The idea to give a ring as a sign of engagement is not new. In Roman times, the man gave his beloved an iron –– later on, a golden engagement ring. After the Romans, this tradition did not continue until this custom picked up again in the 12th century. All marriages took place in a church, and men were required to give their future wife wives a ring. 

Furthermore, the waiting time between the engagement and the actual marriage also originated from that period. Aristocrats gave luxurious engagement rings to their future wives as a way of counting down to the ‘big day’.

While giving engagement rings has been a tradition for centuries, diamonds were only added quite recently. Diamonds are scarce and were only for the extremely rich back then. The diamond ring that Archduke Maximilian of Austria in 1477 gave to Mary of Burgundy was an early exception. 

After this world-famous ring, diamond engagement rings did not become popular until the late 19th century. In the 1870s, miners discovered major 'veins' of diamonds in South Africa, which is when the commercialisation of diamonds was born. Diamond jewellery sales boomed, and so did the diamond engagement ring. Big, bigger, biggest! Men started proposing to their women with expensive and exquisite diamond engagement rings. Large diamonds to show the world that she belonged to him.

More and more couples now see a diamond engagement ring as a profitable investment and share the costs when purchasing it. The diamond ring, in whatever form, remains the symbol of romance. A man who goes on one knee and asks his beloved to marry her, while offering a large diamond... is the most beautiful thing there is, isn’t it? Diamonds are forever, and we hope your marriage is, too! 

Everything starts with the right ring. BAUNAT has a beautiful collection of exquisite diamond engagement rings.
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