"Engagement rings are the great unifier in jewelry," says Marion Fasel. "It’s a topic that comes up if you tell someone outside the field that you write about jewelry. They immediately say 'My mother's engagement ring...' It's the jewelry that unifies us. So I’ve always been interested in them."
In her latest book, the well-known jewelry author, journalist, and founder of online jewelry magazine The Adventurine tackles the history of the most iconic symbol of betrothal: the diamond engagement ring. Debuting today, The History of Diamond Engagement Rings: A True Romance, illuminates a chronology that's much lengthier than previously understood.
Tracking the timeline wasn't easy: Fasel dove deeply into the archives of museums and libraries in New York and Europe throughout her research, consulting experts along the way to ultimately trace the first diamond engagement rings to the 15th century.
"It was extremely challenging to research in museums across Europe, because engagement rings were not called engagement rings," Fasel recalls. "What they were was a promise of marriage." Her research for the book dispels the widely held belief that diamond miner De Beers conjured the diamond engagement ring as a facet of its marketing (in fact, the company simply popularized an age-old concept), and debunks the claim that the "first" engagement ring was one Archduke Maximilian of Austria gave Mary of Burgundy in 1477, a "fact" widely reported all over the Internet. "Anything you see on the Internet is very dangerous to the history of engagement rings," Fasel notes with a laugh.
We can never know the very "first" diamond ring given as a promise of marriage, Fasel explains. But, guided by experts including celebrated diamond collector and historian Benjamin Zucker, she's identified the first diamond ring styles, which feature point cut diamonds.
"I was absolutely touched and moved by the longevity of diamond engagement rings," she says. "I walked away from it just astonished at how long it’s been." She adds, "There’s so much cynicism surrounding the history of diamond engagement rings. De Beers said 'A Diamond is Forever,' and I have to say this: that’s really not the story at all. The story is diamond engagement rings began being worn in the 15th century and have been worn consistently for 500 years. Why? I think because they're beautiful. It’s really that simple. And I think the tradition of the diamond ring plays into it."
Fasel points out that our modern penchant for imbuing symbolism and meaning into our jewelry feels unique, but in fact has roots in the engagement ring. "We live in this incredible age of symbolic jewelry, and it wasn’t always that way. And yet, what is the most symbolic and meaningful jewel in the world? It’s a diamond engagement ring. It's universal and it's personal."
The 128-page book is divided into sections by diamond shape, and also includes style guides that dissect diamonds (often the only part of an engagement ring you really see when it's on a finger, the author notes) and diagram the parts of rings.
Fasel, who writes extensively about jewelry's connections with celebrity and entertainment on The Adventurine, also covers notable celebrity engagement rings, past and present, including those belonging to Queen Charlotte, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Grace Kelly, Beyoncé, Jennifer Lawrence, and Blake Lively.
After chatting about Selena Gomez's recent engagement ring reveal, Fasel says engagement styles, "seem to get more popular," adding that she's seeing "a much stronger move into actual creativity and individuality" in ring design. "It’s a gentle creativity," she adds. "A lot of creativity can happen in millimeters."
Fasel says she looked so closely at so many engagement styles when writing the book, the tiniest visual details became monumental in her mind. "There was a moment when I told someone I was working with, 'I'm really into prongs.' And they were like, 'Yeah, I’m really into prongs, too.' And I knew I was in deep."
Buy 'The History of Diamond Engagement Rings: A True Love Story' here.
Book jacket cover and Marion Fasel photo courtesy of The Adventurine Limited Editions; Top photo: Shutterstock
