the industry is still the same as it was. It’s hard to find credible information about companies sometimes.
Love “zee ring!” My FI proposed w/ a non-traditional Tiffany ring. http://cgi.ebay.com/Auth-Tiffany-Co-Diamond-Platinum-Heart-Ring_W0QQitemZ270265206718QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
(I’ll be wearing the matching earrings @ necklace for the wedding.) After we’re married, I will wear my mother’s vintage ’50s band & e-ring, & he will wear my father’s. (A quiet way to honor their memory.)
what a good idea!!!!! i’m not too hot on diamonds… both for all the politics around the stones themselves and even just diamonds in general. here’s a good post to share with a special someone… haha!
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Mrs. Joey, Seattle
Age and Occupation: 28, Project Administrator for Public Health NGO
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, High School History Teacher
Engagement Date: June 24, 2008
Wedding Date: August 2009
Venue: Eastside Catholic Chapel and Lake Union Cafe
About Me: I'm a Seattle girl through and through except for the fact that I don't drink coffee. I love my job most of the time because I get to travel and work with brilliant people who are trying to prevent Malaria. I love DIY projects of all sorts, cooking, and watching sports. I'd wear anything at Anthropologie and could spend all day on Etsy. I love to travel but shouldn't because I always get myself into unbelievable situations!
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