Mourning Rings

Are you familiar with mourning rings? If not, they’re exactly what they sound like: rings (and other types of jewelry, but mostly rings) you wear to commemorate the dead. They were especially popular in Victorian times, and although they can pretty much be anything, they’re usually combinations of gold and onyx and/or porcelain (sometimes painted with urns or graveyard scenes), and many contain locks of the dead person’s hair. Sometimes the hair is just loosely held in an openable chamber in lieu of a jewel, while other times it’s woven into a pattern (you’ll see).

I find mourning rings fascinating and lovely, and every so often I’ll fall down eBay and other trusted vintage-jewelry portals searching for them, so I thought I’d put up a bunch of my favorite photos here, in case others were interested.

Also, mourning ring superstitions? Will my ring come with a ghost? Is she nice?