Germans 'value wedding rings like CD collections'

[The Local 492]

Germans seem to be surprisingly unsentimental about their wedding rings - only about one in ten are sad when their bands of gold are stolen during a break-in - the same share as those who are sad when their CD collection is taken.

 

A survey commissioned by insurer Gothaer Versicherung, and conducted by the society for consumer research GfK showed that just 12.4 percent said they would be very sad if their wedding ring was stolen.

 

This was the same share as those who would be miserable to lose their CD collection, the Welt newspaper reported on Wednesday.

 

Click to read the full article.

[dessa_dangerous 13,315]

maybe it matters who they polled. Nobody born after about 1970 seems to give a flip one way or the other about being married, even if they have children together. Maybe that's just the type of Germans I know.

 

Or, maybe it's about the ring itself, even when a couple is married and actually wears them (as opposed to we who are married, but do not wear rings): ever notice how boring and rudimentary wedding rings tend to be around here? Even the women wear simple bands. When the ring does contain a stone it is small and modestly cut, often laid into a band which swallows it up. When the couple acquires more wealth over the course of their marriage they do not purchase larger, more impressive rings and fit them over the original rings until their entire ring finger is covered in layers of gold and diamonds, showing the progress of the years like the rings in a tree. In fact, there seems to be no precious jewelry culture here at all--but that would fit pretty well with what most of us has accepted as a friendly cliche--ever practical, a German would hardly decide to spend two months salary on a flashy band or an intricately cut stone. Unlike in the States where the woman is supposed to wear the largest and most expensive ring the man can afford +, and if he doesn't, it means he's cheap, or doesn't value her as much as he values his money.

 

It's almost as if Germans don't consider the ring to be a symbol of their love and commitment to one another, or that they might have better things to do with the money. Crazy stuff.

[Keydeck 9,248]

 

the same share as those who are sad when their CD collection is taken.

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This was the same share as those who would be miserable to lose their CD collection, the Welt newspaper reported on Wednesday.

So true they wrote it twice.

 

What kind of thief steals a CD collection nowadays? My CDs are in cardboard boxes in the basement as everything is in MP3 format. If some likely lads come along I'd be tempted to pay them to take the boxes away.

[perdido 6,083]

and I like cats.

[Chocky 1,223]

We went looking for a ring for me (I had already bought my wife one, a thin gold and diamond band, Cerman made, but an antique from the early 1930s) before we got married in Berlin and we found a couple of really skilled jewellers who crafted some absolutely stunning pieces, we got a couple of quotes but decided that in the end we'd rather spend our cash on the honeymoon.

The more commercial modern rings in this country tend to look more like parts of dishwashers than pieces of jewellery.

[chaos_amoeba 2,724]

 

maybe it matters who they polled.

 

Well said!

 

 

Or, maybe it's about the ring itself...: ever notice how boring and rudimentary wedding rings tend to be around here? Even the women wear simple bands. When the ring does contain a stone it is small and modestly cut, often laid into a band which swallows it up.

 

Here, I don't follow you. Maybe it's a UK thing (genuinely, I don't know) - but I thought wedding rings were traditionally plain. The point of them is that they are a plain circle, so no ends: thus a symbol of enduring love or some such?

 

My own wedding ring is a plain gold band. Although, it is 24 carat gold and rather a wide band, so it isn't without value, I have no idea what it is worth in money, because I did not pay for it. My ring belonged to my father's maternal grandmother, and my husband's ring, to my father's paternal grandmother. So their value to us is both in the symbol of our marriage and the fact they are family items. I'd be very upset to lose mine, but I pretty much never take it off, so I hope that won't happen.

 

Don't understand, either, why you'd need stones or other embellishments to make something have value that is more important than monetary (which is, I guess, the kind of value that makes it upsetting to have something stolen - the value that creates irreplacability). I mean, my engagement ring means a lot to me, but it has little intrinsic value. We were poor enough when he bought it; but it recalls a happy time and also a funny story of gallantry from my husband: It wasn't my first choice - he refused to buy that one, he said it was "too cheap" (!) and he was afraid it would not last forever (£35). He did, however, march into the shop and ask if they had the same thing "with real diamonds". They didn't, so I got my second choice, which does contain real diamonds - two - each the size of a grain of sugar, and a pretty blue stone (tanzanite) in the centre. It cost more than £35, but was still a very cheap engagement ring. And that is quite right - that is who we were, and where we were in life, when we decided to make this commitment - so why should I value the ring any the less?

 

I suppose the findings here indicate that the "average German" isn't that swayed by symbolism. Cliche alert: how practically-minded

 

Oh, and the "like CD collections" bit is really stupid. Unless, of course, it was the same 10% who said they'd be upset to lose their rings and cds. Otherwise, that's two utterly unconnected facts mashed up together...

[dessa_dangerous 13,315]

my point was that neither money nor empty sentimentality seems to mean much to Germans.

 

A ring is just a bit of metal, no matter what kind of cute backstory there is to it. Whether it was owned by your ancestors all the way back to your great-uncle Pharoah Joe or whatever. You lose the ring, life goes on. You lose your partner, considerably bigger deal. Why assign more value to a thing than it is actually worth?

[Keydeck 9,248]

Of course it's a bigger deal if you lose your partner. Especially if it's to the same scallywag who's making off with your Barry Manilow collection. I don't see how that's related though. There are very few people out there who could honestly claim no sentimental attachment to something that goes beyond its financial worth. Be it a ring, a family heirloom of some sort, a family hair loom of some sort or a raggedy old t-shirt from years back.

 

We don't arbitrarily assign more value to something than it is physically worth. Circumstance and human nature do that automatically.

[Mapleleafdude 4,292]

 

A ring is just a bit of metal, no matter what kind of cute backstory there is to it. Whether it was owned by your ancestors all the way back to your great-uncle Pharoah Joe or whatever. You lose the ring, life goes on. You lose your partner, considerably bigger deal. Why assign more value to a thing than it is actually worth?

 

Don't let DeBeers hear that. They might just come and cut you off at the knees.

 

Honestly I don't care much for my ring and I know my wife doesn't either. We got the plain gold strip. If one wants to wear something more blingy you can add a ring or two.

 

In my view I find it sad that in North America there is this pressure to get a wedding ring for one or two months wages (was it even more??). Just some crafty marketing and it says nothing about the true substance of a partnership.

[Beuel 4,947]

I'd reconsider my attachment to somebody I'd lose to the owner of a Barry Manilow collection.

 

But I guess Dessa is right. I know a lot of people who value items of little worth much more than their wedding band. Concert tickets of their first concert together, gifts, stuff like that. Things they got before they married.

[chaos_amoeba 2,724]

 

In my view I find it sad that in North America there is this pressure to get a wedding ring for one or two months wages (was it even more??). Just some crafty marketing and it says nothing about the true substance of a partnership.

 

I heard one month, though in the UK, that's engagement rings, not wedding rings. I told my bloke that if he spent that much on a ring I'd be afraid to wear it, and anyway, I find the idea of the money spent being important extremely sickening.

 

A sad story - a mate of mine proposed to a girl with a ring worth... I dunno, but a four-figure sum; it contains three quite large diamonds, I've seen it. She responded with "This ring IS a joke, right?" and demanded an engagement ring worth at least two months' wages. The sad part is, he bought one - five Big diamonds - and she kept the original ring, too (wears it on the other hand). I used to say, imo it was sad that he married her, but they are clearly very happy, so each to their own and long may they so continue.

 

 

I know a lot of people who value items of little worth much more than their wedding band. Concert tickets of their first concert together, gifts, stuff like that. Things they got before they married.

 

Well, yeah. There's a wooden ring I own. Handmade, with both our names in it. For example. Can't wear that one though.

[Guest]

 

Or, maybe it's about the ring itself, even when a couple is married and actually wears them (as opposed to we who are married, but do not wear rings): ever notice how boring and rudimentary wedding rings tend to be around here?

Neither my wife nor I wear our rings, but it's for the exact opposite of them being rudimentary, albeit perhaps a bit boring. Because of the design on the ring, the jewelers claim it would be too difficult to resize them. I was a skinny 65 Kilos when we got married and now yo-yo between 73 and 80, so the ring yo-yos between being a bit tight and being painful.

 

My wife was a scrawny 50 kilos when we got married. She's not overweight, or if she is, only slightly, but she has no chance of ever wearing that ring again.

[Mapleleafdude 4,292]

 

My wife was a scrawny 50 kilos when we got married. She's not overweight, or if she is, only slightly, but she has no chance of ever wearing that ring again.

 

I have a wife like that too. :lol:

[gaberlunzi 814]

I know all about dia/wedding rings. I made a good living from it for 25 years! My wedding band looks like new as I could not wear it because of chemical reaction when I worked. Neither is it advisable for many trades to wear a ring at work and many WCB even forbid it in some trades. My wife has a cluster diamond ring with 7 half carat diamonds in it and it looks like it came out of a cereal box.The ring gets its annual airing but otherwise rests in darkness in a bank fault. Big deal those "rich things",it is much better to have your peace of mind and your health.

[mlovett 8,681]

I never take my rings off, so hopefully I won't lose them. I'd be devastated... the GerMan gave me a big ass diamond. Cuz baby, I'm worth it. B)

[Chocky 1,223]

 

the GerMan gave me a big ass diamond

 

Sure he's not trying to tell you something? :P

[mlovett 8,681]

Nah, my ass is still the same size, that's why I can still wear the rings. Vintage engagement ring [ca. 1930s], in platinum. TBH, I was floored. I know Germans don't typically buy such things. But his Brit colleague [and now brother in law] bought an even bigger diamond, so I guess the pressure was on...

 

Gab, what's the point of owning such a monstrosity, if it never gets worn??

[gaberlunzi 814]

 

Gab, what's the point of owning such a monstrosity, if it never gets worn??

Oh, it gets worn when the occasion occurs.Some women have a knack to make a point when they want to show off. My lady is one of them .

Basically I guess it is Besitzerfreude to have something some other person does not have.(or proof that one is better than someone else). It never counted very much with me.I look at it the reverse way when I don't feel to well I look at people who are worse off and then feel better that I'm not their shoes. In the end it won't matter anyway you look at it.

[Santitas 587]

I know this is an old thread, but since I’ve started my new job, I feel so self-conscious about my wedding ring. It wasn’t terribly expensive compared to US standards,

and my husband didn’t have to save a dime to buy it (nor did I have to save to buy his), but no one at my job wears any kind of jewelry except for simply gold bands. 

It's incredible how much culture affects us. It didn’t even cross my mind to get a simple gold band when we went to look at rings. However, I knew I didn’t want anything ridiculously expensive and that I also didn’t want an engagement ring plus a wedding ring. And I thought I was being practical! Well, I guess everything is relative, isn’t it?