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Here are the do's and don'ts in caring of your championship rings: This photo recently showed up on Twitter. Looks like a disaster waiting to happen. Someone is about to season a chicken while wearing their Seahawks Super Bowl ring. Nothing good is going to come from this (except perhaps a great testing meal). Here is what 15 years of collecting championship rings has taught me about caring for championship rings and how to make your sports rings look great: 1) Don't wear the rings everyday! Especially if you are not the original recipient of the ring since other than spending a lot of money you would not have had the ring anyway. Gold is a soft metal and easy to damage with small dents, scratches, and dings. Also, keep in mind, especially 14K gold which is softer than 10K gold, the rings can wear down over time and the fine details of the ring can soften (blur) or worse, wear off. 2) Don't let a jeweler machine polish and buff the ring! Buffing the ring by machine will make a ring look much better, however, you are actually taking off a significant amount of gold! If a ring is 50 grams and contains a lot of dings and scratches, it may wind up losing 5% or more of it's weight and just like a ring that is worn too much, the details may be lost or significantly softened. 3) One of the worst things you can do to your championship ring is to clean it with an ultrasonic cleaner. Most championship rings have a black antique finish on the side of the ring. Over time the black finish does fall off. Using an ultrasonic cleaner will accelerate the black finish falling out much faster. 4) The best way to clean a championship ring is for the jeweler to steam clean it. 5) If the championship ring does have surface scratches, I will have my jeweler lightly hand-buff the ring. This will eliminate many of the light surface scratches and soften the dings. While you will lose a little gold, unlike the machine buffing mentioned above, the loss is not substantial and the ring will look quite improved after this process. 6) If a championship ring could improve by having the antique finish redone please note that this is a risky proposition: There is a good chance that your jeweler may not even have the black substance or have experience doing this. I wrote a blog about this topic and went into much more detail about the 6 tips. If you are interested, you know where to find the story. I hope you found these tips useful.

The Championship Rings of the Washington Redskins In a recent tweet, a fan took a picture wearing Joe Jacoby's Super Bowl rings: The rings shown in the picture are as follows (from Left to Right): The 1991, Super Bowl XXVI ring, made by Tiffany and Company in 10K solid yellow gold. The 1983 NFC Championship ring made by Jostens in 10K solid yellow gold (The Redskins lost to the Los Angeles Raiders that year in Super Bowl XVIII). The 1987 Super Bowl XXII ring, made by Tiffany and Company. The ring is 10K solid yellow gold. The ring on the far left is Joe Jacoby's first Super Bowl ring, from Super Bowl XVII. The ring was made by Jostens in 10K solid yellow gold. What do you ring enthusiasts think of the design of these rings? In my opion, the third ring from the left, is the worst Champinoship Ring Tiffany ever made. It's well below the quality of their other Super Bowl rings? Anyone else have opinions on these rings? If you want to read more about these rings and Joe Jacoby, you know where to find the story.

Here's a photo of the Championship Hardware From Super Bowl III In the almost fifty year history of the Super Bowl, only twice has a team decided to skip designing and then awarding a championship ring. Super Bowl III, played in January of 1969 was the first time this occurred. In a tradition that continues to this day, the team that loses the Super Bowl is still recognized as a champion of their respective conference. Before the official merger was completed, the losing ring would contain either “AFL” or “NFL” champions, while the winning Super Bowl team’s ring would have the words “World Champions”. Starting with Super Bowl V and continuing to modern times, the team that loses the Super Bowl earns an “AFC” or “NFC” champions ring. The Baltimore Colts were heavily favored going into Super Bowl III, and were completely startled by their loss to the Jets. The team felt that an “NFL Championship” ring would have been a grim reminder of their historic loss and perhaps that was just too much to bear. So the team decided to go with watches. The watch is a high-end, solid 18K gold piece that contains the player initials (including the middle initial) and their jersey number engraved on the back of the watch. The watches were made by luxury watch maker, Lucien Piccard. While the watch is extremely rare (only two have hit the auction block), there is not a huge demand for them and they typically sell around $3,000. If you want to read more about this, you know where to click. Do you think the Colts design decision and ring championship ring omission was short sided? Should they have made an "NFL Championship Ring"?

Wow, that's great research and great questions, thanks for the additional information. I know that in the 40s and 50's, Dieges & Clust made the Hiesman trophies. Diegas & Clust made the finest rings, the MVP awards and the Cy Young awards. The company was bought by Herff Jones in the 60s or 70s. That's like when Volks Wagen bough Porsche. Dieges & Clust was high end, having made the Brooklyn Dodger rings that were so much nicer than Balfour's Yankee rings from the same time. I am not sure if Dieges & Clust originally made the trophy, I believe the person who designed the original trophy sold the prototype at auction a few years ago (it was Identical to the first trophies made for the football players. Wish I knew more, thanks Yee Mar, great research and knowledge, thanks for sharing.

The ring has not changed, it's the exact same ring given to each recipient. Only the year changes. Perhaps, like Hall of Fame rings, the ring could grown in future years and change.

Great point - I totally agree. I should have been clearer. My fault. I don't believe a Heisman award is the same thing as winning a championship, however, a Hall of Fame ring, and other rings do fall into the "Championship ring" category because many championship ring collectors also collect Hall of fame rings, and other accomplishment rings. Also, the Heisman ring does look like a championship ring so I was trying to state, that in my opinion, even though it looks like a championship ring and could be collectible, does this belong in the category of championship rings.

Does a Heisman Trophy Ring Qualify As a "Real" Championship Ring? This is a tough call but in my book, no this is not a legitimate "Championship Ring", here's why: (and it has nothing to do with the design of the ring) (Click picture below for a larger picture) First off, I am not implying that the ring shown above, or any of the Heisman Trophy rings (including the one selling on ebay this week) are fakes or replicas. Like the Heisman trophy itself, the rings are made by the Herff Jones company. The ring is made of 14K solid yellow gold and contains an assortment of real diamonds. What I am stating, in my opinion, is that the Heisman Trophy, championship style rings, are not really championship rings and the strongest reason I have is that the majority of these rings were made and given to award winners decades after they won their award. I forget the exact year the rings were designed and created, but I believe it’s been during the last two decades. The Downtown Athletic Club of New York, has been awarding the Heisman trophy since 1935. When they started to award rings along with one of the most iconic trophies in all of sports, they retroactively made and distributed rings to all the previous winners. If the player had already passed, the ring was given to their family. Another reason I don’t believe these rings should be considered championship rings, is that players don’t covert the ring. The trophy is amazing (the player gets one and their school gets one). Besides the trophy, there is tremendous prestige in being named the best college player in the country. Can you recall who was the NFL most valuable player 10 years ago? Probably not, but you probably can name the Heisman trophy award winner though. Unlike a Super Bowl ring or a World Series ring, the Heisman Trophy ring is an afterthought. So, in my opinion no, a Heisman Trophy ring is not a true championship ring, but perhaps other collectors and championship ring enthusiasts see things differently. What do you think?

The Patriots first super bowl ring, from super bowl XXXVI was a masterpiece. The 39 front office ring is very similar to it, except it has three large faux diamonds that represent the three championships. Like the XXXVI ring, it too is gorgeous and so well done. However, I disagree about the player version of the super bowl 39 ring. I really like the Player version, and believe it's the most impressive super bowl ring ever. The last ravens ring was close, but made of 10K, not 14K and of course, the Ravens ring had two big diamonds, not three. Maybe the Pats #39 ring is those rare million dollar Ferraris, in the sense that the ring is so over the top (and not easy to wear as it is so heavy and huge).

the non gold ring looks substantially larger than the player version (only kidding, couldn't resist since the non gold version picture was so march larger)

Everyone gets them now. Office people,security guards you name it. Those rings though aren't made like the players. No Gold or diamonds.Thanks for the info, that only makes it even more silly to show them off on TV, are we sure the ones the Heat commentators (for example) have, are not the same as the players ? It is entirely up to the team to decide if announcers and anyone else in the organization is deserving of player rings with diamonds or a less or configuration. Many front office rings have been auctioned off and have been the same as players. Other times, the team will develop a "B" version that is smaller. Sometimes there will be a "C" and even a "D" version and different combinations of real diamonds or not real diamonds (called cubic zirconias). The 2000 Mets gave out the same looking ring to everyone, yet their were 14K and 10K solid gold versions, and rings that had diamonds and some had cubic zirconias, and some were not made of solid gold, but were gold filled).

If you guys don't mind, I'd like to continue the dialoge on the design and history of Super bowl rings. Here is a photo of the rings from Super Bowl II. I need to apologize that this photograph contains my website address, but if I don’t do this, other web sites will steal my photos or worse, ebay sellers making cheap replicas that don’t look as realistic as the real rings will use the photos and claim these are their championship rings. Almost all of these photographs are from my private championship ring collection and many of these rings are extremely rare and seldom (or perhaps never) photographed in pairs from a particular super bowl game. So please excuse my effort to keep the photos from being misused. When I use a common picture, I don’t put my website address on the photo. The ring on the left is the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl II ring. Made by Jostens, it contained three large diamonds. Vince Lombardi and the team felt this was not their second NFL-AFL title championship, they felt it was their third world championship (the name Super Bowl would come in a few years). The Oakland Raiders 1967 AFL Championship Ring was made by a company, named John Roberts. John Roberts made very few championship rings. This championship ring is extremely rare too, and very few have ever been sold. Because they are not as sought-after as the Packers ring, they would sell for substantially less than the Packers Super Bowl II ring. In a tradition that continues today, the team that loses the Super Bowl is still recognized as a champion of their respective conference. What’s amazing about the Oakland Raiders ring is that it’s style of white gold, a black Onyx stone, and white diamonds (representing their silver and black team colors) has changed very little in the five decades that the team has been earning championship rings. If you want to read more about this, you know where to find the story.

Here is a great illustration I found on the internet that shows the evolutionary design changes to Super bowl rings. The three Jostens Super Bowl rings shown above clearly illustrates the bling trend but fails to show the growing size trend. Bloomberg could have made their illustration much clearer had they shown the rings in their proper sizes. In real life, the Giant ring in the middle is larger than the Packers championship ring and the Ravens super bowl ring shown on the right is twice as large as the Giants ring. The ring on the left, from the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl I victory, weighed 40 grams of 14K solid gold and contained a one carrot diamond. The middle ring, made, twenty one years later, grew to 45 grams. While more than half the super bowl rings produced are made of 14K gold, the Giants ring was made of 10K solid gold. Because 10K is around 10% lighter than 14K gold, the Giants ring is approximately 20% larger than the Packers ring. There’s a single large marquise (football shaped) diamond that is larger than the Super Bowl I diamond, and 8 smaller diamonds make up the bottom of the Lombardi trophy. The Ravens ring on the right, is a humungous ring. The Ravens Super Bowl ring has a mind boggling 245 diamonds and includes two large marquise diamonds above their logo. The championship ring is around 90 grams and made of 10K solid white gold. Will this trend continue? I wrote about it, you-know-where, so if you have any interest, feel free to check it out.

Yeah, I've seen people do that. This is a picture from one of the websites. As far as I can tell, they are using pictures of the rings they make. All the boxes are exactly alike for each ring. And I think it's pretty obvious that the ring pictured here is a replica. Thanks for the tips. I had no problem with you talking about your blog. It was you and the other guy always fighting about things that bothered me. That's why I was glad the mods stepped in. The replica looks very nice. I do recognize those boxes. Whoever made those boxes printed the Yankees name and 2009 on them and sold them to Jostens to disribute these ring boxes with non-players yankee rings. The players received a nice glass box with their last name on it. I'm glad the mods put an end to that too (we were only fighting a few days, but glad it's over) thanks!

I have ordered some. I doubt there is much difference between the $200-$300 ring quality when compared to the $60-$80 versions found on ebay. Just like these sellers have no regard for licensing, they won't think twice about using the best photos they can get their hands on. So just because the ring looks good in the picture, there is no guarantee the picture matches the actual ring you are getting. Try to find a seller with some positive feedback, as it seems sellers don't stick around too long on ebay when selling replica rings. Most of the dealers will have less than 100 transactions and some may only have a few. As I recall, you were not a big fan of me mentioning my blog, however, feel free to visit, and use the search engine on the right. Type in replica rings. I have written a few blogs on this subject and you will find useful information there. Good luck!

That Chiefs ring looks like the Packers' World Championship ring from 1965. The Chiefs buy from Jostens as well? Was that one of their stock designs? And, while you probably know this, the stone at the center of the glove of that Packer Super Bowl I ring was originally supposed to be an emerald. Vince Lombardi liked the design but insisted that "my boys deserve diamonds!" Not being much of a collecter of pre superbowl, you are right and I should have caught that! I believe that same ring was repeated three years later when the Vikings lost to the Cheifs. The strange thing about the Vikings ring is that it was made by balfour! I did not know the Packers were contemplating using a non diamond in their ring, thanks!

The Rings From Super Bowl I Not sure if anyone wants to talk about the design of the Super Bowl I rings. One interesting design aspect I always thought was cool, is that the Packers Super Bowl I ring may be the only championship ring I know that pays tribute to "World Champions" by showing an actual globe on the top of the ring. The lines on the Packer ring are unmistakably longitude and latitude lines. The Brooklyn dodgers in 1955 and the Packers in Super Bowl II also show planet Earth, however, in a smaller way and on the shanks, not on top. Before I get any flack, for posting words in the image, I want to apologize that I need to display on the photographs the name of my website, but if I don’t, other web sites will steal my photos or worse, ebay sellers making cheap replicas that don’t look as realistic as the real rings will use the photos and claim these are their championship rings. Almost all of the photographs will be from my private championship ring collection and many of these rings are extremely rare and seldom (or perhaps never) photographed in pairs from a particular Super Bowl game. So please excuse my effort to keep the photos from being misused. This practice is used by others here and elsewhere and makes a lot of sense.

I agree with you on the shanks. The shanks of the ring are often my favorite part because of the details you can find on them. I thought the 2010 shanks, while simple, were nice but the 2012 shanks were underwhelming. I don't know if we should blame the SF Giants or Tiffany. Tiffany has shown their ability to produce detailed shanks if you look at the most recent NY Giants Super Bowl ring. Here's hoping that the 2014 SF Giants World Series ring packs more details. the Giant ring shown above does have beautiful shanks! Tiffany does make some championship ring masterpieces. I just want to mention that my future posts will be on target with the moderators' request and be about the design of championship rings.

Love it! Thanks for sharing!

some are replica super bowl rings from China, some are minor league, some are college rings. anything of value is kept at a bank vault. anyone have any photos showing other ways to display rings?

Yes, I have a Packer XLV ring but it's at the bank. the display case houses an a eBay cheap replica.

I'm not sure that the NHL has the NFL beat. It would be interesting to photograph the best Red Wings ring (which is absolutely gorgeous next to the Patriots or Ravens last ring. The NFL rings may be a lot bigger. Although Hockey is no where near as popular as football, it's harder to get hockey rings. There are 24 players on the team and I guess they typically call up another 10 - 15 throughout the season? Football has 50-something plus more coaches, practice squad, guys in I/R, etc. So the hockey rings are rarer.

I have the four Islander stanley cup rings and would love to get a Ranger 1994 ring. Have not ever seen a real 1994 ring offered. what about yourself?

Wow, Dralec, great story and shows your amazing knowledge. I bet he was involved in designing and making the Ravens most recent super bowl ring. That ring is absolutely an amazing and gorgeous ring! I love the Red Wings rings - having red stones really makes it pop!

Geez, when I went to Harvard, they never had championship rings this nice! Only kidding, I couldn't even get into Harvard to visit! LOL Nice ring and pictures!

That reminds me of some interesting stories. Two ring collectors, John Reynolds (who passed away a few years ago) and someone else who I won't name were such passionate ring collectors that they somehow convinced the teams to make them championship rings. They had to pay for the rings, but they got them. In that spirit, I used to do marketing with the Islanders. I know the director of merchandising and they gave out "Core-of-four" championship rings to the Islander players who were there for all 4 championships and attended a celebration weekend a few seasons back. I asked, and they made me a ring. Unlike the player's rings which were made of a base metal, I was allowed to buy and pay for a Jostens 10K ring. Someday I will have to do a story on this topic!