A Universal Favorite? The Startling Truth about Sterling Silver Rings

Jun 15
08:09

2011

Sapir Topazi

Sapir Topazi

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You already know that we love sterling silver rings in particular - for their history, for their beauty, for their variety and for the ease of wearing them (and wearing lots and lots of sterling silver rings!).

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You already know that we love sterling silver rings in particular - for their history,A Universal Favorite? The Startling Truth about Sterling Silver Rings Articles for their beauty, for their variety and for the ease of wearing them (and wearing lots and lots of sterling silver rings!). Indeed, throughout history, sterling silver rings have been used for multiple purposes: as wedding bands, as bearers of the family crest, to seal letters of import, to carry the image or a lock of the hair of a loved one, even to hold a dose of the deadliest poison.

And so, it is somewhat shocking to learn that sterling silver rings are not necessarily beloved in all cultures, some of which even have sanctions against wearing sterling silver rings. Most curiously, three very hoary cultures that did use sterling silver jewellery stand out for their avoidance of sterling silver rings. Chief, and oldest, amongst these ancient peoples are the Assyrians: no rings have been sighted in portraits and sculptures from ancient Mesopotamia, nor have sterling silver rings - or rings of any sort, for that matter - been found amongst the relics of the great Assyrian civilization.

No less surprising is the absence of sterling silver rings from the glorious Celtic society of ancient Eire (especially in light of the popularity, today, of the Claddagh silver ring, which springs from the same culture). Much other jewellery has been found on the luscious emerald isle, but no sterling silver rings have been among it. This despite the belief that ancient Celtic society was matriarchal - and, in modern times at least, sterling silver rings are associated primarily with women.

Last but hardly least we must cite the Eskimos of northern climes. When Admiral Robert Peary first arrived in the arctic, he was shocked to learn he could do nothing with the scads of sterling silver rings he’d brought with him - and which he’d hoped to use in bartering with the locals. But the Eskimos would not take his rings for love or money.

Unlike the absence of sterling silver rings rings amongst the Assyrians and sterling silver rings amongst the Celts, the reasons for which remain a mystery, the absence of sterling silver rings amongst the Eskimo is quite fathomable. Not only would the precious silver in sterling silver rings become cold and uncomfortable in the frigid arctic air, but it would contract and expand with changes in temperature, threatening to cut off the wearer’s circulation. So perhaps it is not all that surprising to learn that Eskimos never have worn, and do not today wear, sterling silver rings.

With all due respect to political correctness and cultural competence, we who adore sterling silver rings can only feel sorry for them!