Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette!
Have you ever thought about wearing rings as a decorative way for men to stand out from
the crowd?
If so, I suggest you watch this video because I talk all about men's rings, I give you a
glimpse into my collection, I discuss why I built it, and what I learned along the way,
as well as what I paid for them, and which rings I wear the most.
While rings are normal for the ladies of the world, all the men don't really think about
rings unless it's their wedding band.
first of all why should you wear a ring as a man, isn't it too effeminate?
and initially I would wear rings for a long time because I simply didn't think about them,
however, when going through my archive of menswear pictures and watching old movies,
I always saw elegant gentlemen with pinky rings or rings in the ring finger that was
either signet rings that sometimes had precious stones or semi-precious stones and I got much
more interested in them.
At the end of the day, as a man, apart from your cufflinks or your collar pin or your
tie bar, there's really not a whole lot of jewelry you can wear.
Obviously, a ring serves no practical purpose other than the fact that it's simply beautiful.
So the first ring, I actually bought at a flea market in Berlin.
It was sterling silver malachite and it cost me around 15 euros which is around 20 bucks.
It was very inexpensive but I liked it and it fit on my finger and that was my first
purchase.
I still have it in my collection because it is a little bolder, it goes well with the
malachite and silver cufflinks that we have from Fort Belvedere, and
overall, it's a ring I enjoy wearing and I'm not afraid of losing it or scratching it because
it didn't cost much in the first place.
Once I had that first ring, I was hooked and I looked at older photographs to find more
about those rings.
I noticed that most modern rings and jewelers were something I really didn't like and so
I had to go to vintage stores, flea markets, look on eBay, and other vintage platforms
to find a style that I liked.
I bought the most rings when we went to an antique show in Brimfield which is huge and
can be quite overwhelming and you really have to walk all day go to different vendors but
I found quite a few rings that I actually liked and it didn't break the bank either.
For example, there's this sterling silver vermeil rose gold ring that has kind of a
long oval shape of a blue stone.
I don't quite know what stone it is but it was nice, I liked it, and it was different.
The other ring I found in Brimfield was this yellow or greenish gold ring with a bloodstone
with cut corners so it was octagonal and I really liked the ring, it's different, it
has a slight decoration, and I actually had it resized at the jeweler, and it cost about
50, 60, 70 bucks but it's essential because chances that you find something in your ring
finger or pinky finger size are rather slim.
At the same show, I bought this ring in a dark blue lapis lazuli in a sterling silver.
I like the lapis and it wasn't something I already had in my collection so I bought it.
Honestly, it's not my favorite ring, it's very simple and I think a different shape
more like a signet ring would be advantageous so I'm still looking for them but again, it's
really hard to find them.
What I like about lapis is that it goes well again with all blue tones it's a deeper blue
than the other ring I had and I like to wear it in combination with my lapis cufflinks
from Fort Belvedere.
This next ring I bought in London, England.
It is a typical signet ring shape and it has a carnelian stone and it could be engraved
with either my initials or symbols or monograms or even a family crest but frankly, I'm not
really into that stuff and I just enjoy a plain stone and a silver look and I don't
need any degree of personalization and I bought I think for like 40 pounds.
This next ring is a 14 karat rose gold ring with an oval Onyx.
It's a very typical men's ring shape that could be again a signet ring or have my monogram
on it.
Onyx is just a very classic stone and I just wanted to have a black stone in my collection.
Again, I bought it at a vintage store, I think at the current price at the time.
At the same store, I bought a very similar ring in terms of shape but again, it had a
bloodstone and even though I already had the other bloodstone in my collection, I added
it because I like to wear green and the dark green and red actually works with quite a
few things such as business suits, as well as tweed jackets and sport coats.
Here is another carnelian ring.
It has a much more vintage look in my opinion.
It's kind of a cushion that's almost rectangular or square with rounded corners.
I don't wear it very often but it's a different shape than all my other rings and because
of that, I like it.
It's probably not my favorite shape.
The carnelian works well with a classic business suit in navy or in charcoal, but you can also
wear it with brown tones and I just like having different shapes in my collections so if the
mood strikes, I always have something handy.
I found this one I think at a flea market in Hamburg for 20 or 30 bucks.
The next two rings are tiger's eye and I really like tiger's eye because they have brown tones
and they really work harmoniously with any type of brown in your wardrobe and
this one is gold with a tiger's eye and it has this nice effect in the light when you
move, it changes the look of it which is why it got its name, tiger's eye because it's
like the eye of a tiger.
I like to pair this ring with our gold and tiger's eye Eagle Claw cufflinks.
They really work well together and it's just beautiful.
The next Tiger’s eye ring is very different.
It's cut differently, it's a flat top stone, it's much larger, it comes in silver, and
as you can see, if I move it it really has a dramatic effect in the way it looks which
is why I like it.
Personally, for my taste, this stone is quite a big but I simply like the look of the tiger's
eye and so I couldn't leave it behind.
I think I also got it in Brimfield and it was rather inexpensive.
Obviously, some rings are much thinner and lighter in weight than others and that has
a huge effect on the price especially if they're made out of gold.
That being said, this next ring is quite heavy.
It's solid gold and so are the others but you can just tell it's a much more massive
and solid quality.
it has a large citrine and it fits my ring finger perfectly and I really like the ring
because it's warm and it goes well with outfits like here where I have like yellow tones at
my outfits and it just ties it all perfectly together.
Again, I got this ring used but I think it cost me about $400 at a gold price.
If I'd bought this ring new, it would probably cost me two to two and a half thousand dollars.
Next up is another silver malachite ring.
It's a very solid sterling silver quality and while most rings have the inside of the
ring where the stone is exposed, this one is just solidly closed up and frankly, I really
like this construction.
It makes the ring a little heavier but it also prevents any dirt from getting in the
area below the stone and if I had a choice, all of my rings would be finished like that.
You may notice that this ring is a little looser than some other rings and once I started
collecting and wearing rings, I realized that the size of my hand changes with the seasons.
So during the summer, I actually have slightly thicker fingers than during the winter and
the same ring sometimes will feel loose during the winter and tight during the summer.
So it pays to have slightly different ring sizes in your collection, that way, you can
always find a ring that works at any given point in time.
The next ring is quite unusual.
It is a dark star sapphire ring.
There's a strong light source which means when you actually move around in the sunlight
for example, you can see a star on the ring that moves.
Personally, I find it quite cool.
It also has nice decorative elements on the side, they're quite unique.
If you like star sapphires new, they are very expensive and it can easily cost two to three
thousand dollars as a ring.
This was a vintage piece and I paid like five hundred dollars for it.
Next up is one of my favorite rings.
It's a dark green domed tourmaline.
It's solid gold and the surface was carefully treated by hand to give it a certain texture
that almost makes it look like leather.
It's not hammered but it looks like there's slight scratches.
It's made in a regular fashion so it's quite cool and it's a hallmark of a work of a goldsmith.
Next up is a ring with an orange stone.
Honestly, I don't quite know what it is.
I suppose it's agate because it comes in many different colors and I like it because it's
the only orange ring that I have in my collection right now and I value
having different colors to match with different outfits.
Whenever there's orange in my pocket square, my tie, or my shirt, I like to wear this ring
because it's warm, it's summery, and it's different.
It's also set as a rectangle with rounded corners and has slight decorations.
I think it's sterling silver that is heavily gold plated.
Last but not least, here's a ring that I just added to my collection but I really like it.
It has a star sapphire and here, you can really see the effect of a light source so it's really
cool.
It has two little diamonds on the right and on the left side of the ring and then it has
a kind of scratched surface.
It's 14-karat white gold and it just makes it overall look matte and not as shiny which
i think is quite sophisticated.
I was really lucky, I think I just paid a hundred and fifty five dollars for this ring.
New, this would probably cost two to three thousand dollars.
Now obviously, I built my collection of rings entirely based on used and vintage rings not
necessarily because I wanted to but because I really couldn't find new rings that were
in line with my taste.
Now I know chances for you to find rings like that are close to zero and because of that,
we decided to start designing rings.
When we did that we realized that quality that we wanted paired with a fixed size would
quickly create an inventory problem because if we had let's say ten rings you know in
ten sizes each stocked in many different colors we'd have at least three-four hundred thousand
dollars worth of inventory in our warehouse and that's simply impractical because we would
have to charge a higher price.
It simply doesn't make sense.
So if you're interested in classic gentleman's rings, please head over to the website here,
let us know what you're interested in and maybe we can create a custom made to order
program but at the same time, keeps the prices low because spending $2,000 on the ring is
a lot of money that you can probably invest more wisely in other parts of your wardrobe
such as in a pair of good shoes, a good suit, or maybe some waistcoats or even accessories.
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In today's outfit, I'm wearing a single-breasted 2-button notch lapel navy suit.
it was custom made from me years ago it's one of my first custom made suit and it's
by far not perfect.
the sleeves are too tight for my taste but it still looks nice I paired it here with
a light blue off-white brown and yellow striped shirt it's a very lightweight fabric I think
it's vintage one it's paired with a brown grenadine tie from Fort Belvedere which you
can find in our shop here and the pocket square is hand rolled in Italy with an ex stitch
in light blue with yellow stitches so it picks up the tones of the shirt without being identical.
it's kind of summery and fresh and I really like it.
you could also find it in our shop.
and I am with a brown on my shirt I added brown shoes and to tie them together to my
navy blue pants I opted for a brown and light blue stripe shadows stripe pair of socks from
Fort Belvedere for my cufflinks I'm wearing a pair of tigers eye and yellow gold cufflinks
with the Eagle Claw design that paired with the matching ring in tiger's eye and vermeil
silver means it's solid sterling silver that is heavily gold plated the lapel flower is
from our Fort Belvedere collection and you can find it in our shop here.