Does anybody else remember when friendship rings were all the rage?
I went through hundreds of images online to try and find one that measured up to what was in my memory, but came up empty. It’s like friendship rings have disappeared from the face of the earth!
But back in the late 70’s and early 80’s, friendship rings were a big deal – at least for teenage girls like I was at the time.
These flat bands were about 4 or 5 mm wide, etched with a swirly design, and usually embedded with a couple of tiny gem chips – sapphire or ruby being the most popular.
While they were known as friendship rings, the name might be a tad misleading for those not in the know. They weren’t exchanged by friends, rather a friendship ring was given to a girl by her boyfriend. It was a sign that things were getting ‘serious’, a token of love. Almost like a pre-engagement ring (in some cases anyway).
They were a bit of a status symbol when I was in high school – it meant that somebody loved you! Kinda sad now to think that this was where we thought self-worth came from …
Anyway, I must be a bit of a brazen hussy because I’ve had three 😉 .
Friendship Ring #1
I must confess I didn’t really like this one, but then I had no say in picking it. It looked a bit like the bottom one in the picture below:
Of course it didn’t matter that it wasn’t as pretty as I would have liked, I was just so thrilled to be presented with my very first friendship ring. I was 16.
Later on, I joked that he must have bought them in bulk, because no girlfriend lasted more than a couple of months.
When he cheated on me I may have thrown that friendship ring into the Brisbane River.
Friendship Ring #2
Okay, I dropped a lot of hints for this one and was presented with a gold friendship ring, etched with a delicate pattern and with a couple of diamond chips – I think it was for Christmas or maybe Valentine’s Day? We’d been together over a year by then. I wore it proudly for about a year before we broke up (on my 19th birthday, such great timing!).
Try to imagine this ring in yellow gold, with tiny diamond chips:
Later that year I accidentally backed into another car. My car was fine, but I needed to raise cash fast to pay for the other vehicle’s repairs if I wanted to stop my mother from getting wind of it as I knew there’d be hell to pay. So, I hocked it at a pawn shop along with a couple of other pieces.
Friendship Ring #3
By the time the late 80’s had rolled around, the fashion had changed somewhat. The man who is now my husbear, took me out shopping and together we chose a dainty design in sterling silver, with tiny diamond chips and a sapphire. Sadly I don’t have it any more, as it was stolen when our house got broken into many years ago.
The burglars also stole my favourite necklace and the ring he bought me for our first wedding anniversary – when our insurance paid out, we used the money to buy my eternity ring instead!
Do you remember – or did you have – a friendship ring (or three?!)?