Dear Calla – Engraving on the Shank of a Vintage Ring

Dear Calla,
My grandmother just gave me her wedding ring. My fiancé and I are grad students and I’d love to wear it as my wedding ring.
My grandmother told me that it used to have beautiful flower engraving on the sides and she’s really sad that she wore it all off. How do I get the engraving back to how it used to be?
I feel that it would make her so happy, cause she’d kind of bummed that it’s worn. I think she thinks her gift to me isn’t that great. And I love it.
~ Needing Flowers Girl

Dear Flower Girl,
Good hand engravers are familiar with the various styles of engraving in vogue at the times that rings are made. Tell your engraver when your grammy got married and he may be able to figure out a style that works well for your ring, that is time period appropriate.
Clearly, she was married a long and happy time if she wore the engraving off of her ring. What a nice ring to be given and to get married in! If you restore the engraving I bet that’ll let her know how much you love it.
Your Personal Jeweler,Calla
Dear Calla,
This is a lovely story, thank you for sharing!
Nancy
Hello Nancy,
Thank you for coming by the blog to see us. I’m pleased you enjoyed the story!
Your Jeweler Friend,
Calla
Dear Patricia,
You are right, different engraving styles were in vogue at different time periods. Happily there are books to guide us, but I lean on the expertise of my engravers who are like jewelry historians.
Your Personal Jeweler,
Calla