Divorce Ring - Newest Fashion Accessory

Could a divorce ring become the newest fashion accessory? There are promise rings, engagement rings, and wedding rings for those of us who are just getting started and don't need a divorce ring quite yet. And there are right-hand rings for those of us who never wanted to get married, anyway. So why not a divorce ring? Would you wear one? If Dear Abby says a divorce ring's okay, why not?

Divorce Ring - What Is It?

In case you haven't heard, a divorce ring might be just what you need to pick youself up from the doldrums of a failed marriage. Rather than tossing your old wedding band off a tall bridge, why not sell it and put a down payment on your very own divorce ring? Evidently, the divorce ring has been around for awhile. We just hadn't heard about it until Dear Abby decided to discuss it.

Divorce Ring - Most Recent Design

The most recent version of the divorce ring was designed in 2001 by Harold Thompson, a laid-off employee from Corning and two-time loser at love. He was assisted by his friend and former co-worker, Mary Burden, another laid-off employee from Corning who hadn't fared much better in the marriage department.

The design for the divorce ring was completed by a jeweler in Philadelphia and patented in 2006. By that time, some of the bad times were over for Thompson and Burden who both had been re-hired by Corning in 2003. But Thompson continues to wear his divorce ring. Thompson, who has pledged never to remarry, hopes that more people will announce their freedom from a bad relationship with the divorce ring. For a $130 you can have a sterling silver symbol of your newly divorced status. Or you can order a more elaborate design in platinum or gold with embedded stones. Interested? View Thompson and Burden's version of the divorce ring at the Divorced Jewelry Company website.

Or you could just design your own divorce ring. What could be more pleasurable than knowing that you had your old wedding band melted down and re-designed into a brand new ring to signify your new life. Pick your favorite stone to add to it. Anything but a diamond will do. Save the diamonds for another time. A divorce ring should include rubies or some other bright stone of your choice.

Divorce Ring - History

Believe it or not, there appears to have been a divorce ring available as early as the 1920's. While our grandparents and great grandparents had most of us believing that divorce was something to hide back in the early 1900's, it appears that the divorce ring was fashionable in some circles back then as well.

According to a July 26, 1922 issue of The New York Times, jewelers in Paris designed a divorce ring that included a broken Cupid's arrow. At the time, the newspaper expected the divorce ring (or possibly, the "ring of disunion") to become very popular and to be exchanged in a ceremony at the end of the divorce court proceedings. While we don't think of divorce as being very common in the 1920's, this newspaper article stated the need for the divorce ring due to "divorce having become so frequent that it is considered there is a need for a distinctive emblem."

Another reference is made to the divorce ring in the January 1924 issue of Popular Mechanics. According to this article, women in England had been having a notch cut into their wedding bands to indicate the end of a marriage. The magazine included a photo of the notched ring. Not very attractive, but then, neither is divorce.

Maybe no one in America was buying into the divorce ring but evidently the divorce ring was popular in Europe in the 1920's. Well, it was the "Roaring Twenties," after all. Times were pretty exciting until the stock market collapse. Women were flappers and began gaining some independence while working outside the home, hemlines were rising, the Charleston was the dance, jazz was the music, and cars, radio, and movies were spurring on new ideas and modern times. So, the interest in a divorce ring in the 1920's makes sense.

Divorce Ring - Just Bury It

If you'd like to keep your old ring around but still want the symbolism a divorce ring provides, consider the wedding ring coffin. It definitely puts the whole matter of wearing a divorce ring to rest.

Sources:
Amanda Greene, "With this ring, I thee shed...," StarNewsOnline.com

July 26, 1922, "Divorce Ring Devised in Paris; Shows a Broken Cupid Arrow," The New York Times

January 1924, "Notched Wedding Ring Worn to Denote Divorce," Popular Mechanics