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If you got divorced at some point, what did you do with your wedding/engagement rings?

(132 Posts)
MaryTheBookeeper Mon 27-Jul-20 21:48:39

I'm wondering what to do with mine? They have sentimental value but what's the point of them just sitting in the drawer? I don't want my dc to use them, I'd rather they had their own fresh start. Flogging them for scrap feels heartless. What did you do with yours?

GagaJo Tue 28-Jul-20 08:39:17

I had a beautiful engagement ring. Not fancy but a pretty ring with emeralds and pearls. I gave it to our daughter when she was 21. At some point in the last 15 years she's lost it. Sad but I didn't want it, so...

Froglady Tue 28-Jul-20 08:42:01

I hadn't been married long (1 week to be exact!) when I realised that I had made the biggest mistake of my life. I'd seen warning signs for the few months we'd lived together before the actual wedding but closed my eyes and ears to them but after the wedding realised that it wouldn't work as things were very clear to me then. So I managed to sell the engagement ring back to the jewellers that it came from and I honestly can't recall what happened to the wedding ring.

sodapop Tue 28-Jul-20 08:44:58

Still got mine, they will go to my eldest granddaughter when I die. No strong feelings either way about jewellery. My fingers are too fat to get them on now.

Froglady Tue 28-Jul-20 08:45:03

Just realised that I'm wearing my Mum's first engagement ring and have been for the past several years. She got engaged and then met the man who went n to be her husband and my father. The first man didn't want the ring back so she gave to her cousin who was also her goddaughter. Some years back the cousin passed it back to me and it never comes off my finger and I love it.

Urmstongran Tue 28-Jul-20 08:49:39

I love your story Coolgran ❤️ what a lovely gesture for your friend.

Spangler 46y for us! I realised though reading this thread I’ve not been wearing my rings though in this heat ... my fingers can feel like pork sausages on some days!

Iam64 Tue 28-Jul-20 08:50:37

I was so relieved to be out of the marriage I sold the wedding ring and went on holiday. The start of a happier more contented and interesting life.

midgey Tue 28-Jul-20 08:55:15

I never got divorced but my husband and I sold my wedding ring and engagement rings when times were very hard!

Hetty58 Tue 28-Jul-20 08:59:30

sodapop, my fingers are too fat to get mine off! I'll have to get them cut off at some point but I'm not sentimental about them.

henetha Tue 28-Jul-20 09:31:16

I've kept mine, in an old jewellery box. They're not very valuable anyway, and I couldn't bring myself to throw them away.
My finger felt naked without them so I now wear my mother's eternity ring instead.

Mouse Tue 28-Jul-20 09:33:53

I had my grandmothers wedding ring remade into one for me when I got married. My marriage is long over so the ring holds no emotional value as far as that’s concerned. Still it was my grandmothers ring so is still important to me. I occasionally wear it on my right hand.

Smileless2012 Tue 28-Jul-20 09:35:03

When my parents divorced my mum gave me her engagement ring which I still have. I don't know what happened to her wedding ring though.

jaylucy Tue 28-Jul-20 09:37:36

I lost my engagement ring but still have my eternity and wedding ring - both were made for me by a friend and especially the wedding ring is unique.
I have got plans at some point to have them made into something that I can wear (too small now) - just wish that I had grabbed my ex husbands as well for the extra gold!
Am I the only one that paid for their own wedding ring?

EllanVannin Tue 28-Jul-20 09:39:40

Hilarious, Spangler. I love your friend's sense of humour. How practical too.

I still wear both rings since H died in 1994. Maybe this is why I've remained single grin I couldn't discard/dispose of either.

daffers Tue 28-Jul-20 09:39:47

Put mine on my charm bracelet

Yangste1007 Tue 28-Jul-20 09:41:12

In my jewellery box I have the wedding and engagement rings from my husband's marriage to his first wife. No idea what to do with them. First wife died in a car accident and he removed his wedding ring on the first evening following the accident. That was in 1983. I'm can't remember how they ended up with my jewellery.

b1zzle Tue 28-Jul-20 09:43:33

I bought all the rings. Silly me. But I sold the wedding band although I still wear the engagement ring (cheap one with garnets as I didn't have much money left after he'd chosen the ring he wanted).

It serves to remind me what an a******e he was!

Traceyac Tue 28-Jul-20 09:47:54

mine are in a drawer but its got me thinking about gold prices

jocork Tue 28-Jul-20 09:48:42

I wear my engagement ring on my other hand. The fingers on my right hand are slightly bigger so I can't get it off if I wanted to.
I sold my wedding ring for scrap with some broken chains to replace the chain for my cross which was a 21st present from my grandad so has great sentimental value. At the time I couldn't afford it any other way. I wear it all the time so the chain has broken more than once.

trisher Tue 28-Jul-20 09:51:17

Engagement ring (if you can call it such -it was the sixties we were being different!) isn't really valuable- nice silver modern design with rose quartz stone in my jewellery box, sometimes take it out to remember how thin my fingers were. Wedding ring- now there's an interesting story. It was my grandmother's given to me just before our wedding. Just before I got divorced it was lost in the garden (Granny warning?) it turned up several years later when I was digging the garden. In my jewellery box now. When my mother died I was asked if I wanted her ring removed. I had never known her to take it off so I said 'No'. It was a thin war time ring anyway so very little gold,

Parky Tue 28-Jul-20 09:52:25

Sold them with no qualms, was left short of money so was a great help. No regrets 50 years later!

Have been happily married now for 4o years. I wear my wedding ring, my mother's and her mother's. None needed altering my daughter too has the same size finger so will wear them all when I pop my clogs

Daisyboots Tue 28-Jul-20 09:53:41

My rings were in my jewelry box but my dear adopted daughtesr took the box. I eventually found it in their bedroom but my furst wedding ring was missing despite us searching everywhere. I can only think it had slipped down between the floorboards in the fitted wardrobe. The wedding ring was a wide 22 carat gold so would have been worth quite a bit. Strangely the eternity ring he gave split into 3 pieces as I got back into my car after going to see the divorce solicitor for the first time.
When my niece was getting married I asked if she would like my mothers ring as her wedding ring and she said she would. So I travelled to England especially to give it to her early in case it needed altering. On the day my daughter informed that she had not got my mothers ring but something entirely different which we found rather upsetting as the ring had special memories attached.

SueLindsey Tue 28-Jul-20 09:54:58

Never had an engagement or wedding ring, though they might have been useful to sell when we got divorced!

Susieq62 Tue 28-Jul-20 09:55:15

Mine were stolen during a burglary and I was so upset as they were to be gifted to my daughter. The burglars missed one tiny ring which was the first Mother’s Day gift I received. I had that one made to fit for her 21st. With the insurance money I took her to New York for her 18th. She will be 40 next year!
Get your tings made into a piece if jewellery you like and would cherish. Not all divorce is dreadful

newnanny Tue 28-Jul-20 09:59:38

I offered all jewelry my ex bought me to dd but she was also angry with her Dad do said she did not want them. I then decided to offer to dear nieces. One had engagement ring, one had diamond on a chain necklace, another had pearls, I have other nieces and great nieces a have them a diamond bracelet, emerald and diamond bracelet, lots of pairs of earings including diamond ones, about 4 other necklaces and 2 broaches. My ex did buy me some lovely jewelry but I knew I would not wear it again. I threw my wedding ring onto the sea from top of cliff where he proposed to me. It sort of closed the circle for me.

Lisajr Tue 28-Jul-20 10:03:35

I flushed mine down the toilet where it belonged. It was liberating!