Our Vintage & Antique Jewelry Blog

Since Doyle & Doyle’s founding in 1998 by sisters Elizabeth and Irene Pamela Doyle, they’ve showcased a beautifully curated selection of vintage, antique, and estate jewelry. Led by the Doyles’ love of history and design, Doyle & Doyle also serves as a resource for the community to discover the rich history of jewelry and personal adornment. In this tradition, we are excited to introduce The Vault, an ongoing series of exhibitions of curated collections around a theme.

For the second Vault exhibition, Elizabeth selected a topic close to our hearts: rings. The reasons people exchange rings, and the feelings they evoke, inspired “Sentimental Rings: From Birth to Death and In-Between.” Elizabeth’s co-curator is none other than the ring queen herself, Danielle Miele of Gem Gossip. Danielle’s love affair with rings is well documented in her “Show Me Your Rings” series, where she invites readers and fellow jewelry lovers to submit photos of their favorite collections. We’re excited to share a selection of her treasured pieces, alongside rings from Elizabeth Doyle, Doyle & Doyle, and other private collections.

While most of the pieces included in “Sentimental Rings” are from private collections and not for sale, click here to shop our Vault-inspired curated collection for similar styles. Doyle & Doyle rings included in the exhibition will be available for purchase after “Sentimental Rings” ends on November 9.

The rings in “Sentimental Rings: Birth to Death and In-Between” comprise five themes:

Birth & Childhood: Commemorating the birth of a child or significant event in childhood.

Memento: A souvenir of a special event, time or place.

Love Token: A gift of friendship, remembrance or romantic love between two people.

Courting & Marriage: Stating an intention of love, betrothal and commitment.

Death & Mourning: Honoring and remembering the departed and revering mortality.

Halloween makes us want to pull out the blackest, most macabre jewelry in our collection – memento mori, or mourning jewelry. It can be difficult for us in the 21st century to understand why people wore jewelry that was a constant reminder of death. It feels a little creepy at first, but like all jewelry, mourning pieces were made from love and worn with love. This is antique jewelry at its most bittersweet and sentimental.