CCSLC Championship Ring Thread

[dralec]

Congrats Mike, that Pats ring looks great!

[UHCollector]

Congrats on your acquisition Mike. The ring looks awesome. How'd the deal go? Was it sudden or a lot of back and forth?

[sports-rings.com]

There’s much more to life than the design characteristics of Super Bowl rings and championship rings. Two sons lost their loving father yesterday. Since the scope of this forum are about championship ring design, let’s discuss the Ryan family’s collection of Super Bowl rings and how they compare in the realm of championship ring design.

It’s interesting to note, that none of the super bowl rings shown below were won by a team with a Ryan as an NFL head coach.

The photograph below shows every Super Bowl ring the Ryan family has won. Love ‘em or despise them, the Ryans are terrific coaches, and perhaps, someday, Rex and maybe even Rob will finally win a Super Bowl ring as an NFL head coach.

 

The championship rings pictured below are presented in chronological order. Not only does the picture show every championship ring the family owns, the photo also show cases the on-going design evolution and growing sizes of Super Bowl rings.

Here’s the low-down on each championship ring:

The championship ring on the far left is the iconic Jets Super Bowl III ring, and the Jets only one. Designed and minted by Balfour, Buddy received this Super Bowl ring as the Defensive Line Coach. The championship ring is 40 grams and contains one large diamond and 6 smaller diamonds. Rex and Rob, although very young, remember the game well. They were lucky enough to be in attendance and root for Dad and the Jets.

Seventeen years later, as the Defensive Coordinator for the Bears, Buddy was awarded a Bears Super Bowl XX championship ring. That ring, also crafted by Jostens, has a large center diamond, weighs 47 grams, and has 40 diamonds.

The middle Super Bowl ring, is the Ravens’ Super XXXV ring. It belongs to current Buffalo Bills coach, Rex Ryan. It’s his only Super Bowl ring. He recently commented that his dad and brother each have two Super Bowl rings, while Rex only has one. Rex has promised to “fix that” deficiency. Rex was awarded this championship ring as the Ravens Defensive Line Coach.

Rex’s Ravens Super Bowl ring weighs in at 65 grams and it was designed and made by Jostens. The gorgeous championship ring contains over 100 diamonds.

The final two Super Bowl rings belong to Rob Ryan. Rob was the New England Patriots Linebackers coach when they won their first two Super Bowls. Rob is currently a coach for the Bills and working with his brother Rex.

The Super Bowl ring, second from the right is the Patriots Super Bowl XXXVI ring. Designed and manufactured by Jostens, the championship ring contains 144 diamonds and weighs 66 grams.

Last, the ring on the far right is the Patriots second Super Bowl ring and the last time a Ryan has won a Super Bowl ring. This is the Super Bowl XXXVIII ring, also made by Jostens. The championship ring weighs in at 100 grams and contains 104 diamonds. While the ring may have less total diamonds then the Patriot’s first championship ring, the diamonds are larger and the ring is one-third larger too.

 

 

[sports-rings.com]

9 hours ago, UHCollector said:

Congrats on your acquisition Mike. The ring looks awesome. How'd the deal go? Was it sudden or a lot of back and forth?

 

lots of back and forth, dealing with dealers is a challenge and headache!

 

[ravens12]

Here's some pics of 2009 Yankees Old Timers Day ring i recently picked up. Very cool ring and 14k gold. Given to participants to celebrate first Old Timers game in the new Yankee Stadium. 

[sports-rings.com]

July 4th and Championship Ring Design:

 

What better way to celebrate July 4th then to discuss championship rings and their design.

 

 Here's a look at the Patriots Four Super Bowl Rings.

 

Love or Hate the Patriots - for July 4th, here's a great photo of the four Super Bowl rings of the New England Patriots.

 

The photograph demonstrates how owner Robert Kraft has pushed the envelope more than once, and helped to crate the largest and most blinged-out Super Bowl rings ever made.

 

The first ring, shown on the far left is their first championship ring.  That 2001 Super Bowl ring, while taken from an existing Jostens design (see the Rams and Ravens super bowl rings the two seasons before), was considered magnificent and stunning in it's day.

 

The next championship ring, to the right, was a huge leap forward - the 2003 Super Bowl ring.  It grew in size and was the largest most blinged-out Super Bowl ring ever when it debuted.

 

The following year, the Patriots won their third Super Bowl ring and once again, Kraft and the Patriots enlarged their championship ring and once again, debuted the largest Super Bowl ring ever.

 

And finally, already a year old, the championship ring on the far right is the 2014 Super Bowl ring, and once again, Kraft presented the now-largest Super Bowl ring ever.  Yes, it's quite larger than the Broncos 2015 Super Bowl ring, and the latest Patriots championship ring is dazzling.

 

One last note about the Patriots Super Bowl rings and championship ring design:  Only the Raiders and Patriots can boast that their series of Super Bowl rings have remained extremely standardized - not radically changing in design or style over the years.  Their first Super Bowl rings are the same design themes as their most recent championship rings.

 

Any thoughts or comments?

 

(Please click on the picture below to see a larger version of it)

 

[Cosmic]

1 hour ago, sports-rings.com said:

Only the Raiders and Patriots can boast that their series of Super Bowl rings have remained extremely standardized - not radically changing in design or style over the years

Would you really compare the first ring with the most recent one, and say that they are "extremely standardized"?  Similar elements, sure, the design changes pretty dramatically.  The uniformity isn't even in the same league as the Raiders' rings IMO:

 

(not that you don't know what they look like, but just for illustration purposes)

[sports-rings.com]

29 minutes ago, Cosmic said:

Would you really compare the first ring with the most recent one, and say that they are "extremely standardized"?  Similar elements, sure, the design changes pretty dramatically.  The uniformity isn't even in the same league as the Raiders' rings IMO:

 

(not that you don't know what they look like, but just for illustration purposes)

 

Cosmic - Great post and thoughts!

 

Are the pats rings (1 and 4) "extremely standardized"? - Perhaps not.  But look at the NY Giants, Red Skins, Packers, Cowboys and Steelers (sorry if I forgot any other multi-winning teams).

 

They have different manufacturers, different colors and radically different design layouts.

 

Each of the Pats rings (even 1 and 4) prominently show off their Patriot logo, all use the same colors, all were designed and made by Jostens, and all contain a Lombardi trophy on top with a football shaped diamond. The 2nd, third, and fourth, contain multiple Lombardi trophies and football shaped diamonds to designate each title win in team history.  Each ring is crammed with tons of diamonds and each and every one of those baby's were the most stunning super bowl ring made to date.

 

the only major change I see between the four Pats rings is the sheer size of the rings and that is more a design-evolution thing than a radical change in style that we see with some of teams I mentioned above.

 

Another small change is that the last ring, was made of 10K gold while the first three were designed at 14K versions.

 

 

 

[sports-rings.com]

The Championship Rings From Super Bowl XXXVI

 

Anyone want to discuss the design of the Patriots first Super Bowl ring and/or the Rams NFC championship ring from 2001?

 

The ring on the left is the New England Patriots, and Tom Brady's first ever Super Bowl Ring from their 2001 season.  This beautiful championship ring was designed and manufactured by Jostens in solid 14K white gold.  

 

The day this Super Bowl ring debuted I was enamored with it and couldn't wait to finally own a player's  version of this stunning championship ring.

 

The Patriots Super Bowl XXXVI player ring shown below, weighs approximately 70 grams and is made of solid 14 carat yellow gold.  A few of these rings weigh in the  68-69 gram area, while my player championship ring tips the scales at 72 grams.

 

The team that loses the Super Bowl is recognized as a champion of their respective conference.

 

The Rams NFC championship ring weighs in at 40-41 grams.  The ring does not contain a lot of bling for an NFC championship ring, yet it's still a very nice looking championship ring.

 

The Rams NFC championship ring was made by Jostens in 14K solid yellow gold.

 

 

 

[dont care]

That Rams ring could have made for a pretty cool Super Bowl championship ring in like the 80's or even into the 90's before rings became as complex as they are today

[Cosmic]

On 7/5/2016 at 8:14 AM, sports-rings.com said:

 

Cosmic - Great post and thoughts!

 

Are the pats rings (1 and 4) "extremely standardized"? - Perhaps not.  But look at the NY Giants, Red Skins, Packers, Cowboys and Steelers (sorry if I forgot any other multi-winning teams).

 

They have different manufacturers, different colors and radically different design layouts.

 

Each of the Pats rings (even 1 and 4) prominently show off their Patriot logo, all use the same colors, all were designed and made by Jostens, and all contain a Lombardi trophy on top with a football shaped diamond. The 2nd, third, and fourth, contain multiple Lombardi trophies and football shaped diamonds to designate each title win in team history.  Each ring is crammed with tons of diamonds and each and every one of those baby's were the most stunning super bowl ring made to date.

 

the only major change I see between the four Pats rings is the sheer size of the rings and that is more a design-evolution thing than a radical change in style that we see with some of teams I mentioned above.

 

Another small change is that the last ring, was made of 10K gold while the first three were designed at 14K versions.

 

 

 

Sorry... meant to reply to this earlier.

 

I pretty much agree with all your points; I think we just have a nomenclature disagreement.  When I see the Pats' rings, I see an evolution poster like this:

 

There is definitely a relationship between all of the rings, just not what I would call standardized the same way I would the Raiders' rings.

[sports-rings.com]

Continuing the discussion on Super Bowl rings that are similar in design or different in design for individual teams here's an example of how one team radically changed the design of the rings.

 

You won't find any NFL team that has won multiple Super Bowl rings that has the huge variance of style and design as the Redskins rings.

 

As you can see by the photograph below, the design, size, theme, and style of the Redskin championship rings are quite different from one another.

 

Unlike some NFL teams such as the Packers, Cowboys, and Steelers, who won Super Bowl rings in different eras, the Redskin Super Bowl rings are from a nine year period in the team's history.

 

Pictured below from left to right:  The 1982, 1987, and 1991 Redskins Super Bowl rings.

 

The 1982 Super Bowl ring was designed by Jostens in 10K solid gold.  It is a typical late 70s/early 80s Super Bowl ring in terms of size and style.

 

Five years later, the Redskins used Tiffany and Company and made a massive championship ring.  In my humble opinion, this Super Bowl ring is not very attractive.  The two Lombardi trophies are made of small diamonds and to me, looks more like globs of diamonds rather than a sharp diamond-image of the Lombardi trophies.

 

Finally, on the right is the 1991 Super Bowl ring.  Gone from the top of the ring is any hint of Footballs and Lombardi trophies.  As championship rings were becoming larger and more blinged out, this Super Bowl ring is pretty mundane for the time period.  This championship ring was also designed and manufactured by Tiffany and Company.

 

[UHCollector]

Being a niche collector of a team that does not have a national following means I have never really had to worry too much about replicas infiltrating the marketplace but that has all changed with UH's Peach Bowl win.

2015 Peach Bowl Replica Ring

 

The worst part is I am not seeing an obvious difference between the replica and the actual ring. 

[sports-rings.com]

Championship Ring Design Modifications    

 

Sometimes players take Championship Ring Design into their own hands by increasing the bling in their rings.  An example is shown below

 

The Giant Super Bowl XXV rings shown are from the 1990 season.

 

The Super Bowl ring on the left is how the championship ring looked when it was designed and awarded to players, coaches and staff.

 

At least one of the players, and probably more, took matters into their own hands and had their Super Bowl rings enhanced.  The ring on the right shows that while all the original diamonds were left intact, including two large marquis diamonds which symbolized the team's two Super Bowl titles, the blue onyx stone was removed and 10 small diamonds were added to the ring top.

 

I'm not sure which version looks better and I guess that can be debated.

 

Championship ring purists and some collectors might prefer an original, unmodified Super Bowl ring.

 

Personally, I'll stick with the original Balfour design too.

 

Any thoughts or opinions on this matter?

 

 

 

 

[sports-rings.com]

Here's another example of a Super Bowl ring that has been redesigned and modified by a couple of players.  The photo below shows the modified ring on the left, while the photo on the right is the 1986 New York Giants Super Bowl XXI ring as it was designed and presented by Jostens.

 

Which ring design do you like better?  Me, it's easy: The original version with the blue stone is classy and elegant.  Hands down, I like the original better.

[dont care]

For the 1990 ring I definitely like the modified ring better. The additional diamonds and lack of blue create a much brighter ring. For the 86 ring I like the original because the diamonds on the modified one seem like an afterthought. 

[sports-rings.com]

The Design of this Championship Ring is awful!

 

Below is the first professional quality pictures of the San Francisco Forty Niners 2012 NFC championship ring and presentation box.

 

I suppose not every championship ring can be a stunning beauty.

 

I finally acquired a player 2012 NFC championship ring and to date, not only have none been available for sale, I had never seen a clear picture of their presentation box, or a high quality photograph of the championship ring.  Now that such photos exist, we can look at the design of this championship ring much more closely.

 

The 2012 NFC championship ring was manufactured by Tiffany and Company and in my opinion, compared to other recent championship rings, the quality and design are quite inferior to the amazing championship rings that have emerged in recent years in the four professional sports.

 

While the ring top lacks any imagination creativity, it is by far the best part of this championship ring.  The sides of the rings lack nice detail and the inside of the ring has no theme or mantras.

 

While I'm  underwhelmed at the design and build of this championship ring, in no way does this diminish the season the players, coaches and staff had.  Additionally, as a collector, I'm thrilled to be able to add this championship ring to my collection.

 

Any thoughts on the design of this championship ring?  Have we seen Tiffany design quality suffer in recent years and they are no longer the premier championship ring design company (if they ever were)?

 

[OnWis97]

I think the top of that 49ers ring is absolutely beautiful.  Their logo is obviously very conducive to such a thing, but I like the colored stone look far more than the "blingy" look.  Of course they'd never do this for a Super Bowl Champs ring since they tend to use diamond Lombardy trophies.  

 

I agree that the sides are kinda blah, though.

[sports-rings.com]

5 hours ago, OnWis97 said:

I think the top of that 49ers ring is absolutely beautiful.  Their logo is obviously very conducive to such a thing, but I like the colored stone look far more than the "blingy" look.  Of course they'd never do this for a Super Bowl Champs ring since they tend to use diamond Lombardy trophies.  

 

I agree that the sides are kinda blah, though.

 

Yes, the top of the ring is beautiful, and the red-stone is great, however, AFC/NFC rings have grown much larger and with much bigger diamonds.  Having read many player quotes on championship rings, I can assure you the players but have been unimpressed with this offering.

 

And I forgot to mention in my earlier post that the 49ers have gold in their team colors and they should have produced a yellow gold ring, not white gold!  Whether you're a fan of the ring top or not, I believe we can all agree that the sides of these rings are dreadful!

[UHCollector]

Congrats on the pickup. 

 

I prefer simpler designs so I like the face but those shanks are terrible. I couldn't name all of the Tiffany championship rings off of the top of my head (except for maybe Seattle) but they always seem to be a disappointment when they get posted. Does Tiffany handle the box design as well? Because oddly enough I think I like that one more than the frosted glass topped boxes.