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CCSLC Championship Ring Thread


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Which Boston ring design below, do you admire the most?

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Besides discussing the design of these rings, there is a mystery I'm hoping you can help me solve.

As a collector of high-end championship rings, I usually know my stuff - but this picture has me baffled.

And by the way, my favorite design, hands-down is the Patriots ring shown above.

Can anyone help figure out what the heck is going on?

I will give full credit on my ring blog to anyone that can help determine if these are real championship rings. And if they are real, how in the world did they wind up together in someone’s authentic Patriots Super Bowl presentation box?

First, let’s start with what I know: The wood and glass championship ring presentation box looks to be 100% authentic and is from the most recent Super Bowl ring. It’s a Jostens box and it has the proper frost-engraved wording on the outside of the box (we can see the reverse lettering showing through the glass).

A neat design of the Jostens championship ring boxes is that they hold championship rings in place by using a magnet. A small wooden piece of wood, with a two magnetic ends, is covered in velvet and shaped like the letter “u”. These “u” shaped holders hold the championship ring to the bottom of the inside velvet (with the magnet hidden beneath the velvet).

The person who owns these three championship rings, has two extra ring holders and is using them to secure the Bruins Championship ring and the Redsox World Series ring in the presentation box.

The person, who made this tweet is Max Farrari. In searching the internet for information about him, I found he’s a talented and accomplished amateur golfer from Framingham Massachusetts. So it appears that Max, who made the tweet, was probably posing with someone else’s championship ring set.

That’s all I know; so please help if you can shed any light on how these championship rings from three different sports are housed in one presentation box.


One possible clue, is that Jostens did make all three championship rings, so could this be the ultimate “Salesman-Sample” ring set or “official Jostens display set”?

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Anyone want to talk about the design of these rings? What a cool picture and tweet!

hhof14.jpg

________________

What has to be the absolute first championship ring ever produced, shown in the center of the photo above, the Hockey HOF features the first championship ring ever presented - back from 1893.

Look how different that championship ring is from today's mega-blinged out championship rings!

Although my championship ring blog does not cover Hockey rings as much as it should, the last decade of Hockey championship rings rival Pro Football and Baseball's finest championship rings.

I'll begin with the disclaimer that I'm a lifelong Penguins fan, but even without that link I thought the Pens cup rings depicted are impressive. The 1893 ring is wonderful - simple, understated, yet a fitting emblem of a champion.

Edited by Ice_Cap
clean up

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Hey Mike great find on pics.

I dont know for sure, but I think it had something to do with annual Jimmy Fund fundraiser which was hosted yesterday and today by WEEI and NESN in Boston. They had a panel earlier today which included owners of all 5 major franchises in Boston (Pats, Sox, Bruins, Celtics and of course NE Revolutions). They usually have players and staff visit with families, patients, perhaps that's why all the rings were in the same place (guess no one told owners of Celtics to bring his)...that still does not justify the Pats ring box ......

( I think Celtics ring was made by collaboration between Balfour and Intergold which was bought by Jostens)

Charlie Jacobs (Boston Bruins), Jonathan Kraft (New England Patriots, Revolution), Wyc Grousbeck (Boston Celtics) and John Henry (Boston Red Sox)


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A glimpse of championship ring design in action!

ryan77.jpg

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!

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Anyone want to talk about the design of the Heisman Championship Rings?

scpb1.jpg

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.

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Anyone want to talk about the design of the Heisman Championship Rings?

scpb1.jpg

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.

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.

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Anyone want to talk about the design of the Heisman Championship Rings?

scpb1.jpg

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.

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.

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Anyone want to talk about the design of the Heisman Championship Rings?

scpb1.jpg

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.

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.

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Anyone want to talk about the design of the Heisman Championship Rings?

scpb1.jpg

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.

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.

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Anyone want to talk about the design of the Heisman Championship Rings?

scpb1.jpg

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.

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.

So a Herff Jones salesman couldn't have a personal collection of championship rings? You have no personal knowledge about the situation and are simply making assumptions to create a scandal where none may exist. By the way, what does any of this really have to do with the DESIGN of championship rings? We should be keeping our focus on the DESIGN of rings, not some imaginary cooked up scandal.

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By the way, what does any of this really have to do with the DESIGN of championship rings? We should be keeping our focus on the DESIGN of rings, not some imaginary cooked up scandal.

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?

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By the way, what does any of this really have to do with the DESIGN of championship rings? We should be keeping our focus on the DESIGN of rings, not some imaginary cooked up scandal.

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.

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By the way, what does any of this really have to do with the DESIGN of championship rings? We should be keeping our focus on the DESIGN of rings, not some imaginary cooked up scandal.

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!

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I am not a Patriot's fan but their current SB ring is sick. So, basically it appears that it is the largest Championship ring made?

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. .

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Anyone want to talk about the designs of the Super Bowl XXVIII rings?

sb28c.jpg

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?

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Matt Vanderbeek played on that Cowboys team and was at a charity function. He let me hold the ring and put it on. I can tell you this; I am not a Cowboys fan. GO STEELERS! But that ring is gorgeous. IMO. I thought the ring and looks were stunning. The ring was not overly gaudy but it attracted your attention. I began to become a fan of that style of ring, across the finger as opposed to the wide style that dominated the championship ring styles. Of for that matter the AFC ring photographed next to it. The ring was solid 10k and heavy. For simplicity and overall looks, it has to be one of my favorite rings visually. Of course, the Steelers 6th ring is my favorite because it was dramatically different from any other ring at the time. NY Giants last one, same thing, outside the box and looks awesome.

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