1860's Dearest Ring | Victorian Engagements

A Dearest ring is an acrostic ring popular in the Victorian and Romantic eras where the initials of the precious stones mounted on the band spell out a word. The two most popular words to spell out were dearest or regards. These style of rings were generally popular from 1820-1900. The most common designs were a straight line, octagon or daisy shape with stones arranged to 'spell' the intended word. Mine is a daisy shape. Traditionally, these rings, though seen as romantic and tokens of love, and were not typically given as engagement rings, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be. This ring is not our actual engagement ring. My love gave it to me for Christmas as a love token. Do you want to know my favorite part? The emerald is shattered and the tourmaline stone is cracked. (We knew this when we purchased it, and it made the ring more affordable to us) This is also to be expected of stones that are of a more sensitive nature. I still find it amazing that the ring has survived 161 years. From far away you would never know the ring contained broken stones. It is a beautiful floral design with golden leaves. You see the whole flower. You can only see the cracks in the petals if you look closely, at the right angle, in certain light. This ring reminds me of many things: It is imperfect and it is still beautiful It's sensitive, was broken, and still held together for over 100 years. It is of unimaginable value to me, because value does not come from a dollar sign, but be