What is “sentimental jewellery”? All jewels are sentimental in some form, however it is typically the wearer that brings the sentiment to the jewel, not the jewels that comes premade with a particular sentiment. Things are beloved because we associate them with a treasured memory. But for centuries, a particular jewel could be made with a particular sentiment intrinsic to it. Using iconography and symbolism, jewellers created a language to jewellery which the giver would relay to the recipient, and then the wearer could communicate to the outside world."In Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit, Mr Dorrit arrives in Paris and proceeds to a sophisticated jeweller to buy a gift. The shop attendant inquires if he was looking for a “nuptial gift” gesturing to the brooches and rings, or a “lover’s gift” directing him towards the earrings and necklaces. This language of jewellery created marketing opportunities and spoke to a highly visual society keen to relay the right messages in their adornments.However sentimental jewels existed long before the Victorian period. In the late Medieval period a trend began for rings inscribed with little rhymes or poems. Posies or “little poem” in French, were inscribed on the inside or outside of band rings. Frequently these rings were very simple in form, a little band of gold, but more elaborate examples existed and were beautifully engraved and decorated in colourful enamel.

Typical examples were: As gold is pure, so love it pure. God above increase our love. I cannot show the love I O. I long to have but blush to crave.Posy rings continued in popularity for hundreds of years but by the mid 1800s interest was dwindling. The British Hallmarking Law of 1855 which required gold items to have a full UK hallmark brought about the end of the posy ring as there simply wasn’t enough space to accommodate the messages. However at about the same time, Queen Victoria adopted the Germanic custom of giving her groom a wedding band and started the modern tradition of brides and grooms exchanging bands.

Before a wedding, there is an engagement, and here again you see Victoria and Albert setting trends. In 1839 Victoria purposed to Albert, as custom would require, and to mark the occasion he gave her a ring designed as a snake consuming it own tail. This distinctive ouroboros symbol dates back thousands of years and is found in Egyptian iconography. This image of a never-ending circle created by the snake clasping its own tail represents an unbroken line, a symbol of eternity.Like so frequently in the 19th century, where the royals led the people followed, and snakes became hugely popular in Victorian jewellery. These jewels were admired for their complex construction needed to create the sinuous forms wrapped around the body. Not always did the jewels hold to the ouroboros form however and the snake’s head is frequently seen overlapping the tail.

By the 1950s, eternity rings were fully established in their popularity. Indeed, two of Hollywood’s most famous stars, the “royalty of the 20th century”, have become closely associate with the jewel. In 1954 Marilyn Monroe married her second husband, the American baseball star Joe DiMagio. For her wedding band she received a channel-set baguette-cut diamond eternity ring. Two years later Prince Rainer III of Monaco purposed to Grace Kelly with a ruby and diamond eternity ring. The red and white gems reflecting the colours of Monaco. This was shortly followed by the epic 10.48 carat emerald-cut diamond ring, also from Cartier.These simple bands, set with an unbroken line of diamonds or coloured gems relayed that same sentiment of unending love, of eternity.