by Shari D (Jeweler's Granddaughter)
(Indiana)
Two tone gold and diamond WWII era wedding set
Just finished reading through your very informative post in the history if wedding rings, but was a little disappointed to find that the most traditional design of all the wedding ring sets of this era, and actually even on to the very early 60's when the solitaire engagement ring gained heavily in popularity, was not shown or even mentioned.
I refer of course to the illusion style wedding set, which was originally designed and became popular in the late 1930's as the fishtail prong style with Old European Cut or Transitional cut diamonds, but became amazingly popular during the war, due to its use if sculpted gold settings which made the very small, newly developed and more expensive brilliant cut diamonds look much more impressive than they normally would in much plainer settings. The marriage boom during the prewar and war years kept jewelers and the companies that produced these rings amazingly busy. It was certainly a "boom" for them as well!
The Keepsake and ArtCarved brands were famous for them, with Orange Blossom bringing up the rear in sales of this particular style. It is the most common type of style, although every design had its own characteristics, and is the one most commonly found when shopping for "vintage" wedding ring sets today. I have attached some photos of representative sets below. I also own about a half dozen of these styles myself, either in sets that were commonly soldered together, or as separate engagement and wedding band sets, and a couple of unmatched companion pieces I happened to like very much on their own.
I have also done a considerable amount of study on these types, and am confused about the claim made by ArtCarved in their advertising that they were the only company allowed by the government to produce wedding rings and engagement rings and sets during the war, when I have a considerable collection of wartime advertisements from not only them, but also Keepsake and Orange Blossom, all separate companies from each other.
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