Ring (jewellery)

Finger rings worn by Mary Nevill, Baroness Dacre, 1559.

A finger ring is a band worn as type of ornamental jewellery around a finger; it is the most common current meaning of the word ring. Other types of metal bands worn as ornaments are also called rings, such as arm rings and neck rings.

File:Cartier.jpg

Ring (Jewellery-Design) Cartier 1969.

Rings are worn by both men and women and can be of any quality. Rings can be made of metal, plastic, wood, bone, glass, gemstone and other materials. They may be set with a "stone" of some sort, which is often a precious or semi-precious gemstone such as ruby, sapphire or emerald, but can also be of almost any material.

There are various methods for determining proper ring size. Some of the largest rings in the world are made for the winning team of the Super Bowl. The unofficial record for the largest championship ring ever presented to a professional sports team belongs to the 2003 World Series champions Florida Marlins, with a weight of over 110 grams and with over 240 stones.

Rings can be worn on any finger, even on toes. In Western culture, the traditional "ring finger" for the wearing of an engagement ring or wedding ring is the fourth finger (with the thumb counting as finger number one). Which hand wears the ring depends on the country, with orthodox countries (but also Poland) using the right hand and others using the left hand. The signet ring, a ring designating nobility, is commonly worn on the little (fifth) finger. In traditional Hausa culture (Nigerian) a ring given to a woman by a man other than her husband places her under his control for as long as she consents to wear it.

Ring shapes and styles

Various ring shapes and styles exist. The following are but a few.

• Flat wedding bands are the simplest form of ring that can be made. A flat wedding band basically consists of a strip of metal that is bent around and soldered where the ends meet.
• Half-round rings, also called D-shape rings, are flat wedding bands that are filed half-round on the outside.
• Sleeve rings are rings that consist of a thin inner ring or sleeve, with several other rings stacked onto it to form one solid ring. The rings can either be soldered onto the sleeve or the ends of the sleeve can be upset (like a tube rivet) to keep them all together. A little of both can also be done.
• Solitaire rings are rings with a single large stone, usually a diamond, set in the center.
• Eternity rings are rings with stones, usually diamonds, of the same cut and size, set in one row all around the ring. The stones are usually round or square, and the setting is usually either claws or a channel setting. When the stones do not continue around the entire ring, but stop halfway down the finger, it is called a half-eternity ring.
• Cluster ringsare rings with a group of stones in a cluster setting, forming the focal point of the ring. The cluster setting usually consists of one large stone (usually round or oval) in the center surrounded with several smaller stones.

See also

• Ring (disambiguation)
• ring finger
• Iron Ring
• arm ring
• torc, or neck ring
• bangle