Ring breaking
When a ring breaks, years of wear have most often thinned the band where you never look. An old English proverb saw that thinning as a blessing, and the break can lead you to ask what daily use has worn down in your own life.
What it may mean
Most rings that break have been worn a long time. Gold is soft, and a band that rubs against steering wheels, pans, gym bars and other rings loses metal year after year, mainly at the bottom of the shank where you cannot see it. One day the thin spot cracks. An old English proverb read that wearing-away kindly: "As your wedding ring wears, your cares will wear away." The break, in other words, ends a long record of hands at work. That is a fairer view than a verdict on a marriage. Things that carry daily life wear thin, and a jeweler can often rebuild the shank and keep the stone. You might ask what in your own life has worn down from steady use and deserves repair rather than worry.
Depending on how you saw it
A wedding band that cracks after many years
A band worn for decades can be rebuilt with new metal joined to the old, so it keeps its shape and its history. The repair is visible only from inside. What long commitment of yours could use some new material without losing what it already holds?
A ring that snaps where it was resized
Resizing leaves a seam where metal was cut and soldered, and that seam takes extra strain when fingers swell in the heat. Many breaks start right there. Where in your life does an old adjustment still carry more strain than the rest?
A fashion ring that breaks in a week
Thin plated rings are made to look like fine jewelry for a season, not to last for years. They bend or crack with ordinary use. Which things do you expect too much from because they look like the real thing?
Why it happens in nature
Gold and silver are soft metals, and rings rub against hard surfaces all day, so the bottom of the band slowly thins, especially in rings worn for decades. Resized rings can break at the solder seam, and thin rings made of plated alloys crack or bend easily. A jeweler can replace the worn part of the band.
What folk beliefs say
England
An old English proverb about wedding rings, noted by Brand, ran: "As your wedding ring wears, your cares will wear away." He suspected it was often quoted to hurry a hesitant bride toward the altar.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 2 (1849), vol. 2, p. 105. View the page
To reflect on
What has thinned from steady use in your life and deserves repair rather than worry?