Our rings our crafted in the age old traditional fashion. Made in the London workshop that have been making signet rings and other fine jewellery since Victorian times. Nearly 150 years of experience goes into making our signet rings the best available in the world.

It is very important that you choose a stamped ring not a cast one. When it comes to seal engraving of a crest it is essential that the gold is dense and compacted so that there are no imperfections in the metal. Some signet rings available via jewellers (and online) are made by casting into a lost wax mould. This way of manufacture means that you get tiny air bubbles in the gold. This is perfectly satisfactory if you do not intend to engrave on it however for fine seal engraving it creates real problems and a poor quality product. During engraving the engraver can come across a bubble in the gold and this means we cannot guarantee the quality of engraving. We frequently get asked if we can engrave existing rings that customers may have, however we are reluctant to do this unless it can be guranteed that the ring is a high quality stamped ring from a reputable source. By choosing a S&C ring we can guarantee you ultimate quality.

It takes many hours of precise skilled work to make a S&C ring.

• Gold Buying from bullion dealer. Gold is bought in bars, stampings, wire or grain. (Gold grain is produced by molten gold being poured into water which rapidly cools and disperses into tiny beads. These beads /grains can then be easily used in a variety of jewellery techniques).
• Stamping process. S&C rings are made using huge drop stamper machinery. These are similar to a guillotine holding a very heavy weight which rushes down like a pile driver on to the gold filled die. The impact is so immense so that the foundations of this machinery have to be three feet deep. Sheets of rolled gold are placed on the die and the high pressure stamping process creates an incredibly close grained dense working material.
• Hallmarking. The ring stamping is then hallmarked by the Assay office in its basic stamped shape. This authenticates the quality of the gold and marks the inside of the shank with the S&C mark, the London Assay office stamp, the date and the gold fineness mark.
• Connecting the band At this stage the shank is sized and connected by using a gold solder. If you order an 18 carat ring we use 18 carat gold and the same for 9 carat. The only difference is that there is a tiny element of other precious metal in the mix which melts a fraction before gold creating a seamless ring.
• Forming. S&C rings are formed by hand on an ancient forming tree. This is an old Ash tree trunk which resides in the corner of the workshop. It dates from the early part of the last century. Our skilled former shapes the ring on a mandrel (a conical shaped rod) using a hide mallet, tapping it against the soft wood of the tree until the perfect shape is created.
• Filing. All sorts of grades of files are used in this time consuming specialist craft. Starting with the ‘bastard file’ the roughest one (over a foot long). Various grades of file are then used (grade 4 to grade 1 pillar files and half round files) to smooth off all rough edges and create a near perfect finish. Then comes the sandpaper filing. Starting with fine sandpaper down to ultra fine emery paper the ring is gradually honed in to a perfect shape and finish. The inside of the band is sand papered with emery paper wrapped around a stick. We call this ‘Sand sticking’.
• Polishing. This craft is incredibly exacting and skilled. Using a variety of ‘laps’ ( polishing wheels) made of stone or lead, some of which are coated with carborundum paste ; an exact of mixture of specialist emery paste that is ground and then impregnated into the lap wheel . (emery paste is made up of ground rubies). First of all the face of the ring is ‘lapped’ exactly flat. Then all areas of the ring are carefully polished using various grades; firstly the brown polish then to green, and finally to the red (jewellers rouge). All imperfections are taken out at this stage and a glorious shiny lustre is achieved. Polish is greasy so the final stage is the de-greasing in an ultrasonic bath. The ring is then dried off in a heated woodchip bath .

  The final result is a beautiful shape with natural sweeping curves that seductively impress everyone. The ring looks magnificent yet completely natural on your finger. This is our passion; to create magnificent historic jewellery in the best possible tradition of the craft.

• Engraving The crafting and shaping of a S&C ring is a true artform and our rings can stand on their own as a beautiful piece of jewellery. However this is only half of the expertise. After the ring is completed and checked it is time for the engraving. We have one ‘house’ engraver we work closely with but two other equally good ones that we frequently use depending on the level of demand from one month to the next. (see engraving link on home page for more details).
• Seal impression We always check for a perfect seal and create a light wax seal to make sure the detail is perfect. We supply you with this seal with your ring.
• Final polishing and presentation. Once the engraving is finished we give a final buff up and package up in one of our fabulous S&C embossed presentation boxes, complete with inner velvet lined ring box, seal impression and complimentary stick of sealing wax.

Some images from the workshop.

1. The forming tree...

2. Forming and sizing on a mandrel...

3. Filing and perfecting...

4. Further Filing , sand sticking and checking...

5. Polishing...

6. Ultrasonic Bath...

7. Heated woodchip bath...

Creative Time A signet ring is a hugely personal thing. It is a real statement of individuality, family heritage and the ultimate mark of distinction. We make all our rings to order as we do like to make them as individual as possible and it is impossible to assess the demand for any particular size and style from one month to the next. We do however keep good stocks of hallmarked stampings so in urgent cases we can turn around rings relatively quickly if you need a ring for a special occasion. Please allow as much time as possible for the creation if you are thinking of a signet ring for a special date. We will always try and help in urgent cases but we do ask for your understanding that this is not an ‘off the shelf’ process.

Typically we like to allow 6- 8 weeks from start to finish. However this is a worst case scenario if you happen to be ordering at absolute peak time (the autumn months before Christmas). Normally we turn the rings around between 4-6 weeks. In urgent cases we can do much better than that but it is not something we like to promise. Nor do we like to pressurise our engravers too much as an engraving will always be better when time is spent to properly research plan and execute the very fine detailed work that we take pride in.

At Signets and Cyphers we are pretty obsessional about giving our customers a fantastic service. This comes naturally as we truly enjoy what we do.

The first thing we ask is for you to ask for our advice and we will be delighted to help you make the right decision. After all we realise it is an important big decision and want to get it absolutely right for you. More often than not the purchase is for a special occasion and the ring is always what we call an heirloom type of product that needs to last a lifetime. Therefore it has got to be 100% absolutely right.

As part of our service we can help with any of the following :

• Your crest. We really relish trying to find your correct family crest engraving.
• Advice on the right type of ring for you. We can advise on Gold colour, carat, size, style and whether you want Gemstone set.
• Advice on finishing details such as backfilling on gemstone set etc..
• Engraving details such as initials and dates inside the band. Also Mottos etc..
• Bespoke engraving. Finding the right personal design for you.
• Advice on which finger to wear the ring.
• The etiquette of signet rings.
• Advice on sizing for the finger.
• Insurance claims.
• Lifetime of rings
• Re-engraving
• Rhodium Plating.
• Polishing and re-polishing.
• Gemstone features and advice.

We can guarantee the quality of our rings unreservedly. All our gold is hallmarked by the London Assay office for the ultimate peace of mind and guarantee of quality and value. The engraving we carry out is also of the finest detail and will be carried out copying the agreed design in the traditional historic context of seal engraving. S&C will endeavour to describe, show and agree with you the design of the crest, monogram, or bespoke design prior to engraving. Please note some tolerance for artistic licence must be accepted to achieve the best result in the space given. We trust the experience of our engravers accordingly and ask you to do the same.