sports-rings.com

Keep in mind that 14-K gold is around 10% heavier than 10K gold. Platnium is even heavier! Some rings can be made to look bigger but weigh less than you think. Maybe they hollow out the rings or the top? The rings have gotten way too big to even wear comfortably. Not only are they too big, but 135 grams is almost 1/3 of a pound! That's a lot of weight for a finger!

In the good old days, when champiopnship rings were large but not huge, salesman samples were loaned or sold to the ring sales people. As they have gotten much bigger this does not happen anymore. As a result, with Super bowl rings, a real salesman sample of the last 15 years can go for a fortune. They are extremely rare. You can see a real salesman sample ring at the super bowl NFL experience, or at the Pro Football HOF, or at the NFL headquarters if you get invited up there. But there are so few of them made now. "Salesman sample" or "sample" has been used to describe ring copies that are not real salesman samples but copies. The descriptions can be found in some auction houses. I would say about 95% of the Yankee "salesman sample" rings I see on ebay are not real (100% from 1996 and later, and 100% from 1964 and earlier). There are some real super bowl salesman samples on ebay, but beware, Irv Learner (rings*things) makes many of them and sells them. Many of the Colts 1971 rings are fake.

I don't know much but here is what I do know. The ring company is not allowed to remake a ring without permission from the team. The team will usually not make a ring without a police report. In this case, the team has a heart and this is a great example of a legitimate reason to have a ring remade. Each team does have at least one full-time employee that deals with players and former players on these matters (and many other matters too). Last, it was inaccurately reported in some stories that the woman gets the ring back if found. Actually the insurance company now owns it since they already paid on the claim, otherwise the woman would now have two rings! Good luck having someone give the ring to an insurance company. I wonder if the insurance company would pay and send down a diver, if the ring was lost during docking, it may not be too hard to find.

His teammate, Mike Lodish has 4 bills afc rings from 1990 - 1994, and then two winning super bowl rings from Denver, 1997 and 1998 .

wow, nice upgrade!

sometimes seeing a ring in person changes your opinion. When the first photos of the Ravens ring surfaced, I thought it had to be a joke. When I saw a real ring in person, the ring looks much more impressive than in photos. That being said, not only do I not like the Blackhawks ring, but look at the Indian's eye. I can't help but see a dollar sign. Perhaps that's appropraite in today's sports market place!

I don't think the Blackhawks got it right either. Their last ring looked much nicer.

the last few hockey rings have been absolutely magnificent. Baseball and football should follow their lead.

Remarkable how much bigger the blackhawks ring is than some of the other Stanley Cup rings shown!

speaking of Pats, anyone know of any AFC 2011, (Pats losing in Superbowl 46) rings for sale? (Real, player preferred, front office OK if same size as player's rings). I'm also looking to buy / trade for the Steelers 1978 and 1979 rings, the Bears 1985 ring, 49ers, 1988 ring, Steelers 2008 ring and Giants 2011 Ring. Again, real rings, same size as players (or player's rings). thanks,

Like you, I check ebay 3 - 4 times a day. I sort by highest price to see the quality stuff first. Sometimes with my searches, things fly under the radar if they stay low. You may need to have several searches as bidders sometimes don't label their auctions properly. I notice some of the same guys buying low and trying to resell high. Yea they are annoying and it seems it takes a long time for them to make some money on their items. And TJ will often sell off ebay so if you see something he has, contact him. Good luck in your searches!

Bloomberg TV interviews Jostens Chief Digital officer David Chivers. Great inverview and some really cool things are revealed. http://www.bloomberg.com/video/jostens-lord-of-the-championship-rings-fffIG0WqQWKLH2HH~CPmRA.html

I'm no sox fan, but I think the 2004 and 2007 Red Sox rings are amaizing! Very classy, while huge too! They dwarf the 2009 Yankee ring. But, hey, to each their own! While searching ebay, I noticed there are a lot of new rings available. Sadly, most our priced at silly asking prices. I noticed there's a Newark Bears ring. Kind of a cool looking ring! And TJ has a 1976 Yankees player ring at a very resonable asking price. Happy ring hunting!

I finally acquired a Yankee Player's 2009 Ring! Some long-time rumors can now be laid to rest. There was some speculation that player's received a larger ring, even though the PR department said over and over they did not. I can confirm that Player's rings are the same size as the ones distributed to the front office personnel. There is a "B" version ring offered to workers at the stadium that can not really be considered front office workers. This "B" ring is made of non precious metals and not real diamonds. It is a far step down from the "A" version ring. The other things I can confirm is that Jersey numbers are not found on the ring, and that the presentation box was made by the same company that has been making Jostens and Intergold rings. This is quite unusual. (Click on the photo below for a larger photograph)

Mac, that's a great story! Thanks for sharing!

I've noticed he discounts about 20-25% from his asking price. But that may change depending on what price he buys the items for and that might result in different percentages. I have purchased from him in the past with great results. Sometimes you are better off contacting him directly and not going through ebay.

I did see the ring. He and Tim Robins are very expensive. He is "asking" 29,999 on that ring and it's a front office ring! What's really cool about that ring he has for sale is that it comes with the original presentation box. Sometimes players throw out the oriignal presentation boxes. Most presentation boxes scream "I'm special, keep me" as they are made with cool graphics, wood and glass. The 1997 Bronco presentation box is a completely cheap little jewelry non-wood box. Most are thrown away but this ring comes with one. Check it out if you want to see the orignal box. He also put up AFC rings today from the Titans and Steelers. I know the Titans presentation box is not the authentic box and I am not sure on the Steelers ring. By the way, I think he has a 1976 Yankee A.L. Pennant ring that is at a good price.

From what I can piece together, Rick probably did not buy that ring. I have learned through other blogs that sometimes Rick will buy something on the show, and in real life a deal was not reached. It makes for better television apparently if they stay on script and not stay true to what actually occurred. Thinking that they had purchased the ring, I called the store looking to buy and/or trade for the ring. I was told they never had the ring. Rick really likes having super bowl rings in his shop. He feels that it attracts crowds of people and tourists if he can have amazing items on display. That's why the super bowl XXXVI ring has an asking price of 100,000. He gets to either keep the ring for a long time, or make a killer profit on the ring. I have been approached by Rick's assistants to see if I would sell them any super bowl rings. Knowing that they would go in the window with a 100,000 price tag I asked in the low 30's. I found his staff to be a total waste of my time and nothing came of our conversations. Rick has some college rings and is asking around 2 to 3 times the going rate for those rings as well. Rick really does not know his stuff about rings: He was worried about the markings of that ring. Turns out that Jostens does more and more engravings in the hand-style seen on that ring. Jeremy, his latest expert, was also in the dark, claiming the ring was so big they had to engrave it by hand. If that's true, why didn't they engrave the ring before they joined it to the top? And, the Steelers ring the following year had the same hand-style engraving and that was a much smaller ring. by the way, there is a youtube video floating around where Rick explains how the NFL makes teams get their first winning ring in 10K gold and that the Pats broke this rule. Once again, it shows Rick has no idea what he is talking about and there are numerouos exampales of first-time winning rings coming out in 14K gold.

As rings exceed 100 grams, they are very uncomfortable to wear. I met a famous Patriot lineman last year and of course all I wanted to talk about were superbowl rings. He was 6'4", and 300 lbs and he told me his Superbowl XXXIX ring, as georgous as it was, is too big and uncomfortable. He did not like wearing it, and preferred wearing the smaller XXXVIII ring.

Hey where is everyone? It's been very quiet on this board. I see there are two very cool Yankee rings for auction on ebay. I know the seller, he's a good guy. The two rings are totally real. One is a 2001 American League Yankee Player's ring, the 2nd is a 2009 Yankee Scout's ring. Knowing the seller, he probably has a high reserve and there's a likely probability that these two rings won't hit their hidden reserves. The 2000 Yankee World Series ring, the 2001 and 2003 American League Rings are extremely rare. George Steinbrenner was annoyed at front office rings going for sale on ebay in the late 90's so he cut back distribution quite a bit, making the 2000 - 2003 Yankee rings quite rare.

Correct me if I am wrong but since the 1940's major league baseball has controlled and mandated that each team that participates in the world sereis receive a winning world series ring or a league pennant ring. I am unaware of any instance where a team did not receive a ring. Football did not present runner up rings, only NFL Champions or World Champions rings prior to super bowl I. Sometime after super bowl I, the league made guidelines as to what the teams should receive. I have never seen an NHL or NBA runner up ring, I don't believe they exist. Mac, would you be ble to detail any other refusals other than the 1968 colts and recent Steelers teams? thanks

I'm schocked too. They broke a 42 year tradition. While there's a lot of diamonds on that watch, I would rather have a ring. And probibly 1/4 of the team had turned over from superbowl 43, and half the team from superbowl 40 so many of those players were not there when they received small rings after super bowl XL. Glad the Pats and 49ers went back to rings.

Yes, the 1997 ring was made by Diamond Cutters International (DCI). I agree, the ring looks awful. The top looks better than the shanks. The shanks are awful and the only engraving inside the ring is a "14K". It is very challenging to tell a real from a fake. I agree the 1998 ring is much nicer. It really shows the difference between a quality ring manufacturer and DCI. The only other super bowl ring that can be similary criticized is the Cowboys Super Bowl XXX ring, made by Diamond Masters. Those shanks are also of very poor quality, but nowhere as bad as the Broncos 1997 ring.

great photo of FSU rings, love the presentation box!

Great ring, congratulations for owning it! Hats off to Jostens and to the professional teams that let fans (and shareholders) get these amazing items. I forget which college, but one college took some heat recently as they allowed fans to get the exact championship ring the players received. This was done as a fundraiser. It was not a major college team as I recall.