Ring: Claddagh ring - 925 sterling silver

The Claddagh ring (Claddagh ring, Claddagh ring) is a symbolic ring depicting two hands holding a crowned heart. Each element is combined with the categories of love (heart), friendship (hands), loyalty (crown).
Claddagh rings are worn as a sign of friendship or betrothal. There are the following nuances:

* If the ring is worn on the right hand with the heart facing in the direction from its owner (i.e. the fingertips), it says that the owner of the ring, the Claddagh is in search of his love.
* If the ring is worn on the right hand and the heart facing the owner of the ring, it indicates that the owner of the ring is in a love relationship.
* Ring on his left hand with the heart turned to its owner, is considered a wedding.
Later came a fourth way of wearing a ring on his left hand, the heart from the carrier. So it is worn according to different sources, during the wedding ceremony (as a sign that the hearts of the bride and groom looking to each other), engaged, widowed, and divorced.
Legends associated with the ring, a lot. The most popular story is about a young man, Richard Joyce, a native of County Galway, who left home to find work abroad. It was back in the seventeenth century. The ship in which he set out on the voyage was attacked by Algerian pirates, and Joyce was taken into slavery. In the Eastern market it was sold to a Moorish jeweler, from whom he learned the art of jewelry.
The servant quickly mastered the craft of his master and soon mastered them to perfection. Yearning for his distant bride, he created a ring in the shape of two hands holding a heart beneath a crown. This ring later became known as the Claddagh ring. In the end Richard Joyce was lucky in 1689 William III of orange soon after his coronation have agreed with the Moors to release all British slaves.
Despite the fact that the former owner has offered Richard to marry his only daughter and become a co-owner of the jewelry workshop of his, Richard returned home. All this time the bride of Richard right waiting for him and married not out. They married, and Richard got involved in the jewelry business at home.