HISTORY OF SOLITAIRE
ENGAGEMENT RINGS
Although the act of gifting and wearing an engagement ring had been common practice for centuries, it wasn’t until 1477 that they began to be decorated with diamonds. This was following the first recorded diamond engagement ring which was commissioned by Archduke Maximilian of Austria for wife-to-be, Mary of Burgundy. The ring featured a number of diamonds arranged to form the shape of the letter ‘M’.
However, a solitaire engagement ring refers to a design with just a single stone. It was much later when these simple yet beautiful designs became the popular engagement ring of choice. Following the 1940s advertising campaign by diamond specialist, De Beers, which framed the luxurious stone as a possession to be held on to forever, the gifting of solitaire engagement rings peaked, and little has changed ever since.