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.

Gosh. You would be appalled by my sparkly earrings that are definitely not gem stones.

I didn't even notice the "up to Cambridge", presumably meaning the uni, I was wondering why signet rings were particularly noticeable there.

I think they were quite a popular 21st birthday present at one point

They aren't for sealing their letters with their family crest then ? Combined with a sovereign ring you can really pass for a posho . In Cambridge.

Why are they fake?! They are still signet rings no matter what’s on them?! Just because you presumed they were family heirlooms with a family crest on-perhaps you were just wrong?

Is this a piss take? Signet rings are anything but posh! They are beyond chavvy. Horrible things. I'm also struggling to understand how a signet ring can be fake? Surely to be fake there has to be a real thing. Aren't they all a tenner from the market?

I've never thought a signet ring on pinky was anything but posh

I’ve worn a signet ring since I was given it as a present for passing my O Levels in the 70s. They were very popular back then and most of my friends had one - not posh.

I also think a signet ring on men is posh. But only in high carat gold (in 9carat it’s the opposite, that’s the very working class 70’s thing when I was growing up)

I have my grandads, it’s so bloody large I wear it on my thumb.

I didn't relaise they were supposed to be posh.

When I was growing up in a common as muck kind of place, all the jack the lads had them. Mostly from Argos.

I think people are seeing ‘signet ring’ and confusing them with ‘sovereign rings’. One posh, with your family crest on it, the other decidedly downmarket and previously the province of Elizabeth Duke.

I'm not. Both to be found on a certain type of man in my youth, but not the same thing.

It's not been confirmed, but anybody who has had a Psoriatic Arthritis flare in their hands or feet knows how it feels - to be that painful, tight and swollen and to have randoms commenting that they look like sausages.

Either very posh or very Del Boy.

I always thought they were posh. My dad and grandad were wealthy posh types and wore them instead of wedding rings. One of the dc had a moment at uni where all the posh boys had them and they felt a bit left out.

Also, Cambridge isn't in the south east (and how do you go "up to" the south east) 😬😬

This must be a joke post...

So, some men wear signet rings. You assumed that in wearing one, it meant you were very posh and it had a family crew on, but in actual fact, anyone can wear a signet rings on any finger and it doesn’t mean anything. People can wear one on their finger without a family crest on and that doesn’t mean it’s fake.

I sort of imagine the King wearing one to sign the wax seal on his papers
None of the posh blokes I know would be seen with “ statement” jewellery.

I'm American and had to ask my Irish husband what the hell a signet ring even is, then I read him your post and he thinks you need to get over yourself. Imagine being this bothered because people you assumed were posh turned out to be wearing rings they simply liked rather than precious family heirlooms. Who cares?

Posh people always refer to going "up" to Cambridge, wherever they're from.

It's an Oxbridge thing. You go 'up' to Cambridge and Oxford Universities, wherever you are travelling from.

OP, have you never seen signet rings for sale in jewellery shops? You can buy them in pretty much any jewellers, blank for your own engraving. I think the days are long gone when they were always engraved with an ancient family crest, though doubtless that still happens.

Nowadays people have them engraved with their initials or just leave them blank, because they like the style of ring (or possibly want to keep it re-saleable should they need to). Signet rings tend to be quite chunky, and chunky gold jewellery is a popular status item.

Here you are, you can join the aristocracy for a bargain £200 courtesy of Argos!

My father was given an 18ct signet ring, engraved with his initials, by his parents, when he became 21 in 1950. It was absolutely the done thing then and all his friends had the same. He wasn't posh and nor were his parents, very far from it, but interestingly, they were Irish, though living in England, where my father was born. They didn't live in the south east either.
When he got married, his signet ring became his wedding ring because he didn't have the money to buy 2 rings.

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.

I’m not from the UK and I’m finding this kind of information invaluable for blending in to the English culture.

It really should be on the national curriculum internationally.