Do you put the mother's birthstone in a Mother's Ring?
December 03, 2018Do you put the mother’s birthstone in a Mother's Ring?
You can put a mother's birthstone in a mother's ring if you choose to do so. A mother's ring is still a piece of personalized jewelry and there are no set rules for something you design personally. Historically a mother's birthstone was not included in a mother's ring but this is not a set rule.
What is a Mother’s Ring?
A Mother's Ring is a ring that, traditionally, children and spouse’s would give to a mother or grandmother.
It is a commemorative jewelry gift, given to celebrate their family ties.
Today, Mother's Rings are popularly given as gifts on Mother's Day, birthdays, and Christmas.
However, that doesn't mean they're excluded from the rest of the year and can't be simply given as a token of appreciation.
The History of the Mother's Ring
This tradition was started, according to jeweler insiders, in 1959 by a jeweler who was looking for the perfect gift for his wife and got a crazy, yet wonderful, idea.
He took two wedding bands and intricately combined them with their three children’s birthstones.
The idea was quickly picked up by the John C Nordt jewelry company, soliciting the Mother's Rings increase in trend.
Nowadays, Mother's Rings are seen as a token of appreciation for mothers and grandmothers everywhere. They may be shown as rings, pendants, bracelets, or even anklets.
But it's still the same concept and the same appreciation.
In fact, personalizing Mother's Day gifts with birthstones is immensely popular (just Google Mother's Day Birthstones, you'll see what I mean).
And, there are more and more ways popping up to personalize them every day.
Fun Facts about Mother's Rings
A Mother's Ring does not have one set design. And, you can personalize them as an antique or vintage design, which would be very similar to the original, if that's more your thing.
A Mother's Ring can be a simple band or an elegant design of flowers.
You can customize the cut of the stone to fit her preference and personality (I've always thought diamond shapes convey a sassy sense of confidence) or engrave the grandkids names around the band in a beautiful script of your choice.
Some expert engravers will offer to do signature engravings as well.
Companies such as Etsy and Kay Jewelers offer custom engravings. Some companies even specialize in custom engravings, such as Thinkengraved.com.
Customizing a mother's ring
The birthstones and metals used can also be customized, such as an oval cut emerald with a 12k gold band or a diamond cut ruby with a silver band.
These rings were traditionally worn alone on either the left or right ring finger.
Sometimes, though less often, on the left or right finger next to the ring finger.
However, today, mother's wear them on any finger they choose, as well as with other rings.
Sometimes, they even have more than one Mother’s Ring and group them together, such as one for children and another for grandchildren.
More so, these gifts are no longer dedicated to the ring industry.
You can also customize Mother's Pendants and Mother's Bracelets that also contain birthstones and, or custom engravings.
Prices
The price of the ring will vary depending on the metal used and type of birthstone; silver is cheaper than gold, and authentic birthstones will be more costly than fake stones; as well as additional personalization (custom or intricate designs and engravings, for example).
Tips on Customization
There are plenty of personalization options to choose from, from the metal used to the cut of the stones to designs and engravings.
You can also match separate bands up to create a stack of Mother's Rings.
For example, let's say you want to get a ring for your mom that has your birthday, your 2 siblings birthdays, and all the grandkids birthdays.
That's a lot of stones on one ring. So, your options are either give mom a super bling ring or get her three.
One with you and your kid's birthstones and another for each of siblings and their kids.
Stone Solutions
If you're having a hard time choosing the design because of a lack of stones (such as an only child), or too many of one color (too many birthdays in September), you're not alone. This is actually a quite common problem.
For example, if you have only one child and you don't like the way the ring looks with only one stone, try adding the parent's birthstones to the ring, most prefer the child's birthstone to be in the center.
If you don't want the parent's birthstones, consider the grandparent's birthstones instead. That way, you could add even more to the sentiment (and the bling).
If you have twins in the mix, the easiest option is to put mom’s, or mom and dad's, birthstone in the center between them, to break them up.
Alternately, and if you're lucky, certain months birthstones come naturally in different shades. These months are June, October, November, and December.
If you have twins born in any of these months, you're in luck!
These months actually have multiple birthstones that vary in shade. Therefore, you can choose a different stone, for the same month, and they can each have their own individual stone.
- June's birthstones are Pearl and Alexandrite. Striking in comparison, yet beautifully paired. Alexandrite is a deep blue that goes well with the soft luminescence of Pearl.
- August's birthstones are Peridot and Spinel. Peridot is a beautiful lime green and Spinel is an elegant, color changing stone.
- October's birthstones are Opal and Tourmaline. This is another odd comparison that goes oddly well together. Opal is almost a kind of rainbow, where Tourmaline is normally found as a soft pink stone, but can be any color from the rainbow, and is known to be tri-colored at times.
- November's birthstones are Citrine and Topaz. Both are a gorgeous orange, amber color. Topaz is better known for its lighter and joyful pink hues, where Citrine, also known as the healing stone, is recognized by its deeper orange color.
- December’s birthstones are Turquoise, Tanzanite, and Blue Zircon. Tanzanite is known for its unique shade of blue. Dark with swirls of black deep inside. Turquoise is the most well known for its completely unique appearance. A beautiful blue, green rock with cracks and swirls of what looks like bronze or gold covering the rock entirely. Blue Zircon is known for its multifaceted appearance and its crystal clear blue color.
For a complete list of the months and birthstones, click here.
Aside from the multiple birthstones, there are also birthstones that vary in shade. Garnet, for example, is usually found in its usual, commonly known shade; red. However, Garnet's can also be orange, green, and purple!
You could choose a different shade of the same birthstone, that way it's still symbolic and unique to that one person it's meant for.
Here is a list of all the “shady” stones:
- Garnet - Range the colors red, green, orange, and purple. Garnets bring peace, good fortune, and long-lasting friendship.
- Diamond - Range the colors white, black, yellow, red, and blue. Diamonds are a symbol of purity and everlasting love.
- Sapphire - Ranges the colors blue, pink, and orange. Sapphires are a symbol of truth, genuineness, and nobility.
A lesson on birthstones
Birthstones themselves have been around a long time before we were calling them birthstones. A theory on the symbolic meaning of birthstones comes from the book of Exodus.
In it, Moses describes the ceremonial priest's robe, to be made for his older brother, and tells them to fix the breastplate with twelve gemstones, symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel.
In the early first century, a man named Titus Flavius Josephus cracked the code between the twelve stones and the twelve zodiac signs and custom changed.
Now, instead of wearing all twelve stones every month, only the stone for the month you were born in had to be worn through the year.
Now, what specific stones were used has definitely caused debate.
Many variations of birthstones were used until 1912 when the American National Jewelers Association put together an official list.
A list that is still highly regarded over and over today.
Make it Unique
In short, maybe, in the beginning, it wasn't so common to add mom's stone in a Mother's Ring.
Maybe it was also easier, considering many people back in 1959 had pretty big families, like three kids or more.
Not surprisingly, it is becoming increasingly popular to add mom’s birthstone in the mix, for a variety of reasons and in a variety of ways.
The options for personalization, such as a different cut for mom's stone or to separate generations, make for an awesome experience because it shows mom how much you care. How much you appreciate her.
Having the opportunity to create something pretty completely unique is exciting. Being able to create that uniqueness for someone else is even better. It's the art that you see inside your family.
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