You might have seen the movie “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” where Marilyn Monroe sang the words: “A kiss on the hand may be quite continental, but diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”
From all the diamond engagement rings I’ve seen advertised and heard about, such as the 69-plus karat diamond Richard Burton gave Liz Taylor before marriage, I truly believe diamonds have become a girl’s best friend, except in my case.
After two years of dating, my future husband and I decided to get married. Over the years, I had never been a jewelry person, but I did admire it on others. So when my soon-to-be husband talked to me about an engagement ring, he was told, “I much prefer a plain band when married. I’m not into jewelry.”
He told me later, he was in a quandary of what to give me when he actually proposed on his knee. He came up with a grand idea. The evening he proposed, he came into his living room, lugging a large trash bag, which he set on the floor. He then got on his knee and asked my hand in marriage. I agreed even before he handed me the trash bag, saying, “This is in place of the diamond ring you didn’t want. I bought a blue star quilt your sister, Mary Alice, quilted.”
I was elated! I had always wanted one of my sister’s quilts. Well, the darn thing couldn’t be wrapped around my finger, so I placed it on our bed once we had our own home.
At a later date, my husband bought me an opal ring, my birthstone, which I wear on special occasions.
Even though a diamond ring is the most popular betrothal ring of the 20th century (the word betrothal comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “troweth,” meaning truth), the use of rings as a symbol of commitment dates back to ancient history.
The scholar, Katherine Morria Lester, in “Accessories of Dress,” states, “Wedding rings were not unknown. In fact, the use of the ring in the marriage service began in Egypt. The custom was also favored by the Greeks and Romans, but was not adopted for the Christian ritual until about 860 A.D. Previous to that time it was looked upon as a pagan idea.”
Some scholars believe the custom to have originated in the 2nd century B.C., when a Roman bride-to-be was given two rings; one was gold and worn for public events. Pliny, a Roman writer, states the 2nd ring was iron (sometimes with a small key attached) to be worn at home, which signified a legal agreement that the husband owned his mistress.
Rings were important in that they signified the couples’ commitment to marry. By 1215, Pope Innocent III instituted a “banns (announcement) of marriage,” which stipulated the young couple had to make a public proclamation – three Sundays in a row – about their forthcoming marriage ceremony. It also had to be held in a church.
More than 200 some years later, in 1477, we have the first recorded use of a diamond ring. It was the Austrian Archduke Maximilian, who gave his future bride, Mary of Burgundy, a diamond, flat pieces in the shape of an “M.”
Although engagement rings were common at this time, diamond rings were for those of wealth and nobility.
The earliest mining of diamonds was traced back to India in the 4th century. In 600 A.D. diamonds were discovered on the Island of Borneo, and, in 1725, a small deposit was found in Brazil.
However, in 1871, the biggest find of diamonds, and to this day the world’s main supplier, was found in South Africa on a farm owned by two brothers, the DeBeers, who soon sold out leaving only their name with the business.
By 1888, the conglomerate Cecil Rhoades consolidated the various mines and mine companies, calling it DeBeers Consolidated Mines, Ltd., a Central Selling Organization, and a Diamond Trading Co. With such an abundant supply of diamonds from Africa, the diamond decreased in value. The Europeans, realizing diamonds weren’t a rarity any more, started choosing other gems for an engagement ring.
DeBeers came up with an advertising campaign to convince middle class families, they, too, could possess diamonds that were once considered for the wealthy. It worked. Next, DeBeers decided to target the now-growing wealthy Americans. They even had mottos telling men how much to spend on a diamond ring and that every bride deserved a diamond.
Alas, by the 1930s, the demand for diamonds declined during the Great Depression. That didn’t stop DeBeers. Again, they started another aggressive marketing campaign. This time they targeted movie stars, with photos of them drenched in diamonds. Within a few years, the sales of diamonds increased. By this time, giving a diamond engagement ring was implanted as a custom, even though it seems we’ve done it for centuries.
Still DeBeers wasn’t finished with the advertising campaigns. In 1947, the company set in motion the slogan “A Diamond is Forever.” The idea came from the copywriter, Francis Gerety, who worked for N.W. Ayer & Son, a firm DeBeers hired for advertising.
Since 1948, the slogan “A Diamond is Forever” has been in every engagement ad of DeBeers. In 1999, Ad Age Advertising named it one out of the best 10 slogans of the 20th century.
Indeed, Marilyn Monroe was right in the words to the song “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend,” but in the 20th century, I’ll have to add “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best ‘Forever’ Friend.”
Carole Christman Koch grew up in Berks County and has been published in numerous publications. She has a passion for writing and has many stories from growing up on a farm to everyday stories.