Another discussion prompts me to ask this question....
By patgalca
@patgalca (18391)
Orangeville, Ontario
January 7, 2008 12:26am CST
For those of you who have divorced and possibly remarried, what have you done with your rings from your first marriage? Have you sold them? Have you given them to a child from that marriage? I know my sister had her engagement ring sized down to a pinky ring after her divorce, but now that she has a new man she doesn't wear it anymore.
I have been divorced and my wedding and engagement rings from my first marriage are sitting in my jewelry box. Sometimes I think of hocking them because I sure could use the money, but I don't have the heart to do it. I don't know why. I have no emotional attachment to that man. He abused me, he was paranoid, angry and full of hatred, and full of himself. There is no love lost there. I do not see the rings every day as they are in a part of my jewelry box that I rarely open. But they are pretty.
What have you don't with rings from a previous marriage?
1 person likes this
17 responses
@ky1119 (698)
• United States
7 Jan 08
I ran away from my first marriage, literally. I moved back to Ohio from Texas. I threw my rings out the car window driving down I-40 E. I wanted nothing to do with them. I'm remarried now, to the best husband I could have ever asked for. I wouldn't have gotten anything for hocking those rings anyway and now that they're gone, well, that's just one less reminder of that part of my life.
2 people like this
@creationsbyrobin (3071)
• United States
7 Jan 08
I hocked mine. Not because I needed the money, but because I knew he'd be upset if he knew. He made such a big deal about buying the rings (they were beautiful)but he was a little boy that trusted no one, needed to control everything and ran to mommy when things didn't go his way. How he hid this behavior from me, is the mystery of my life!!
I sold the rings 5 years after the divorce and took the man that is now my hubby on vacation with some of the money I got for the rings.
And I'm living happily ever after!
@jenbatres (799)
• United States
7 Jan 08
As stupid as this sounds, I acted on impule and threw mine away. The price of gold and then the diamonds -- I know. i was just a quick decision and I tossed them. If I had not of tossed them I would have maybe had the diamond made into a necklace, and traded the gold part in on it, or something like that.
1 person likes this
@patgalca (18391)
• Orangeville, Ontario
7 Jan 08
I think why I am keeping them is I keep thinking that if I hold onto them their value will increase. They were $100 each on sale over 20 years ago so I don't know whether it is just wishful thinking on my part that they will increase in value.
1 person likes this
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
7 Jan 08
Mine sat in a jewelry box for a long time then I took them to a jeweler and picked out a mold....had them melted down and had a new ring made out of them. If I ever do have another chance to get married I will not wear the ring and give it to my daughter.
1 person likes this
@Malyck (3425)
• Australia
7 Jan 08
I don't know what my mother would have *chosen* to do with her wedding rings after her and dad broke up, because I simply took them from the kitchen bench one day (she takes them off while cooking).
I don't know why, but it felt important that I have them...
@luvstochat (6907)
• United States
7 Jan 08
My husband had been married before we got married and he still has the ring from that marriage. It just sits in a jewelry box in the bedroom. He wears the ring that I got him that matches mine so I don't care if he keeps the other one as long as it stays in the jewelry box.
1 person likes this
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
8 Jan 08
I gave my main wedding ring set back to my ex because it was his mothers (maybe his grandmothers, not sure). I only wore it maybe 6 months outof our marriage it never fit properly. He did buy me a replacement ring, which I think I kept, not sure. If I did it was lost when my moms house flooded a few years ago. I do have a plain titanium ban d that I purchased for myself while we were married. Not sure why I still have it other than it isn't worth much but would hate to just throw it away.
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
8 Jan 08
My first husband wanted them back when we got divorced. I GLADLY handed them over.
@tess1960 (2385)
• United States
8 Jan 08
I had rings from a previous marriage. I exchanged/traded them for a nice ring I liked. I had a pair of diamond earrings, small but my first and I had the stones removed and placed in a nugget ring to change it up. My hubby now gave me a bigger pair of diamond earrings.
My sister has our mothers wedding ring from her marriage to our father. She wears it ocassionally but not often and mom says it does not bother her. It bothers me somewhat as my relationship with our father was abusive so she doesn't wear it when she knows she will be seeing me, which is rarely anyway.
My daughter gave her wedding rings from a short-lived marriage, 6 months, to a frined that was getting married and they could not afford a wedding band set. They are still married so she had better luck with the set than my daughter did.
@BarBaraPrz (47667)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
7 Jan 08
I, too, had my rings resized for my pinky and wore them for several years, until my arthritic knuckles swelled up to the point where I couldn't get them on anymore. So now they sit in my jewelry box. I took them in once a few years ago to a pawn shop but they were virtually worthless... I think they offered me $30.
@BarBaraPrz (47667)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
7 Jan 08
My rings cost $130 for the set, at a time when gold was $30 an ounce... Now that gold is worth so much more, the rings are not.
@EelKat (97)
• United States
8 Jan 08
my mom flushed her ring down the toilet and smashed my dad's ring with a brick.... weird. I have no idea why she did it.
@garnet80 (349)
• Australia
8 Jan 08
I still have both my rings and my ex husbands ring as well. I used to wear my old engagement ring and had it resized to fit another finger. In a few of my past relationships the guys felt threatened as I wore my ring still. It means nothing and to me all it is is a diamond ring. I don't wear it as much now and later on will probably give it to my son, along with the other rings.(My ex left to be with his girlfriend when my son was a newborn.)
@mrsjbelle (1640)
• United States
8 Jan 08
I personally would get rid of it! If you can put some dollars in your pocket do so. I think I pawned my first one and my 2nd my ex took because it was his moms that she had given us. My boyfriend has his ex wifes and his wedding photos next to his bed and he says there there for his son and he cant give them now because the 10 yr old would get them dirty or messed up. I really wish he would bury them somewhere.
@gem4678 (220)
• United States
8 Jan 08
This is a very difficult subject because the emotions are so strong regardless of what particular emotion you may have is. I really think the best thing to do though is keep them in a safe place for the kids if you have any with him. That is the best gift you can give especially to a daughter that loves both her parents, it shows her that there once was something special there and generally that there were happy times. Good luck with the decision it is a tough one I may be tempted to sell it if it were me too probably.
@Amanda_NZ (125)
• Lexington, North Carolina
7 Jan 08
I have two children a daughter and son from my first marriage.
As my daughter was going to be receiving a couple of my good quality dress rings, one an aunt gave me. I gave my 3 rings from my marriage to my son.
They will each share all my assets when I die regardless of gender because I love them both.
I did not recognise that as a son he would not like to have rings and they have a relationship with their father that I have not tried to come between even though he and I did could not stay married after 20 years.
@Ohara_1983 (4117)
• Kuwait
7 Jan 08
im not a divorce woman but maybe you can keep it or just give it to your children to be a memory of there dad or mom, because even what wil happen the children have the feeling for thier mom or dad, we cannot blame them because they grow up with a one family, but there is any reason that why everything is change but still there feeling will not change. correct me if am wrong.
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
7 Jan 08
I don't have anything to offer about my wedding ring because I lost it before the divorce and we couldn't afford to replace it...it's somewhere in the front yard of our house where his parents live now. He has his wedding band still, he says he pulls it out once in awhile and wonders...
I have my wedding dress and plan to let our daughter have it if she wants it. She doesn't need to wear it our anything, it's just there for her to keep if she wants.
Our 10th wedding anniversary would have been a week and a half ago.
