lapis lazuli and green agate family crest rings

[noelwr]

hi, I know that these are not very common in the U.S., but some of us who have family crests in Holland like to have them engraved on a ring. I think these turned out really well so just wanted to share.

this is my grandmother''s family crest and is engraved in lapis lazuli. I love the gold flecks.

 

[noelwr]

and this is my father's family crest in green agate. it is most common to have them engraved in blue agate. I also thought I'd try a different type of ring in white gold.

unlike the first one, this is a "correct" engraving to have for the daughter in the family. no helmet and the shield in a diamond form. if it is your husband's then the shield should be an oval. or so I am told...

 

[Pandora II]

They're lovely - I especially like the lapis.

We have them here in the UK, although they are more often just in gold.

My father's has our crest - '3 scottish wild cats erased and proper' on a black shield and the device is 'ostrich argent' holding a 'horseshoe azure' in it's beak. A 'device' is the thing that goes onto of the knights helmet both in the coat of arms and in the past also on the actual helmet he would wear.

It's more normal to have your device engraved onto the family silver than the full coat of arms.

The motto is 'Facit Spera' - 'Do & Hope' which I always thought was a bit poor considering some people have ones like 'Beware for I am here' !

He uses his to seal official documents and wears it instead of a wedding band.

Sadly I don't have any pictures as the hand-engraving is incredible for something so tiny.

 

[Fly Girl]

Love, love these rings. So cool!!! Too bad we are descended from Swedish peasant stock.

It always seems a bit pretentious for us to wear a "family crest", but marketing companies will try to dream up family crests to sell to us.

 

[bling addict]

What cool rings! I especially love how the lapis one looks with the gold flecks. Thanks for sharing

 

[noelwr]

Hi Pandora II - what does "erased and proper" mean? at least you have a family motto. don''t think we have them in Holland.

 

[Rhea]

Those are really cool rings! I love the gold flecks in the first one. Do you wear them both at the same time?

 

[noelwr]

Addy - I usually do not wear different color gold (or metal - I do wear silver with white gold) together. and they are a bit big so I think it''s too much to wear both. and now I''m engaged so I wear my engagement ring on one hand and then alternate rings on the other hand. my engagement ring is rose gold, but I just take that out of the equation when coordinating the rest of the jewelry as I don''t have any other rose gold jewelry.

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 4/19/2008 11:25:07 AM
Author: noelwr
Hi Pandora II - what does ''erased and proper'' mean? at least you have a family motto. don''t think we have them in Holland.

''Erased'' means that the bottom of the animal''s head is divided into 3, a bit like an upside down fleur-de-lis.

Here''s a picture of ''erased'' - the cats on mine are facing forwards rather than sideways.

''Proper'' means that they are coloured as they should really be - in this case a kind of brown/black/white tabby - rather than ''or'' (gold), ''argent'' (silver), ''azure'' (blue) etc

They''re all old heraldic terms.

 

[LostSapphire]

I love these! So interesting. Our family crest is 3 black bull heads...how romantic.

The settings on both of these rings, however, are gorgeous!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Very cool!

cheers--Sharon

 

[Catmom]

Oh I love both rings!! They are soooo cool.

 

[iheartscience]

Those rings are so cool! I really like the gold flecks in the first one.

P.S. I love your engagement ring! I commented in your other thread but it is just so special!

 

[Kaleigh]

They are very cool, thanks for sharing them. I too love the gold flects in the first one. And love the contrast of the second one.

 

[coatimundi_org]

Beautiful pieces!

 

[ahappygirl]

Love them both. Very cool (as everyone stated!) and I love the bezel designs.

 

[icekid]

Those rings are so fun! The only thing I got from my fam was a difficult, long last name

But hubby is making me change to his now.

 

[noelwr]

hi icekid, I also got a difficult last name... actually my last name is two names and it''s not like one of them is "van". they are two proper names and everyone thinks the first part is my first name and if you''re not Dutch then you can''t pronounce it nor does anyone spell it correctly. I, too, will take on my fiance''s much shorter last name and enjoy the simpler life.

 

[Pandora II]

Ditto

I have a long hyphenated name that never fits on forms and now I will get a nice short 5 letter surname - hooray!

 

[Catmom]

Hmmm, try going from a 3 letter last name to a 10 letter Polish last name! No way can I ever fit my full name on any signature line.