Men's Civil War Era Wedding Ring

[Jeffrey Cohen]

Looking for info. on a men's wedding ring.
How wide, what type of gold, and does anyone make them?
Thanks
Jeffrey Cohen

[ScottCross]

Re: Men's Civil War Era Wedding Ring

Jeffrey,

I have a couple of examples that were dug from campsites. Both are plain BRASS bands that had been gold plated (most of the plating was missing). I saw a great one on exhibit in a private museum just north of Fredricksburg (I have forgotten the man's name who owns it). This ring was a flat gold band, about 1/4 " wide, with beading around the top and bottom edges. When I got married 5 years ago, I walked into a jewelry store and found a ring almost exactly the same. I bought it in a heart beat. However, there is some debate about how common it was for men to wear wedding bands during the 1860s.

[Clark Badgett]

Re: Men's Civil War Era Wedding Ring

Unless I am very mistaken, I remember a few years back some of the heavy hitters on the civilian side of the hobby had discovered that men didn't commonly wear wedding bands during the war ear. I know that of the many photos I've seen of married couples, I don't recall any men wearing rings where their wedding bands should have been. I have seen married men wearing other rings though.

[JerseySkilletLicker]

Mid 20th century

Many believe that the custom of men wearing wedding bands is relatively new, having started in earnest during the WWII days when men being seperated from their wives wore them as a token of romantic feelings and fidelity.
Before that time the general feeling is that women as a sort of "property" wore engagement; wedding and even motherhood bands as a sign that they "belonged" to someone.
While some men indeed wore a wedding band during the mid 19th century, I do not believe it was the norm.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Men's Civil War Era Wedding Ring

Wedding bands were worn by men in the 19th century, particularly by different ethnic groups. Germans were well known for wearing rings on the right hand from the 18th century on, Scandinavian wedding band tradition goes back well before 1000 AD.

There is also an account of U. S. Grant loosing his wedding ring while he was stationed in the north west of California, and becoming quite upset over the loss, ending in on of his bouts with the bottle. I will look up the exact quote and post it.

In the Time Life Civil War series Tenting Tonight there are photos on pgs 39 and 43 of married men wearing rings on there pinky fingers.

[Jimmayo]

Re: Men's Civil War Era Wedding Ring

Have dug a few wedding bands in Union sites. Here is a picture of two. If the picture doesn't post e-mail me and I will send it off forum. The typical wedding band must have been expensive if all gold. Most are plated and flaked off by the time they have been recovered. Most look like the larger ring shown and are pretty much like the plain bands worn today.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Men's Civil War Era Wedding Ring

I feel mens rings, not wedding rings per se, but mens rings in general are very PEC. If you want to wear a wedding band, you may want to look into the very period but way under represented pinky ring.

[ThehosGendar]

Re: Men's Civil War Era Wedding Ring

"Scouts and guides of the Army of the Potomac" (March 1864) is a great image that shows several men wearing rings.



1. John Irving is wearing either a very large ring, or two small rings on his right pinky:


2. Son of Lt. Robert Klein, 3d Indiana Cavalry (the officer seated in the middle) looks to be wearing a metallic ring on his pinky, and a black ring on his, well, ring finger. The possible pinky ring is quite thin, and may very well be a wrinkle. His hands are really weird. The kid looks to be about 15, but he's got the hands of a 40 year old. (Perhaps his father, being a cavalry officer, brought back the hand of a felled Confederate foe after particularly daring fight, and he's just showing it off)

Enough yapping, here's the picture:


3. Unknown, wearing a pinky ring.


While I know that wearing a ring on the pinky was a style at the time, what would differentiate a wedding ring from a ring of fashion? Lt. Kline's son is wearing a ring similar to those dug rings that Mr. Mayo has shown. Not to presume anything, but he's looks a bit young to be married.

[Rich Mason]

Re: Men's Civil War Era Wedding Ring

When back in Virginia for the 135th Gettysburg event, my wife and I bought a "dug" ring at one of the local antique shops. It was supposed to have been dug from Fredricksburg (no way of knowing for sure, since I wasn't the one that dug it).

It is just a plain flat band a little less then 1/4 inch wide, but it is made of copper. Doesn't look like it was ever plated, but hard to tell. Not even sure if it is a wedding ring, but the shape seems to give the impression that it might have been.

Don't know if this helps the discussion or not. Just thought it was interesting that it was copper and not brass or some other more common metal for rings.

Rich Mason

[KarinTimour]

Medicinal Qualities of Copper

Dear Rich:

During our period women sometimes wore copper bracelets which they thought would protect them from rheumatism. I'm wondering if the copper ring you got was the male equivalent -- especially needed given the amount of sleeping in less than optimal conditions that soldiers did.

Karin Timour
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[Jeffrey Cohen]

Re: Men's Civil War Era Wedding Ring

Thanks for all the help! This certainly gives me a lot to study on.
Reards,
Jeffrey Cohen

[Tyler]

Re: Men's Civil War Era Wedding Ring

This doesn't really fit with the "where to find one or what they look like" idea, but for more info on which finger to wear a ring on, check out The Columbia Rifle Research Compendium's article "Ring finger? Schmingfinger!". Gives percentages of which finger soldiers wore rings on etc. And of course, nothing beats period images...
-Tyler Putman

[Tyler]

Re: Men's Civil War Era Wedding Ring

Ok, this is a bit off-topic, but a question for Mr. Gendar-
Where can I get the software you use to enlarge and sharpen the photos? It's really great!
-Tyler Putman

[Matthew.Rector]

Re: "The Sailor's Farewell"

Just throwing this on the thread only as an example.
In the Civilian Discussions folder, there is the thread, They weren't that different...by Northerngal. In it she references an 1865 lithograph, "The Sailor's Farewell". It depicts a sailor and his signficant other.

http://www.myrtle-avenue.com/nb/sailor.jpg

While looking at it I noticed that the sailor is wearing a ring on his left hand ring finger. I present this as just one example. Not at all saying it was the norm or not.

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Men's Civil War Era Wedding Ring

See the image of John Yates Beall in the A-C Forum;
Civil War Photos
CDV's and other photos from Ebay and the like.