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Anyone want to talk about the design or comparisons or differences between the 2015 professional championship rings? I wrote a blog about it today.... (click on the image below for a larger photograph)

I agree about it looking like a cheap poorly designed Chinese replica ring!

Anyone want to talk about the design of the Four New York Mets championship rings? (And soon to be fifth championship ring). (Click picture below for a larger picture) Pictured above, from left to right: The Mets 1969 World Series ring, the 1973 National League Championship ring, the 1986 World Series Ring and the 2000 National League Championship ring. The 1969 ring was a large ring, as you can see slightly larger than the 1986 championship ring, and it dwarfs the 1973 ring next to it. The 1969 championship ring was made by Jostens in 14K gold (many front office rings and some players who had rings remade, had them done in 10K gold.) The 1973 ring is one of the smallest MLB championship rings I have seen or owned. The ring was made by Balfour in 10K solid gold, and my player ring, weighs a puny 26 grams. Modern World Series rings are about three times as large and heavy now. To match the puny size, little diamond chips (it would be unfair to call them diamonds) are sprinkled on the baseball. I like the fact that the baseball on top of the championship ring has bold red color baseball stitching and diamond chips. It creates a very nice and unique look. The next item, is the Mets 1986 World Series ring. It’s a nice looking ring, with a center diamond and 24 small diamonds that circle the ring top. The 24 diamonds stand for the team’s 24 years in existence at the time the World Series ring was made. The ring was made by Balfour in 10K gold. If you look closely, you can see the oxidation issue I wrote about yesterday at my blog. The ring on the right is a player’s 2000 National League ring, made in 10K yellow gold. The ring is 10K and weighs 35 grams. I have always found this ring to be attractive and I’m surprised that there are perpetually two or three of these rings continually offered on ebay. There are a few versions of this championship ring out there, some front office personal received worthless imitation diamonds, while the players and some in the organization received real diamonds. Also, some of the rings were made of non gold and others solid gold. The real puzzling thing about the player’s version, is that I believe most or all were made in 10K gold. However, I’ve seen one or two player rings that were made in 14K gold. How could this be? Perhaps the players had 2nd rings made, and got the choice to upgrade the gold content? It’s no secret that due to the Bernard Madoff financial disaster the Mets are going through, they’ve become a very cheap organization. It will be interesting to see how this translates into front office rings and player rings. Will the origination go cheap and offer very little bling for staff? Will the player championship rings be insultingly small or will the team come around and realize this is a very rare opportunity to add a special fifth championship ring to the history of the organization? Time will tell.

Anyone want to discuss either the Royals and Mets upcoming Championship ring hunt, or perhaps about the design of the last two World Series rings these clubs were awarded? The Royals ring (shown on the left) is from the team’s only World Championship, from 1985. The championship ring was made by Balfour in 10K gold. The Royals appeared in last year’s World Series, losing a tight game 7 to the San Francisco Giants. The losing team of the World Series is awarded either an American or National League championship ring, and the Royals 2014 American League Championship ring was quite impressive. The Royals also have a 1980 American League Championship ring, with a rare distinction of being one of the very rare few MLB championship rings without any diamonds on the ring. The Mets haven’t faired much better in collecting championship rings. The ring pictured above on the right, was also made by Balfour in 10K yellow gold. As it followed the Royals World Series ring by only a single year, you can see many similarities between the two championship rings. A surprising fact about the Mets 1986 World Series ring is that many (or most) of the World Series rings from that year have an oxidation issue. The blue sapphire stone turns some funky colors over the years, when exposed to water – either by being caught in the rain, or perhaps when the wearer is washing their hands. You can see some of the oxidation issues above, especially on the right side of the blue stone, although many of the Mets 1986 World Series rings suffer from much more oxidation issues. The Mets have won two World Series rings (1969 and 1986) and have two National League Championship rings too (1973, 2000). I plan on showcasing those championship rings in a day or two.

Any one want to discuss or comment on the design of Super Bowl XXIX rings? The ring on the left is the Forty Niners Super Bowl Ring from their 1994 season. This ring was designed and manufactured by Balfour in 10K solid yellow gold. I’m not sure if this Super Bowl ring set records as the largest ring ever, I can tell you it may have had the most bling. It’s a gorgeous championship ring and loaded with diamonds, including five huge marquis diamonds – each commemorating a Forty Niners Super Bowl championship. Not only is the championship ring made of solid gold, the gorgeous top of the ring contains white platinum, shown above on the base of the Lombardi trophies. While this was the Forty Niners (then a record) fifth Super Bowl ring, no one knew at the time the team would enter a Super Bowl drought and not be back in the title game for almost two decades and the organization to this day, is still waiting for their next Super Bowl ring. The championship ring weighs approximately 52 grams. The team that loses the Super Bowl is recognized as a champion of their respective conference. The San Diego Chargers 1994 AFC championship ring, shown above, is so-so. You really can’t say it’s dazzling or a beauty, but it is the only Chargers championship ring from the modern Super Bowl era. The Chargers AFC championship ring weighs in at 41-42 grams and contains some pretty small diamonds. The Chargers AFC championship ring was designed and made by Jostens in solid yellow 10K gold.

I have to agree. Your analysis is spot on.Mine would be the order they received them. The first one I like because it's big and gawdy. With all of them I think the feathers should have had colored stones. Very interesting how we all see these rings and their features and shortcomings a little different. Maybe some day, I'll group the Patriots rings together and ask the same question.

What’s Wrong With the Chicago Blackhawk’s Championship Rings? Their last three Stanley Cup rings are shown below; the oldest on the left and the newest on the right. They show a disturbing design trend: (Click picture below for a larger picture) In my opinion, the Blackhawk’s championship rings are getting progressively worse. The 2009-10 championship ring, shown on the left, is a gorgeous ring – perhaps one of the finest Stanley Cup Rings ever made. It’s huge, packed with diamonds, and displays the team’s logo and a Stanley Cup trophy. Although the top lacks any color, the sides contain yellow gold and complement the championship ring quite well. The middle Stanley Cup ring, from the 2012-13 season, has a center red stone and in my opinion is a downgrade from the team’s previous championship ring. This ring also contains color on the side, and typically when a team wins a second championship in a short time span, the championship ring is almost always larger and contains more bling than the first ring – except in this case. The team’s most recent championship ring, from the 2014-15 season looks to be slightly larger than the middle ring, however, the lack of color on the top and sides is a glaring omission. The latest championship ring could certainly use some color as it contains a sterile, non-creative design. All three championship rings were designed and manufactured by Jostens, and as I said before, looks like these Stanley Cup rings are heading in the wrong direction. What do the members think? Any thoughts or opinions?

The pictures on my site are the best pictures to date of the NFC ring and presentation box. The photos were sent to me recently with an offer to buy the player ring and box. However, there were some issues with the ring and paperwork, and the price was too high for me, so I ultimately passed. I still don't know how much the ring weighs and I'm looking forward to one day soon acquiring one and doing some detailed photos and wights. I also can't wait to see a picture of the two Seattle rings side by side, to see if they are a great match in size and style.

Thank you so much!!!! Excellent detective work! I can sleep now knowing what happened! lol I'm updating my blog now and giving you all the credit! Thanks again!

Thanks for the kind words about the blog and for your encouragement about acquiring a new Pats ring! If and when I acquire one, I will weigh it, shoot some photographs of all four rings (and the 6, which would include those two AFC rings) and report here and on the blog with results and pictures. No luck yet with a ring. Here's an observation about front office staff and championship ring designs. It seems that when a team wins their first championship ring, or wins one after a long drought, they give a lot of "A" versions to front office personal. Examples include the Pats, sb#36, Pats, #49 (long drought), Yankees 2009, (long drought), etc. When the teams win a lot in a short span, they narrow their ring personal inclusion, or provide a much smaller ring to staff (ex. Yankees 1999 and 2000), Pats, sb#38 and #39. In fairness, there could be other circumstances that lead to these decisions to provide a smaller ring (or no ring) such as: The cost and hugeness of the ring (Pats sb#39), or the Yankees being annoyed so many rings were sold to collectors.

I wish I had a chance to see the ring offering in person but the offer and decline were done by internet. You bring up a good point, perhaps their heart was not into the design this time around The details are sloppy and the design on the sides are awful. My gut feeling is the ring is 100% legitimate, I saw the inside markings and the paperwork looks real, I just believe Tiffany made an error with the Jersey number when they made the ring. As a result, it's possible the player received a second ring (with a corrected Jersey) and sold this ring, but this is just speculation on my part. The paperwork also said the ring was 18K gold, but the ring, in actuality was 14K gold. Someday when I acquire this ring, the first thing I will do is photograph the ring with the prior year's Super Bowl winning ring. A very cool design feature, may be that the rings are the same size and style (just missing a large center football shaped diamond from the winning ring) and if that's the case, that's a great idea. If they are the same size, players can wear both rings, and like matching cuff-links they would look like a great matching pair of championship rings! If they are not the same size, than..... never mind.......!

Kansas Big 12 Championship Rings Are Here Wayne Selden Jr, shows off his Kansas Big 12 Championship Ring on the Internet:

Last week I had a chance to acquire a player's NFC 2014 Seahawks championship ring. The photo above shows (on top) the actual championship ring that was offered to me. There were a couple of issues with the NFC ring that troubled me - the paperwork that came with the player's ring didn't match the ring properly, and worse, the player's uniform number, personalized on the ring, was not the jersey number he wore during the season. As I pondered the sale for a couple of days, another item that bothered me greatly, was how sub-par the Seahawks Tiffany ring design was, when compared to the Patriots AFC ring from 2011 (also shown above). I'm showing both rings so you can see how magnificent and well designed the Patriots championship ring is. There's beautiful color on the ring top and on the side too. My favorite part of the ring is that the Patriots acknowledged and celebrated their 7 Super Bowl appearances, with 7 marquis diamonds on top of the ring. When compared to the Seahawks 2014 championship ring, the Seattle's shank is dramatically inferior to the Patriots shank (side of the ring) and makes no mention of their second consecutive Super Bowl appearance and third overall appearance. As I pondered the sale, the paperwork issue, the jersey number mismatch, all I could think about was how much worse the Seahawks ring was than the Pats ring. Ultimately I decided to pass on the opportunity to purchase this ring. I'm sure I will acquire a Seahawks championship ring sooner or later, but most importantly, the ring will be acquired without the issues mentioned above, and the ring will be priced at a more realistic figure. Anyone else have any thoughts or opinions on how sub-par the Seahswks ring is? Or am I wrong and being too hard on the design of the Seahawks ring?

An Honest Mistake, or a Championship Ring Design Cover Up? Before We Blame the Patriots on Another Conspiracy, I’m Sure This Time They Had Nothing to do With This Championship Ring Design Falsehood: The ring picture above, circulated on the internet a few days ago. You can see by the NBC logo, a feature about Super Bowl rings probably aired on NBC recently. The photograph clearly shows the first Super Bowl ring next to the latest and greatest Super Bowl XLIX ring. A casual non championship ring enthusiast would take the photograph on face value, and instantly see that Super Bowl ring designs have come a long way in almost half a century. However, us championship ring enthusiasts here on this site, know that in reality, the discrepancy in physical size between the two rings is much greater and that NBC either intentionally or accidentally made the two championship rings appear much closer in size. We don’t know yet, how much larger the Super Bowl XLIX ring is than the Packers Super Bowl I ring. That’s because Jostens, who coincidentally, manufactured both of these championship rings, has not released the details of the size and weight of their latest Super Bowl ring. We know that the Packers Super Bowl I ring, was manufactured in 14K solid yellow gold and weighs around 40 grams. The Patriots ring looks to be larger than the three known huge Super Bowl rings that were made recently – The Pats XXXIX championship ring, the Steelers XLIII championship ring, and the Ravens XLVII championship ring. Because 14K gold is about 10% heavier than 10K gold, and the Patriots XXXIX championship ring and Steelers XLIII ring were made of 14K gold, let’s stick with the Ravens ring for a moment. The Ravens ring weighs in at 90-92 grams. If the new Pats ring is 10% larger (and it’s probably more than that), then the Pats newest ring is about 100 grams. That means that the new Patriots Super Bowl XLIX ring is probably two and a half times the size of the Packers Super Bowl I ring! Since there’s a good chance that no one has ever photographed the two championship rings together, it’s possible that the NBC graphics people guessed and came up with the illustration above. Or perhaps, not to embarrass the NFL or the Packers, NBC did the photo with comparably sized championship rings on purpose. As soon as I get a real Pats Super Bowl XLIX ring, I’ll take a photograph and place the photo on this championship ring blog site and also on this site and then we’ll know for sure the actual difference.

I saw this Jose Canesco Championship Ring offered on ebay recently and the ring got me thinking.... I really like the design of the 1988 ALCS ring. It won't win any award for huge amounts of bling, but I think it is simple, and elegant, and displays the team colors and logo very well. Any thoughts in this ring design?

As The NFL Season Approaches, Fans Dream of New Championship Rings This photo recently wound up on Twitter and reminds championship ring enthusiasts and football fans of what possibly lies ahead: We’ve seen plenty of fan-designed championship rings show up on the internet, but this one is really good! Perhaps the designer can work for a major ring manufacturer as some of their rings lately have been uninspiring. This Super Bowl ring design, although heavily borrowed from the Eagles 2004 NFC championship ring, is a classy attempt to show what a future Eagles Super Bowl ring could look like. In all probability, the Eagles would go with a little more bling and not have a team-colored green onyx center stone. But who could argue that this championship ring is not gorgeous? The one large marquise football shaped diamond would be symbolic of the team’s first Super Bowl championship (still yet to be won). Good luck to all the teams, and their fans and just think, in five short months, we’ll know which NFL team will be awarded a very special, Super Bowl 50 championship ring. Anyone want to discuss the design of this ring???

Bama41827 - I agree with a lot of what you are saying! The Cowboys ring is gorgeous and the Bills ring is about the best you can do on the budget the NFL provides for losing teams during that time period. I see the last Steelers ring differently than you do - I find it to be like modern art - way too much going on and it looks poorly designed to me. I don't mean any disrespect - while I am a Jets (and Giants) fan, I love championship rings so much I can still be awe when teams I root against get great rings made. Perfect point is the Pats new ring - it is magnificent, yet the Pats, as a Jets fan drive me crazy. I think the Steelers Super Bowl XL was a great looking ring - it's only issue was that it was quite small compared to other rings from that time period, including their ring made three years later.

Anyone want to talk about the designs of the Super Bowl XXVIII rings? The ring on the left is the Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl Ring from their 1993 season. This ring was designed and manufactured by Balfour in 10K solid yellow gold. This Super Bowl ring probably set records for the most bling when it was awarded. It's a gorgeous championship ring and loaded with diamonds, including four huge marquis diamonds - each commemorating a Cowboy's Super Bowl championship. Although this is the Cowboys fourth Super Bowl title, it looks like Jerry Jones and his ego, were more interested in celebrating his two Super Bowl victories and no mention is made anywhere on the ring of the previous two titles. The Bills AFC championship ring was their fourth AFC title in a row, and each of the four championship rings are all uniquely different. Each of the Bills AFC championship rings were designed and made by Jostens in solid yellow 10K gold. When a championship ring manufacturer creates a ring with diamonds in the shape of footballs, going across the top of the ring, it's visually is stunning. The Raiders did the ultimate version of this on their iconic Super Bowl XVIII rings and did a similar version on their 2002 AFC championship rings. The Bills are the only other team in the NFL's history to make a championship ring in similar fashion, and this is it! Any thoughts or opinions on these two gorgeous rings?

That's a great question! We won't know until I get one and can photograph it with other huge rings. I have no idea but what was the largest ring ever made before this one? The Florida Marlins WS ring? Some basketball rings are hitting the 120 gram neighborhood, so they could be bigger. It is largest Super Bowl ring ever, but possibly not the heaviest - I believe the Packers Super Bowl 45 ring, made of platinum is probably the heaviest, yet, would be physically smaller than the Pats ring, which is made of lighter 10K solid gold. 14 K weighs more than 10K gold and 18K gold and Platinum are even heavier. .

I agree, let's get back to design aspects... Boy, your first day on the site as a poster, and you're dictacting what other long time posters who have contributed a lot of information here, should be discussing. Sure you're new around here? Just joined to talk about ring designs. i thought thats what this site is for. Well then let's start again - welcome aboard, I hope you find this site to be informative and interesting!

I agree, let's get back to design aspects... Boy, your first day on the site as a poster, and you're dictacting what other long time posters who have contributed a lot of information here, should be discussing. Sure you're new around here?

I would hardly call this a scandal. It is not unusual for ring manufacturer's to offer their salesman the opportunity to buy sample rings which are not made to the same standards (e.g., 10k gold with CZs instead of 14k gold with real diamonds) as the original rings. This is what appears to have been done with this Heisman Trophy ring. All the major ring manufacturers have engaged in this practice at one time or another. I would call it a scandal and I just want to say, SCP did nothing wrong, they were transparent and researched this matter further and furnished the public with solid documentation. The ring that sold at auction was not a salesman sample - the letter in the auction, and posted on my blog clearly states that the ring (and two others) were made for a collector. Worse, the letter requests that the collector not sell any of the rings in the sports memorabilia hobby place or anywhere else. Obviously, that request was ignored. And if everything is on the up and up, (ie, no scandal) why wasn't the collector allowed to sell his rings? Was the Downtown Athletic Club on board with this? I don't think they were told as the letter clearly stated that the approval process was granted by Herff Jones, not the club, and furthermore, were the three players, who rings were made in duplicate aware of this and approved the process? There is no mention of their approval either, just a request to keep this hush-hush which again, was ignored. The extra Heisman Trophy rings that were made are really no different than salesman sample rings. Salesman sample ring aren't suppose to be sold by the salesman but they are all the time. Jostens stamps some of their samples "Property of Jostens Not for Resale" and many of those samples have been sold both privately and through major auction houses. We have no idea who the extra Heisman rings were made for but it appears obvious the recipient had a relationship with Herff Jones and could have been a salesman or employee. It's not like Joe Public could call up Herff Jones and have these rings made. So to try to make this out to be some big scandal is a little silly. You make some very good points - but I wonder if you really read the letter (and read it carefully). The letter clearly states it is for someone's "personal collection" and they are sure that "they will be a great addition to your extensive collection". Unless you can show me where Balfour and Jostens, makes player-size rings available with proper engraving and are only different in less solid gold mixtures and cz's to collectors to buy, then yes, this is a scandal. No one was supposed to know about this transaction (that is also part of the scandal part) and now we know.

I would hardly call this a scandal. It is not unusual for ring manufacturer's to offer their salesman the opportunity to buy sample rings which are not made to the same standards (e.g., 10k gold with CZs instead of 14k gold with real diamonds) as the original rings. This is what appears to have been done with this Heisman Trophy ring. All the major ring manufacturers have engaged in this practice at one time or another. I would call it a scandal and I just want to say, SCP did nothing wrong, they were transparent and researched this matter further and furnished the public with solid documentation. The ring that sold at auction was not a salesman sample - the letter in the auction, and posted on my blog clearly states that the ring (and two others) were made for a collector. Worse, the letter requests that the collector not sell any of the rings in the sports memorabilia hobby place or anywhere else. Obviously, that request was ignored. And if everything is on the up and up, (ie, no scandal) why wasn't the collector allowed to sell his rings? Was the Downtown Athletic Club on board with this? I don't think they were told as the letter clearly stated that the approval process was granted by Herff Jones, not the club, and furthermore, were the three players, who rings were made in duplicate aware of this and approved the process? There is no mention of their approval either, just a request to keep this hush-hush which again, was ignored.

Anyone want to talk about the design of the Heisman Championship Rings? One thing that makes this ring design unusual is that it was designed and awarded many decades after the Downtown Athletic Club of NY started to award Heisman Trophies. And in a nice move, they went back and awarded each player (or their surviving family) a ring, even if the player had won the award many years ago. Today each winner receives a trophy and this ring. Thanks to an SCP auction over the weekend, a scandal was uncovered about these rings (that have little or nothing to do with ring design) so If you would like to learn more about this matter, please visit my blog. Please let me know your thoughts on the design of this ring - made by Herff Jones each year in 14K solid gold.

A glimpse of championship ring design in action! Millersville University is a public university located in Millersville, Pennsylvania. The Millersville University men’s baseball team reached the finals this year in the NCAA Atlantic Region tournament with a 6-5 victory over Winston-Salem State. I’m not sure if playing in the title game qualifies for a championship ring, but this tweet from an assistant quote seems to indicate that it does. Or as the tweet indicates, perhaps the championship ring is a reward for winning the PSAC conference. What’s really interesting about the tweet and photo is that is shows all the “salesman sample” rings provided for inspiration in the design process. Readers of my championship ring blog know that like so many ring collectors in our hobby, I am down on collecting salesman sample championship rings. As the picture shows, salesman sample championship rings do play an important and legitimate role in helping ring manufacturers peddle their wares. And when a sports team chooses a manufacturer, the sample championship rings are important tools in helping teams with their championship ring designs. I count 11 cases of championship rings spread out on the table, and they all seem to be loaded with championship ring samples. Wish my table looked like this!