We invite you to enjoy reading these fascinating and funny personal stories revolving around that precious piece of jewelry - the engagement ring.

Sent in by Mrs. Martha Greep-Best of Omaha, Nebraska:

This ring is a Best family heirloom from the Victorian era, and a story goes with it. My great-great-great-great grandmother was Mary Sewell of Wisconsin, who was left an orphan when her father died fighting for the Union in the Civil War. She spent the remainder of the childhood with some distant relatives, we believe, and earned a teachers certificate, which eventually brought her out west to Dry Creek, Colorado.

Life must have been pretty rugged in those days, and Mary must have had a fine constitution because she was one of the only townspeople who escaped coming down with an epidemic - possibly malaria. The school closed and Mary went to work as a sort of nurse, tending all the bed ridden families. The story goes that this was how she got to know the Bests, the wealthiest family in Dry Creek. Their son, Gideon, might have died if not for Mary's tender care. Gideon was a bit of a rebel, it seems, and held the office of town sheriff against his parents' more elevated wishes. It must have been a dangerous job in those days, but it seems to me Gideon Best had a real soft side, too. He fell instantly in love with Mary as she brought him back to health and we believe they became engaged in about 1883.

You can see from the attached photo what a magnificent engagement ring Gideon offered her. It is gold with eight natural seed pearls and five ruby cabochons. The tale is that Mary was overwhelmed with the richness of it and said, "so many stones."

"Sweetheart," said Gideon, "the eight pearls are for the eight children we'll have and the five rubies for the fifty happy years ahead."

And do you know what? The sheriff was right. The Bests were married up through the 1930's and they had eight healthy sons, one of whom was my great great grandfather, Isaiah Best. This charming story and precious engagement ring have been handed down for generations and we Bests think it's a real treasure!

Sent in by Rebecca Raglan of Des Moines, Iowa:

This stunning art deco ring was given to my great grandmother, Patricia Iverson, on her engagement to my grandfather, Fenton Tregalis, who was a member of the Olympic swimming team in 1924. Though he didn't win any medals, he was a local hero in his home town of Davenport, Iowa. He'd left a sweetheart behind him when he went to the Olympics, and when he came home she was there at the aquatic park to see him take a few victory laps at the homecoming celebration the town held.

As my mother tells it, Fenton took ten laps across the pool and then came up out of the water holding something shining in his hand out toward where Patricia was standing. Believe it or not, it was this gorgeous platinum ring with its octagon setting, and 1/2 carat brilliant cut diamond.

"Marry me, honey?" he whispered.

I guess the crowd knew her answer when she kissed him and everybody cheered. It made the newspapers and has been a favourite family story ever since. My mom inherited it from her father and now it has come to me. I don't think it's ever been valued, but I bet the quality of this diamond and the delicate filigree platinum work make this engagement ring something of value in more ways than one.

Sent in by Marcia Eldridge of Gilroy, California

I thought you might enjoy my funny engagement story. My town is famous as the garlic capitol of the US and back in the seventies, my then-boyfriend, Curt, was on the committee which organized the annual garlic festival. We'd been dating for about 2 years and I was hoping wedding bells might start occuring to him soon, but we hadn't really discussed it seriously. Until the garlic festival of 1973, that is.

The whole town and hundreds of tourists were in the supper tent and up walks Curt, dressed in this paper garlic costume. He was serving complimentary baked garlics to the diners...that's a whole roasted bulb of garlic that bakes all creamy inside and you spread it on bread. Anyway, he came over to where I was sitting with my folks and put a particular garlic on my plate, smiling strangely. Well, when I peeled back the skin, it was all hollowed out inside - I still don't know how he did that - and there in the center was this beautiful engagment ring. It was the highlight of that year's garlic festival and certainly one of the happiest days of my life. Five kids and 30 festivals later, we're still going strong.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, that engagement ring did smell like garlic for a while! But it's got 1/4 carat of diamonds, both round and marquis cut stones on its yellow gold band and I never see it without thinking of my funny, loving husband.