Vintage diamond rings or engagement rings inspired by royalty, have become a cult favorite. People, especially the millennials, have embraced the charm of vintage trends. But why?
All thanks to period dramas like The Crown, Bridgerton, Versailles, and Victoria (and then some more!), millennials have seen several hallmarks of vintage jewelry (and fashion). The handcrafted designs, intricate details, and ornate presentations have clearly made their mark. With dramas spanning Edwardian era, mid-century modern, and everything in between, we have seen vintage design elements in both fine jewelry and engagement rings.
Typically, vintage or vintage inspired rings are distinguished by the unusual stone shapes or the arrangement of multiple stones together in unique patterns and designs. People often mistakenly assume ‘vintage’ to mean antique. While vintage is anything that’s over 40 years old, ‘antique’ refers to things that are at least 100 years old.
When speaking of vintage jewelry, especially rings, we often refer to intricate designs including filigree and milgrain techniques and delicate details that are personalized to suit the wearer’s preference.
History of Vintage Jewelry Styles
Diamond rings have been popular since 1477 when the first diamond engagement ring was commissioned by Archduke Maximillian of Austria.
The vintage diamond ring styles we see today mostly belong to 4 prominent eras of human history, namely, Victorian (1837-1901), Art Nouveau (1890-1910), Edwardian (1901-1910), and Art Deco (1920-1930). The evolution of vintage diamond rings has come to have rich historic value ever since it came to be recognized as a legit setting style somewhere between the late 19th and early 20th century.
Let’s rewind a bit back to the Victorian age when the young queen’s loving relationship with her husband, Prince Albert inspired a boom of romantic motifs like cross, snake, ivy, leaves, bows, and love knots in rings. The metal of choice was yellow gold and rose gold set especially with rose-cut diamonds and other colorful gems. 
In 1886, Tiffany & Co. launched their six-claw diamond solitaire setting in which a single diamond is perched atop a plain band.
As Victorian notions of propriety changed, jewelry design evolved too. During the Art Nouveau period centered upon nature-inspired jewelry forms depicting leaves, flowers, and snakes in graceful asymmetric designs.
With the Edwardian era, Queen Alexandra shifted the jewelry scene to lighter and more delicate designs which included lacy patterns emulated by minute filigree (use of metal beads and metal threads) and milgrain details. The popular motifs during this period were the crescent moon, bows, shamrocks, and flowers.
Diamonds became the center stone paired with precious gemstones like moonstone, amethyst, ruby, sapphire, pearls, and emeralds. This was also the time when engagement rings became a prominent social norm. The Edwardian jewelry scene gradually transitioned into the Art Deco style where bold geometric designs with repeating patterns and milgrain work dominated the jewelry style scene.
Hexagonal and octagonal halos with a large diamond as the center stone were a common feature of the times. These geometric patterns never really go out of style. For instance, take the popularity of vintage asscher cut diamond ring styles that were adorned from Elizabeth Taylor, to Jacqueline Kennedy, and more recently by Pippa Middleton.
Vintage Diamond Rings Today
Even after a century, there’s a renewed interest in all things jazz, Gatsby and Art Deco. We have seen particularly strong interest in Art Deco-inspired engagement rings and jewelry in the last couple of years. Indeed, it seems that all the Netflix-period-drama-inspired looks have helped vintage motifs and styles to evolve within modern ring designs.
Jewelers today are able to pick and choose the Art Deco design elements they want to feature and create truly custom engagement rings for their customers. Vintage ring settings are are perfect for fancy diamond shapes like marquise, asscher, emerald, and princess cut diamonds.
For a woman who wears her personality on her sleeves, this at-deco inspired ring in white or yellow gold variant is a match made in heaven. Not only does this three-stone, vintage asscher cut diamond ring look luxurious, but that intricate design work on the inner shank makes it hard to not stare wonderstruck.
LovBe’s range of vintage diamond rings will leave you spoilt for choice.
There’s no shortage of delightful style motifs borrowed or inspired from the Victorian era. For example, this vintage marquise cut diamond ring. The entwined band shoulders, two triangular clusters of accent round diamonds and that illustrious center stone shape truly make this ring worthy for a princess!
If your partner desires her own flair of vintage showmanship, then you will love this vintage emerald cut diamond ring. This very Edwardian-era inspired ring has a beautiful emerald cut diamond is flanked between two pavéd petals at the crown, creating a flower-like design when viewed from the side. The band is further detailed with embellished leaf motifs engraved delicately. The result is a magnificently glorious and unique ring that’s truly one-of-a-kind.
A tad simpler that what we have seen earlier but yet with its very own eclectic charm is this vintage emerald cut diamond ring. The petite filigree detailing and milgrain outline on the shoulders add just a slice of the Edwardian era, quickly balanced by the very modern emerald center stone. This ring matches modern aesthetics with vintage charisma.
The greatest thing about a vintage engagement ring style is that it goes fabulously with all precious metals, be it yellow gold, or platinum, or white gold.
Final Thoughts on vintage style settings
Detailed, intricate patterns and style of engraving on your engagement ring can tell a unique story of your love and life together. And we can assure you that a ring that’s as unique as LovBe, is guaranteed to make heads turn – every single time. So, give your imagination free rein and make a bold style statement with your vintage diamond ring.
