The Ravens Finally Get Their Bling. A Look At The 2013 NFL Championship Ring.

Earlier this month the Baltimore Ravens presented players and staff with their Super Bowl XLVII Championship Ravens Rings during a private ceremony today at The Under Armour Performance Center. Created by Jostens, the leading national custom jewelry designer and producer, the World Championship Ring commemorates the Ravens remarkable 2012 season and marks the second time the Ravens have brought the Lombardi Trophy to Baltimore.



"Emotions ran high as players, coaches and staff were presented with their rings, which symbolize the determination required to win the Super Bowl," said Ravens President, Dick Cass. "The rings are beautiful visual representations of what it means to be a Raven – physical, tough-minded, hardworking and resilient."




The truly one-of-a-kind ring pays tribute to the rich history and tradition of one of football’s most successful franchises. The design, hand-crafted by Jostens Championship Design team and led by Master Jeweler Miran Armutlu, is fashioned in white and yellow gold and with 243 round cut diamonds. In the center of the ring, the Baltimore Ravens logo is outlined with 40 round brilliant cut diamonds sitting atop a dazzling custom-cut amethyst stone. Behind the logo are two Vince Lombardi Trophies set with 32 round brilliant cut diamonds and two stunning marquise diamonds weighing approximately .75 carats, representing the team’s two World Championship titles.





"Jostens is proud to be a partner with the Baltimore Ravens and to collaborate with them on the creation of a ring that celebrates the team’s inclusive culture, winning traditions and their achieving professional football’s pinnacle triumph, the forty-seventh Super Bowl title," said Chris Poitras, Director, Sports Sales and Marketing, Jostens. "Every element of the ring was designed specifically to highlight the best qualities of each of the materials featured. It’s a singularly beautiful piece of fine jewelry that reflects the ultimate unity of the team."

To celebrate the enduring support of Ravens fans during this championship season, the team collaborated again with the Championship Design team at Jostens to create a custom selection of personalized jewelry and collectibles with designs inspired by the Super Bowl XLVII Championship Rings.


above: Josten's collection of Raven's jewelry inspired by the Super Bowl XLVII Championship Rings

The collection offers every Baltimore Ravens fan the chance to own a piece of Ravens history and, beginning June 7th, can be ordered online at Jostens. 

See and learn more about all the Super Bowl rings to date here

Blinged Out Brain Buckets. NFL Helmets With Hand Applied Swarovski Crystals.

In addition to blinging out animal and human skulls, artist Quinn Gregory of Chicago also takes authentic Riddell Proline Football Helmets (as worn by NFL players) and hand-applies over 12,500 Swarovski crystals to them.


above: Chiefs, Cowboys and Bengals Swarovski Crystal embellished football helmets by Quinn Gregory

The process takes 3 weeks to complete and the finished helmet is a truly stunning conversation piece that any football fanatic - or player- would cherish in their home or office.

Kansas City Chiefs Helmet:




Quinn was commissioned to create one of these beautiful brain buckets for Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones. The helmet is to be auctioned off at the Team's annual charity event.

Dallas Cowboys helmet:


Cincinnati Bengals helmet:




Quinn can be commissioned to design a Swarovski encrusted Helmet for all NFL teams or NCAA college helmets at the price of $1,800. You can contact him with any requests or questions here


Quinn Gregory

All 46 Superbowl Rings To Date And Some Fun Facts About Them.

Don't fret, further in this post, each of the above rings are shown enlarged for detail.

A NEW MORE DETAILED POST WITH BIGGER PICS AND MORE INFO CAN BE FOUND HERE

One of the most recognizable pieces of bling are given to the players of the National Football League's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. Who makes them? Who gets them? What are they worth?

The rings almost always include the team's name, logo, and Super Bowl number (usually in Roman numerals). Most of the rings also have larger diamonds or diamonds made into the shape of the trophy, that represent the number of Super Bowls that franchise has won.

For example, Pittsburgh's 2008 ring has six trophies and six large diamonds, representing the six Super Bowls they have won to date:

above: The Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl XLIII ring weighs 104 grams and incorporates 63 round, brilliant cut diamonds totaling 3.61 carats.

I don't know how much the total carat weight varies year to year or the actual market value, but here are some facts about the rings, courtesy of Wikipedia:

•The NFL pays up to $5,000.00 per ring, with up to 150 rings per team. The NFL pays for the cost of 150 rings to the winning team, at roughly $5,000 apiece, depending upon the fluctuating cost of gold and diamonds. If the rings are over the $5,000 limit, the team owners must make up the difference.

•Recent rings have been appraised in excess of $20,000, with some valued at $45,000. but manufacturers keep this information confidential

•The rings are made by the company of the winning team's choosing. The majority of the Championship Super Bowl rings have been manufactured by Jostens in Denton, Texas. They've made 28 of the past 43 rings.

•The Indianapolis Colts' Super Bowl rings were manufactured by Herff Jones (based in Indianapolis), at their Warwick, Rhode Island ring plant.

•Austin, TX based Balfour Company has manufactured numerous Super Bowl Rings

Tasteful? No.
Impressive? Yep.

The rings are made after the game for obvious reasons, so this years' ring is not included among the images below, shown in chronological order.

Rings from 1966-1974:

Rings from 1975-1983:

Rings from 1984-1992:

Rings from 1993-2001:

Rings from 2002-2009:


UPDATE: Here are the 45th (2010) and 46th (2011) Super Bowl rings:

SuperBowl XLIV: Cheerleaders, The Program, Tweets, Half Time Show, Commercial Sneak Peeks & More

This year's Superbowl XLIV (that's 44 for those of you who don't read Roman numerals) between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints in South Florida has embraced technology with an online digital program, live chats and tweets and streaming video. Nice to see that the NFL is on their game, so to speak.

But that's not all, here's a few of the more fun bits about today's game.

In the opening festivities, Queen Latfah will sing America The Beautiful.
Carrie Underwood will be singing the National Anthem to open the game:


Live Chats
5:30 PM - 10:00 PM ETSuper Bowl XLIV
As Super Bowl XLIV unfolds at Sun Life Stadium in South Florida, NFL.com's Gil Brandt, Bucky Brooks and Pat Kirwan will be chatting live. Join Pat and Gil starting at 5:30 p.m. ET as they take your questions and discuss the Colts and Saints live from Super Bowl XLIV.

Superbowl XLIV Twitter
You can follow see featured tweets and pics. To add yours tag it #SB44.




Ad critic Barbara Lippert from Adweek gives us a sneak peek at some of the ads:

A sneak peek of the commercials from Adweek on YouTube

The Program:
The entire game program for Superbowl XLIV is in digital format online here, all 244 pages of player stats, pics, article and ads.

Flip through it here.

Program print ads:
The scariest ad in the program (the Huddler)
 
and the most clever ad in the program (Bridgestone):
The most clever print ad in the program is subtle, if you don't get it, look again.

The Who
The half time show brough to you by Bridgestone (who coincidentally had that clever ad in the program shown above right): The Who



Click below to enlarge and see info about the team players:


Can't forget the cheerleaders!

The Colts Cheerleaders:


learn more about the Colts cheerleaders here.

The Saints Cheerleaders (known as the Saintsations):


the Saintsations official site


The game airs on CBS at 6pm Eastern Time


See the official site here.

And, of course the Bling. All the Superbowl rings ever made.

The Rings:

above: Last year's Pittsburgh Steelers Superbowl Ring



Unfortunately, we don't get to see the winning team's ring until after the game, but to see images of every single Superbowl ring to date and details about them, go here.

Super Bowl Rings, The Bling For The Past 44 Years

above: The most recent addition to the years of superbowl bling is the 2009 ring above awarded to the New Orleans Saints for their victory over the Indianapolis Colts from Super Bowl XLIV on feb 10, 2010 photo by Derick Hinkle

This post has been updated to include the rings from 2007, 2008 and 2009, so now that's 44 rings.

Original post:
I honor of yesterday's 42nd Super Bowl, I thought I'd share with you the Super Bowl Championship Rings, awarded to each member of the winning team as well as the coaches, from 1966-2006. The majority were manufactured by Jostens (you know, the college class ring people?), and the rings have varied quite a bit over the years.



Above: the final score of the 42nd Super Bowl

The rings almost always include the team's name, logo, and Super Bowl number (usually in Roman numerals). Most of the rings also have larger diamonds or diamonds made into the shape of the trophy, that represent the number of Super Bowls that franchise has won (e.g, Pittsburgh's 2005 ring has five trophies, representing the five Super Bowls they have won).

I don't know how much the total carat weight varies year to year or the value, but here are some little facts about the rings (courtesy of Wikipedia):

•The NFL pays up to $5,000.00 per ring, with up to 150 rings per team. If the rings are over the $5,000 limit, the team owners must make up the difference.
•Recent rings have been appraised in excess of $20,000 but manufacturers keep this information confidential.
•The rings are made by the company of the winning team's choosing. Many Super Bowl rings have been manufactured by Jostens in Denton, Texas. The Indianapolis Colts' •Super Bowl rings were manufactured by Herff Jones (based in Indianapolis), at their Warwick, Rhode Island ring plant.
•Austin, TX based Balfour Company has manufactured numerous Super Bowl Rings

Tasteful? No. Impressive? Yep.

All the Superbowl rings to date:


Above, left to right, rings from 1966-1974

Above, left to right, rings from 1975-1983

Above, left to right, rings from 1984-1992

Above, left to right, rings from 1993-2001


Above, left to right, rings from 2002-2009


To read stories that accompany each ring and winning team, click here.