Ringing in the old

Long worn by gentlemen as a signifier of status, the signet ring is making a curious comeback with a new cohort of champions leading the charge

- HARRY WALLOP

WHEN HM The King is crowned at Westminster Abbey, he will have the Sovereign’s Ring placed on his right hand. It is a clunking bit of bling, the Union flag made out of diamonds, sapphires and rubies, and often called the ‘marriage ring of England’. He will wear it just for a few hours before it is returned to the Tower of London.

He will, however, arrive at the ceremony wearing another ring, one whose history and symbolism arguably is far greater: his signet ring, an item he has not taken off since the early 1970s.

CULTURAL BAGGAGE

Few other items of fashion carry quite the same baggage as the small bit of gold worn by certain men – and some women – on the little finger of their left hand. Because a signet ring is not just a piece of jewellery. It is a signifier. “What you are doing when you are wearing a signet ring is that you are announcing to the world you are a gentleman,” says Paul Fox, the editor of The Coat of Arms, the quarterly published by the Heraldry Society. “Everyone who has a signet ring is declaring a status.”