What is the etiquette with regard to wedding rings belonging to former spouses who have left them behind?
I and my partner have both been married, and we both have wedding and engagement rings belonging to former spouses who returned them or declined to take them when they left. Name and address withheld There are no formal rules of etiquette about what to do with a wedding ring that has become surplus to requirements in the hurly-burly of modern life. The ring is a symbol of eternity, and its has been used symbolically in marriages for 30 centuries. But when a marriage has failed to last for life, let alone eternity, it is absurd to wear two wedding rings. There was a strong prejudice against wedding rings for centuries. In its early days, the Church of Scotland did not make provision for wedding rings in its liturgy. And the Puritans in Cromwell’s time thought of rings as Popish relics and attempted to abolish their use. The custom of wearing a wedding ring continuously is of modern origin, and some brides in the past were bequeathed their rings by their mothers or mothers-in-law. I reck
