SarahTheCoat

Yeeeeeee!

Make it happen make it real make it happen make it real

I’m manifesting this so hard right now!!!

He’s so flustered I never realized he did the trick right 🥹

He does drop the rings initially but, once he picks them up, he performs the trick correctly and actually really adeptly as well-- which I think is kind of a great metaphor for Aziraphale, actually. He knows what to do, he'll just get in his own head about it sometimes but then he comes back, fierce as all fuck, and does what needs to be done. Sometimes, the having dropped the ball before causes him to try almost too hard in the present and can lead to a worsening of the anxiety that he had before in the process. It's very the end of S2 as much as it's also maybe S3 foreshadowing.

That's great. And do you know what this ring looks like?

OH GOD YES YES YES HI @bwlkins 😍😍😍😍😍

i'm sure people more eloquent than me, have also noticed that he's doing a thing with Rings, while they are being a very Couply Couple. and i bet all of us, whatever our own relationship status, can make the connection between Couples and Rings. like, this isn't Fellini.

British Men and Jewellery

First off, let’s notice the spelling. This is the British English spelling, not the American version ( which is jewelry). 

Secondly, it isn’t a thing over here to the same extent it is in America. In England in particular, jewellery is a signpost to class (isn’t everything?) 

Rings

Aristocratic males seldom wear wedding rings, for example. Prince Philip didn’t, Prince William doesn’t. Charles does (Camilla probably insisted, LOL). BUT, take a look at where Prince Charles wears his wedding ring- stacked (almost hidden?) by his signet ring which he has worn since the 1970s. 

Signet rings are symbols of aristocratic origins, so think of engraved family crests. Just initials? That’s a clue to a poser, someone not quite of the right lineage. No jewels involved; no diamonds, no cameo or onyx. 

Often worn on the little finger (which is rarely called pinky/pinkie except in Scotland and America)- and on the non-dominant hand. My version of Watson wore one for about twenty years before a swollen knuckle put an end to it. John Watson, being left-handed, would wear one on his right hand. But middle-class/working class men wouldn’t wear one (because they don’t tend to have family crests). Also, as a former surgeon, he would not have been allowed to wear one at work. Let’s add in there the fact that the British army isn’t keen on jewellery being worn while in uniform or in training, with the exception of a wedding ring or a signet ring. 

So, what else would a British character in your fan fic wear?

Cufflinks are also a class and profession signifier. 

Brash bling is something you’d see on a City dealer or investment banker, or someone in the music industry. For someone like Mycroft, the cufflinks will be antique, gold and have some sort of engraved design on them. No jewels, no gimmicky images. Always doubled, no stick and swivel  back(which is modern). 

These are made for tailor-made dress shirts with French double cuffs. They can be plain gold ( as these above seem to be) or engraved with a design as these Victorian set are. 

Then there is the watch.  

For Mycroft there can only be a pocket watch. A half hunter or full hunter.  A Half Hunter enables you to read the time with the cover closed and usually has a window in which you can view the time through whereas a full hunter has to have the cover open to read the time and usually has a sealed closed cover to help protect the watch face. My guess is that Mycroft would have a full Hunter, that is, a closed one. It would be part of his signalling his aristocratic origins to complete the ritual of taking it out of his waistcoat pocket and opening it. 

Sherlock wears an Rotary watch, the Canterbury model. It’s Swiss and under a £100. Mind you, give how often he dashes about, gets thrown into the river and other assorted rough treatment, an expensive watch would be pointless.  

Then there is John’s Watch. Now THIS is a surprise! The Tag Heuer Monaco watch costs over £1,000.  So John may like to dress down, but his taste in watches is rather high end! 

So what else? 

Not much, to be honest. It is not usual in anyone over thirty to wear studs, earrings, bracelets or other jewellery. Oddly enough, thirty year olds and younger might now do so, but it would be likely that they’d take it off anytime they went for a job interview, because it is still seen by society in general to be not normal. 

So, fic writers who have British characters in your stories. Be aware that in this culture, men’s jewellery is rather understated. 

Right I’m absolutely useless so am reblogging my own post.

Stephens’s ring is on his pinkie finger, which I noticed the second I had already posted this! That is the finger for both signet rings and male marriage in the Victorian era. So it looks like a signet to me, but there’s something nice and ambiguous about it!

This post is a train wreck - let me leave you with one last link.

I spotted that the wikipedia page for pinkie rings had lots of links to gay books even though there was no mention of homosexuality on the actual wiki page. Classic. Followed up these links and yup - it’s also a covert way of showing homosexuality.

i really wanted to share this because you open up TPLoSH, and here i spotted Colin Blakely (Watson) wearing the ring on his pinkie finger as well, idk if tthis is the one anon is asking, because i saw them also before. but idk,. leaving it here for the others to see,.

ps. sorry for the poor quality of the photo.

OOOH.

@jakegyllenholmes​ you are brilliant!!

Just Stephens by himself looks like a signet, but Stephens and Blakely looks much more thought through. My heart is breaking.

wow.