The Tradition of Passing Down a Wedding Ring

Passing a ring down - a grandmother's wedding band, a signet carrying the family crest - is one of the oldest traditions in jewellery, older than the diamond engagement ring by centuries. If you've inherited a ring, or you're choosing one you intend your children to inherit, here's what's worth knowing.

Why it's rings that get handed down

Houses get sold. Watches stop. A solid gold ring is one of the very few objects that can be worn every single day for fifty years and then handed to the next person as good as new - gold doesn't rust, doesn't tarnish, and a competent bench can re-polish half a century of wear out of it in an afternoon. That's the whole trick of the tradition: the ring does the remembering, and the wearing costs it nothing.

The one condition is that the ring is solid. A plated ring wears through to the base metal in years, not generations, and a hollow-backed ring dents and deforms in a way that can't be undone. Construction is what separates jewellery from heirlooms.

Wearing an inherited wedding ring

Couples ask us whether it's acceptable to marry with a passed-down band. It's more than acceptable - it's the older practice, and to most families it means more than a new ring ever could. Practically, three things make an inherited band yours:

Resizing. A solid gold band can usually be moved several sizes in either direction. The engraving inside may be affected depending on how far the ring has to move - a good jeweller will tell you honestly before touching it.

Refinishing. Decades of fine scratches polish away, or stay, entirely your call. Plenty of wearers keep the patina; it's the previous marriage's handwriting.

Engraving the next chapter. The inside of a band has room for more than one date. Adding your own beside the original - rather than replacing it - is how a ring becomes a record. Our wedding ring engraving guide covers wording and placement.

The signet: the ring built for this

Wedding bands get passed down by sentiment; signet rings were designed for it. A signet carries the family's crest on its face, which means it never belonged to one person so much as to the name - each generation is a custodian, not an owner. It's why some grooms now wear a signet as their wedding ring: one ring that does both jobs, married and inherited in the same object.

Starting the heirloom yourself

Every ring that gets passed down was once bought by somebody with no inheritance in hand - the first generation pays for the second one's luck. If that's you, the brief is simple: solid gold, cast in one piece, heavy enough to survive being worn carelessly by someone who hasn't been born yet. On carat, all three work - we've written an honest comparison of 9ct, 14ct and 18ct - though 18ct is the traditional heirloom standard for its colour and weight, and 9ct is the toughest of the three.

Every Cavetta ring is made to order in solid gold and carries a lifetime craftsmanship guarantee, which quietly transfers with the ring: if it ever fails through our workmanship, we make it right, whoever's wearing it by then.

If there's a ring in your family with a story attached - or you want to make one - book a 15-minute call and tell us about it, or start with our solid gold wedding bands and signet rings.