aborde finds earlier records of
the art of cutting this gem: there was in Paris a diamond-cutter
named Herman, in 1407. The diamond cutters of Paris were quite
numerous in that year, and lived in a special district known as "la
Courarie, where reside the workers in diamonds and other stones."

Finger rings almost deserve a history to themselves, for their
forms and styles are legion. Rings were often made of glass in the
eleventh century. Theophilus tells in a graphic and interesting
manner how they were constructed. He recommends the use of a bar
of iron, as thick as one's finger, set in a wooden handle, "as a
lance is joined in its pike." There should also be a large piece
of wood, at the worker's right hand, "the thickness of an arm,
dug into the ground, and reaching to the top of the window." On
the left of the furnace a little clay trench is to be provided.
"Then, the glass being cooked," one is admonished to take the little
iron in the wooden handle, dip it into the molten glass, and pick
up a small portion, and "prick it into the wood, that the glass
may be pierced through, and instantly warm it in the flame, and
strike it twice upon the wood, that the glass may be dilated, and
with quickness revolve your hand with the same iron;" when the
ring is thus formed, it is to be quickly thrown into the trench.
Theophilus adds, "If you wish to vary your rings with other colours...
take... glass of another colour, surrounding the glass of the ring
with it in the manner of a thread... you can also place upon the
ring glass of another kind, as a gem, and warm it in the fire that
it may adhere." One can almost see these rings from this accurate
description of their manufacture.

The old Coronation Ring, "the wedding ring of England," was a gold
ring with a single fine balas ruby; the pious tradition had it
that this ring was given to Edward the Confessor by a beggar, who
was really St. John the Evangelist in masquerade! The palace where
this unique event occurred was thereupon named Have-ring-at-Bower.
The Stuart kings all wore this ring and until it came to George
IV., with other Stuart bequests, it never left the royal Stuart
line.

Edward I. owned a sapphire ring made by St. Dunstan. Dunstan was
an industrious art spirit, being reported by William of Malmsbury
as "taking great delight in music, painting, and engraving." In
the "Ancren Riwle," a book of directions for the cloistered life
of women, nuns are forbidden t