There is a wealth of suppliers of all sorts of jewelry (and more) available to armigers by hundreds of online websites. There are quite a few standouts – and a lot of “bucket shops,” who prey upon well-intended consumers everywhere from the internet to airport shops to mall kiosks to overseas in-country tourist shops. Most offer incorrect or outright fraudulent products, and so the buyer should always research before spending money on any armorial product from an unknown company. I personally have not ventured too deeply into the world of heraldic jewelry, having focused primarily on a ring to my own specifications.

As you might imagine, in my current position as Executive Director of The American College of Heraldry, I receive many requests from individuals on resources for ways to display their armorial bearings, whether it’s an artist to paint them, or an embroiderer to stitch them onto something, or, most often, where they can have their achievement engraved on a ring, cuff links, etc.

I have always wanted something a bit more unique, and I felt that the ring I had did not exactly reflect the image I originally intended. So, I spent a great deal of time sourcing all possible heraldic engravers worldwide, providing them with the specifications of the ring size I wanted, as well as a drawing of EXACTLY what I wanted on the table of the ring. I can tell you that prices for such a project ranged anywhere from $1000 to well over $3000 – all for the same type and size of ring, and amount of gold.

The company I landed upon, after numerous phone calls and emails – explaining in nauseously excruciating detail how precisely the final ring had to match my drawing – was Dexter Seal Engraving – www.familysealrings.com. The gentleman I dealt with was Simon Wright, and he went above and beyond to explain their process, and gave me assurances (backed with a guarantee) that what they carved would be what I depicted, as exactly as humanly possible. I jumped in with both feet, and entrusted my money and ring to his artisans’ capable hands.

I asked Simon to take some photographs of the process from start to finish, so I could see how they achieved the end result. You can see the results here: