Jewelry always makes an excellent gift. Not only is jewelry a particularly special treat, but jewelry often carries sentimental value in a way other gifts do not. In light of the upcoming holiday season, we researched some of our favorite historic reasons for gifting jewelry and these are a few of our favorites.

Love Knots

The history of love knots in jewelry dates back centuries. The love-knot pattern usually has no discernible beginning or end to symbolize the constancy of the lovers’ bond. Love knots have been found in ancient Egyptian carved sculptures,ancient Greek jewelry and Celtic artwork. We recently discovered that love knots were also incorporated into protective girdles worn by brides and are the likely origin for the phrase “tie the knot”.

Queen Victoria’s serpent

It was during the peak of the Romantic Movement that nature-inspired jewelry first became popular. This coincided with the early reign of Queen Victoria, who was known as a romantic and passionate person. The serpent was a popular choice at this time and was seldom out of fashion for the whole of the 19th century. The Queen wore a serpent bracelet at her first council meeting and her engagement ring was a gold serpent encrusted with emeralds. The continuity of the serpent holding its tail in it's mouth symbolized eternity.

Inspired by Poetry

Rings with inscriptions date as far back as the 5th century but were particularly popular between 1200 and 1500, when rings, often including engraved words, were a common gift between lovers. The inscriptions were known as little poems or 'posie', which is derived from the French word for poetry. The engraved messages, which were usually in French or Latin, were a way to personalize the jewelry and for the wearer to possess something unique. Popular inscriptions included: 'joy without end' and 'let liking last'. Rings from the Middle Ages have also been found with the following inscriptions: 'one chosen both happy’, 'my heart is thine', 'let love continue', 'God made us two one' and 'after consent ever content'. In early rings words were often engraved on the outside but later inscriptions were more commonly on the inside because wearing the message against the skin was believed to increase its potency.

Source: Hills, Catherine https://www.catherinehillsjewellery.com/blogs/news/understanding-the-language-of-jewellery-love, 1/26/18