Sovereign ring

Last updated

A sovereign ring is a ring which typically has a gold sovereign as a primary decorative feature, with the obverse face as the visible detail. The coin may be either genuine or replica tender, and may be either a sovereign or half sovereign.

Sovereign rings are associated with chav culture in the UK, [1] [2] [3] [4] or more broadly with emulating the look of a mafioso. [5]

In the United Kingdom it is also common to use custom coinage bearing such motifs as the 'Three Lions' or other similar imagery such as Saint George, or a Welsh Dragon.[ citation needed ]

Celebrities who have been observed wearing a sovereign ring include Brad Pitt, [5] Ghislaine Maxwell [6] and the English rapper Louise Amanda Harman, hence her stage name of "Lady Sovereign". [3] [7]

References

  1. "How to Spot a Chav". mirror. 2004-02-22. Retrieved 2022-11-29.
  2. Maxine Frith, "High fashion's debt to the lowly Chavs", The Independent, 1 February 2004.
  3. 1 2 Aileen Dillane and Martin J. Power, "Hard Hats and Hoodies: The Songs of Two Working-Class British Protest Singers", in: The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music and Social Class, ed. Ian Peddie, New York / London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020, ISBN   9781501345364, p. 282.
  4. "Setting the Scene: Overview", in: The Oxford Handbook of the Psychology of Appearance, ed. Nichola Rumsey and Diana Harcourt, Oxford: Oxford University, 2012, ISBN   9780199580521, p. 12.
  5. 1 2 Murray Clark, "Brad Pitt, Your New Don Corleone", Esquire, 17 September 2019.
  6. Hope Coke, "Ghislaine Maxwell to make first court appearance remotely after transferring to Brooklyn detention centre", Tatler, 7 July 2020.
  7. "Meet Lady Sovereign: A One-Woman Grime Wave", The Herald Scotland, 29 October 2005.