The Rodert Ring

In April, a message came through the website. Matt was getting married the following March, and he wanted his wedding ring to be a signet. There was one complication - as far as he knew, the Rodert family had never had a crest.

So we made one.

A gold signet ring with an embossed crest and the year '1838' on its shank, presented inside a cream-colored jewelry box with a burgundy exterior.

Matt is an officer in the Royal Australian Navy, with German heritage running back to the settlers who made their home in Hahndorf, South Australia, in 1838. Those two threads became the ring. A stag's head for the family. A sword for his service at sea, crossed with a quill for the learning that never stops. An eagle above the shield, a banner beneath it carrying RODERT - and down the shoulders of the band, two years: 1838, when his family's Australian story began, and 2027, when the next one does.

A gold signet ring with the year '1838' engraved on its face, resting inside a cream-colored ring box.

Matt didn't just brief the design - he sketched his own coat of arms and sent it through, superimposed on a ring. From there our designers drew the full 3D CAD, and together we turned it over: the proportions of the eagle, the vines reaching for the edges of the face, the corners of the square softened just so, the dates sized up until they read the way he wanted. Nothing went to casting until Matt wrote back: "Love the design! Let's lock it in!"

A gold signet ring with an embossed coat of arms and the name 'Robert' on the face, displayed inside a beige velvet jewelry box with a dark red lining.

The crest was cast raised into the face rather than engraved - solid 14ct yellow gold, made for a ring that will be worn every day at sea and on land. And inside the band, where only two people know to look, a motto Matt and his fiancée chose together, engraved in cursive: Love & Honour.

The ring reached Matt in July. "Very intricate and detailed," he wrote. "The ring, crest and motto that will represent our family name as of our wedding day."

A gold signet ring with an engraved coin face and the year '2027' on the side, displayed inside a cream-colored ring box with a burgundy outer border.

A family that didn't have a crest in April will carry one at the altar in March.

If your story holds a service too, see our military & service rings. Or begin where Matt did - with a conversation. Book a call with our founder, or design a crest from scratch.