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Old wedding rings, what to do with them?

notsobad's picture

The other blog got me to wondering.

What did you do with your old wedding/engagement rings? What did DH do with his?

Mine are in a box in my underwear drawer, I'm not sure what to do with them. I don't have daughters and I'm not sure my son would want them.

DH's ring broke about 10 years into his first marriage and he never replaced it. He doesn't even know what happened to the broken band, BM probably sold it for the gold.

My Mom took the diamond out of her engagement ring, had her birthstone put in, resized it and wore it as a pinky ring.
She put the diamond into a setting and wore it on a necklace. When my brother got engaged she gave him the diamond and he had it set into his wedding band. It fell out and the jeweler who made the ring had to replace it.

She still has her band as well as her grandmothers band. Both will probably come to me one day.

I have her Mothers ring (my Grandmother). It is very very thin and I wear it on my right ring finger.

I also have my Dad and stepmoms bands. He gave them both to me shortly after my stepmom passed away.
I don't know what to do with them either. My son has said he doesn't really want them.

Wedding jewelry is so expensive and if the marriage doesn't work out the sentimentality of it is usually gone along with the marriage.
So it ends up not being worth much more that the fluctuating cost of gold.

Comments

mro's picture

I sold it for the gold. Wedding jewelry is a real racket anyway. Second time around we picked out a small gold band and diamond engagement ring from an online estate jewelry store. He chose a modern titanium ring cause he wanted something completely different. Less than $500 for all 3.

strugglingSM's picture

My husband kept his because it had been his father's. I think part of him wanted to use it again, but I told him that was a bad idea. He'/ talked about having the engraving from his wedding to BM removed and fixing his parents' engraving (which is pretty worn off), but hasn't done that. He's talked about giving it to his kids, but I don't know if they'd want it.

According to DH, BM told him she'd traded in the engagement ring he gave her for one from her current husband (who she got engaged to while neither of their divorces were yet final).

Livingoutloud's picture

Mine was stolen. My house was burglarized years ago. I have no clue about DH's, he had a very bad marriage and they moved a lot. I'll ask him.

lieutenant_dad's picture

My first set magically disappeared. I stopped wearing it about a month before I moved out (after telling XH I wanted a divorce) and it vanished before I got a chance to pack it. Part of me thinks my cat knocked it into a trash can (it was on a desk with the trash off to the side, and my cat LOVED knocking everything off every surface). Part of me thinks my XH took, either to re-propose when we got back together (that didn't happen) or to sell (he magically had money for new crap shortly after I left).

DH hasn't got a clue where his old wedding ring is. He thinks BM probably sold it, along with her set.

Our rings now are cheap(er), and we're both happy with that. He wanted simple and lightweight, so he got a $75 tungsten ring from Kohls. I wanted something different, so we found a seller on Etsy who made intricate rings with cheaper stones. I think my set cost $300-600, which I didn't think was too bad considering it was a unique, handmade set.

Aunt Agatha's picture

My ex and I married young. I felt a house was a bigger priority, so money that might have been spent on a ring went instead to a down payment. We were married for 17 years, so I did get some nice pieces from him through the years. After our divorce, I took all the pieces I'd been given and went to a jeweler friend who reset many of them into a really funky ring. So now I have something unique that I love, and have good memories of working on a design for my ring.

I took my actual inexpensive (also artsy, but it didn't cost much) wedding band and chucked it in a stream on a woodland hike. I figured the rushing water will cleanse it of any negativity in case someone finds it in the future.

notsobad's picture

My SILs exH threw his ring into the fountain at the Bellagio in Vegas. At least that's what he told their kids.

I wonder how many wedding bands get tossed like that?

Aniki-Moderator's picture

SD24 (DH's step) stole DH's and BioHo's rings and pawned them for the money. Guess she figured she was entitled to the money since they were divorcing... (yeah, she sucks rocks, and has always been light-fingered and stolen whatever she wants).

I sold mine for the gold.

Elizamen's picture

I'm having a hard time with this. My exH gave me a beautiful engagement ring that I love. But it has memories associated with him - obviously. I don't know what to do with it. I keep it thinking maybe in time the association will wear off and I can just enjoy it as a ring. He actually asked me once if he could buy it back from me. He got engaged shortly after so I think he was planning on giving it to her. Ewww... :sick:

ESMOD's picture

My ring from my first marriage.. well, I kept it and then ended up selling it to my EX (he paid for it 2x..lol.. cheater mc-cheater).

I actually have my grandmother's engagement ring. It's a multi-carat clunker of a stone set in platinum from the 20's. My dad said to not wear it because it was bad luck (his mother killed herself). It actually is a bit small for me right now and needs a small crack in the band fixed.. but I have it safely tucked away.

I also have my deceased mother's wedding band.. but no kids, so not sure what will happen to it all.

I do have my brother in my will to get the "family" diamond ring if I were to die... it is my family jewelry.

My MIL has been passing out family jewelry to her granddaughters for years. They may or may not be careful with it..lol.

I gave my OSD some jewelry that my EX gave me.. she was careless with it, so when I found it I took it back and it's in the safe:)

Aniki-Moderator's picture

ESMOD, I don't have any offspring. I will be leaving my jewelry to any surviving sisters or to my nieces.

ESMOD's picture

Yep.. for me it is a "family heirloom".. so not really something I want passed down to my DH's kids... it should go back into my family somewhere along the line.

Aniki-Moderator's picture

I'd save old cat litter for the skids. They will not get so much as a piece of lint from me.

ESMOD's picture

haha... well I did give my YSD our cat.. so I guess that is the used cat litter gift that keeps on giving?

I actually get along fairly well with both of mine. I am much closer to the younger one and she honestly would appreciate stuff much more than her older sister.

I have no bios of my own, so right now both my DH and my wills are pretty much the same. Everything he has goes to me. Everything I have (except the rings) goes to him. If I go first, he will likely split his remaining assets with his two girls. That means they will likely benefit from my earnings etc..

Honestly, since I do like them, I'm ok with that. Though... I wish I could stack the deck for the YSD because I just think she would be a better steward and less likely to just sell everything we have worked to have and build.

But, at that point, I'm gone.. so it won't do me any good. lol.

Aniki-Moderator's picture

I'm glad for you! SD21 and SD24 have turned into a pair of C U Next TueSdays. If I rewrote my will today, I would take time to point it out in painful detail to keep my spirit from sticking around to haunt them...

If I pass first. DH inherits some things, and specific items go to my sisters and nieces. However, the skids will NOT inherit because my property reverts from DH to my nieces once he is gone. I have an excellent lawyer. Dirol

ESMOD's picture

That's important. I think a lot of people need to do better planning.

It is especially important when you have the specter of your spouse surviving you and excluding your bio kids (not their kids).

Aniki-Moderator's picture

Or not wanting the skids to get one bloody thing. Although...

PigPen can inherit the bedding that forever retains the stench of his bedwetting (yeah, he is almost 15 and STILL WETS THE BED DUE TO LAZINESS).

PrincASS can have all of the milk caps, candy wrappers, and pieces of food that fell/were stuffed down inside the couch.

SD21 and SD24 can each have a wooden penny that's been painted red. Because I'll be damned if those two money-hungry beeyotches get one red cent of mine. Dirol

Silent14's picture

I sold mine shortly after we decided to divorce. I didn't want it and didn't want to give my girls a ring from a failed marriage.

Cover1W's picture

I regret not keeping the diamond portion of the set. It was understated and I could have worn it on my other hand. But I then happily sold it for the cost of the platinum, diamonds (not much) and bought myself a beautiful necklace with the $.

GhostWhoCooksDinner's picture

I threw mine out the window. Good riddance. The diamonds were probably fake anyway! Blum 3

Acratopotes's picture

I have all my grand parents wedding bands, and one Gran got married 4 times lol.... I will get my parents wedding bands as well..

It's just tradition with us that the oldest daughter get these... I'm the only daughter lol...

Then I have my engagement ring and brand new 2 wedding bands, cause the wedding never happened... this is to Deigma's father and I will give him the rings, if he does not like it he can get it melt down and make a new ring for his wife one day.

ALl the old wedding bands I got, took it to a goldsmiths jeweler in town and designed a nice ring for myself, seeing I provided all the material, I only paid for labor, thus my awesome ring costed about 50US.