Who Invented Engagement Rings, Anyway?

by Kelly Bare

1944: A Catholic priest queries The American Ecclesiastical Review as to whether he’s permitted to marry a couple in a “double ring” ceremony, and, if so, how to go about it. (The Roman Ritual calls only for the blessing of the bride’s ring.) The Review OKs the practice.

1946: Humphrey Bogart chooses to wear his first groom’s ring when he is married—for the fifth, and final, time—to Lauren Bacall.

1950: Breakfast at Tiffany’s is published. In Truman Capote’s novel, Tiffany’s engraves the cracker-jack ring that winds up as Holly Golightly’s engagement ring.

1978: Following her divorce from Richard Burton, Liz Taylor puts the 69-plus karat “Taylor-Burton” diamond up for sale to raise funds for a hospital in Botswana.

2000: Amid growing concern over human rights violations associated with their trade, the diamond industry creates the World Diamond Council to develop and oversee a tracking system that will “prevent the exploitation of diamonds for illicit purposes such as war and inhumane acts.”