NOTCHED WEDDING RING WORN TO DENOTE DIVORCE (Jan, 1924)
NOTCHED WEDDING RING WORN TO DENOTE DIVORCE
Many women in England, who have been divorced from their husbands, continue to wear the wedding ring, but have a fracture cut in it by a jeweler, as an indication of that fact. Those who have parted from more than one husband have notches to indicate the number made in the edge of the gold band, it is said.
I don’t believe that one for a moment! Right up until the 1980s divorce was associated with shame rather than pride…
Comment by sweavo — May 6, 2007 @ 2:32 am
How did they get the second husband if they were still wearing the first one’s ring?
Comment by Blurgle — May 6, 2007 @ 7:09 am
I don’t think the notch was put in there as a boast, it was put there as an indicator of status, only. They were more concerned with social correctness than boasting, I think.
Comment by Caya — May 6, 2007 @ 7:57 am
If they wanted to let the world know they were no longer married they’d just remove it.
This is silly, especially back in 1924, when being a known divorcee was about the same as wearing a scarlet “A” on one’s chest.
Comment by Stannous — May 6, 2007 @ 9:18 am
In the age of wooden ships, when a sailor had survived a shipwreck, he would get an earring. I got mine after my divorce.
Comment by SorcererMickey — May 6, 2007 @ 9:41 am
Not only that, but that ring is far too thick to be a woman’s wedding ring. I have four rings here - none mine, though - and they’re all far narrower than that one.
What it looks like is a man’s wedding ring that’s been cut to fit a larger finger.
Comment by Blurgle — May 6, 2007 @ 9:51 am
[...] Go to the post to take a look at the fractured ring (indicating the broken marriage. I do not remember reading about these notched rings in any novel; would be interesting to see if somebody at some point wrote “She wore a broken ring” or, “She wore a broken ring with n notches”. [...]
Pingback by Denoting divorce by notches « Entertaining Research — May 6, 2007 @ 2:41 pm
Another interesting point - the person modeling the ring doesn’t have a ‘ring mark’ on their finger.
I bet that ring was cut off someone’s hand, another person put it on (and is it on the ring finger or the middle finger?), and the enterprising writers of Popular Mechanics made up a good story.
Comment by Blurgle — May 7, 2007 @ 6:29 pm