Women traditionally refuse offers of marriage by refusing to take the offered engagement ring.
A woman who accepts an engagement ring, and then does not marry the man but keeps the ring, is considered grasping and dishonest in some cases, although an alternative argument is that the ring was a gift to which the woman is entitled; because an engagement is also a period for evaluating one's commitment to the relationship, it is not uncommon for either the man or the woman to break off the engagement.
It is generally held that if the betrothal fails because the man pursues other women or himself breaks off the engagement, the woman is not obliged to return the ring.

Women traditionally refuse offers of marriage by refusing to take the offered engagement ring.
A woman who accepts an engagement ring, and then does not marry the man but keeps the ring, is considered grasping and dishonest in some cases, although an alternative argument is that the ring was a gift to which the woman is entitled; because an engagement is also a period for evaluating one's commitment to the relationship, it is not uncommon for either the man or the woman to break off the engagement.
It is generally held that if the betrothal fails because the man pursues other women or himself breaks off the engagement, the woman is not obliged to return the ring.

The inception of the engagement ring itself can be tied to the Fourth Lateran Council presided over by Pope Innocent III in 1215. Innocent declared a longer waiting period between betrothal and marriage; plain rings of gold, silver or iron were used earliest. Gems were more than baubles; they were important and reassuring status symbols to the aristocracy. Laws were passed to preserve a visible division of social rank, ensuring only the privileged wore florid jewels. As time passed and laws relaxed, diamonds and other gems became obtainable to the middle class.
At one time, engagement rings mounted sets of stones. One traditional sentimental pattern mounted six to celebrate the joining of two families: The birthstones of the bride's parents and the bride (on the left), and the birth stones of the groom and his parents (on the right). The parents' stones were mounted with the mother to the left of the father. The bride and groom's birthstones would be adjacent in the center. Another similar pattern, for four stones, mounted the birthstone of the parents' marriages, and the birthstones of the bride and groom. These token rings often disassembled, to expose a channel in which a lock of the suitor's hair could be treasured.
Others believe the engagement ring goes back to the time of the Egyptians. Why wear the ring on the third finger of the left hand? The ancient Egyptians believed that the vein in that finger ran directly to the heart. As for that big rock of an engagement ring, the first recorded diamond engagement ring was presented by the Archduke Maximillian of Austria to Mary of Burgundy as a betrothal gift in 1477. However, the diamond engagement ring did not become the standard it is considered today until after an extensive marketting campaign by De Beers in the middle of the 20th century.
A Victorian tradition was the Regards ring, in which the initials of the precious gems used spelled out the word 'regards'.

Mary of Burgundy is the first known recipient of a diamond engagement ring, in 1477.

View our beautiful Cubic Zirconia CZ Platinum Jewelry Engagment rings collection