To be surprised so many signet rings are "fake"

[shocka]

I'm from an Irish family so most of my forebears had no money, and those that did had nothing of the sort of money found in the South East.

When I went up to Cambridge I was shocked by the number of people my age wearing signet rings. I assumed they were all from really posh English families. I was slightly envious in a way, that people had such a good knowledge of their own family background that a signet ring had been passed down.

It was only until years later that when discussing with other people what their signet ring meant to them, that I found out so many people had either bought them, found a crest online for their surname, or the design was just their initials or similar. I had genuinely thought all these people wearing them were actually posh and not just wearing it to try look the part.

🫠

What did you local MP have to say about this when you wrote to them?

I don't think I'd assume that they all wanted to look posh. Maybe they just like the style of ring.

For years people go around under this misconception when a simple, well timed conversation can deal with all signet ring related confusion early on.

My advice to all on Mumsnet is if you only do one thing, make sure you talk to your own children about signet rings before they go up to Cambridge.

Are they posh?

To me they scream Jimmy Saville or footballers’ wives.

Excellent 😂

DId you not notice that you can buy in every jewellery shop in every town in Britain?

Argos have them. They start at £9.

Absolutely SHOCKING.

Can you ask MNHQ to put a trigger warning in the thread title OP?

Not sure I’ll ever recover.

Erm... I used to pore over the jewellery section in the Argos catalogue. There was a whole section of signet rings. So I've known about this mind-blowing phenomenon since I was about 9 years old.

Whats a cygnet ring anyway?

Flock of seagulls?

Or is that too retro?

Why on earth do you think rich people are only found in the southeast? Surely you realise there are a ton of people with Irish families like yours in the southeast? I grew up in the southeast and half my mates had Irish families.

Also, bit odd that you got to adulthood without ever once having a passing glance at the window of a high street jeweller.

Honestly, this is a really weird set of hoops to jump through just to tell people you went to Cambridge.

Im a bit confused here, if you say you realised 'years later' after Cambridge, that means you are likely older than 30. Cambridge is a modern town with shops, as is everywhere else in the UK. Have you never looked at the jewellery section of a clothes shop, or in a jewellers window in your life?

Let’s face it…they look chavvy.

I wear a signet ring with my initial on.My parents gave it to me when I was sixteen, sadly not as a sign of my heritage but because I like rings, but not other jewellery. I am not posh, or even attempting to look posh ( unless liking to fidget with the ring in the manner of Richard III in the famous portrait makes me a little bit posh? 😏)
I can only apologise to anyone at my uni or in later life who was misled by it 😊😁

The King wears one!

What makes you think having a good knowledge of your families background means you have/need a signet ring?

Was it from Argos or Ratners? Tacky no matter who wears one.

Low class.

Bloody hell. You’ll be telling me next that all those folk in duffel coats I met at uni aren’t actually from darkest Peru.

The only people I’ve ever known who wore signet rings are pretentious, judgemental, snobbish men who think they’re someone they’re not.

Same. I think they are naff.

😂

Well this is gripping stuff and no mistake.

🤣

Why are the kings fingers like sausages??