Memento Mori | Made to Order Ring | personisable gemstone | Curiosity Cabinet

Will release on 14-09-26 to all of our newsletter subscribers. Worldwide website release 28-09-26.

Handcrafted Gothic Memento Mori Skull and Bone Ring in Recycled Sterling Silver | Made to Order

Handcrafted made to order memento mori ring in recycled sterling silver, with skulls gathered around an oval gemstone and a shank of bone and creeping leaves. A properly historical gothic ring and a serious alternative engagement ring, personisable in gemstone and available in every ring size.

The Essence

Skulls, bones, leaves.
Growth and rot in one band.
Remember you are alive.

Inspiration & Story

Memento Mori belongs to the Curiosity Cabinet collection, a realm built from witchcraft, folklore, natural oddities and the strange beauty of things we keep.

This one started with a very heavy German book. Der Ring im Wandel der Zeit, a gift from good friends, which maps the entire history of ring making. The pages Kaat kept returning to were the memento mori rings: skulls, coffins, tiny bones worn on the hand.

What is fascinating is what was happening around them. As the Renaissance loosened the church's grip, people began studying the world for themselves. Plants, anatomy, decay. So jewelry went botanical and skeletal at the same time. Leaves and skulls, growth and rot, in the same ring. Nobody found that contradictory, because it is not.

That is the whole design here. Skulls gather around the stone and the shank runs into bone and creeping leaves, so the ring holds both halves at once: the thing that ends and the thing that keeps growing over it. We blackened the recesses and polished the high points back up by hand, which is what gives the skulls their sockets and the leaves their depth.

At the centre sits an oval faceted gemstone, held in prongs and lifted clear of the silverwork so it reads as the living thing in the middle of all that bone.

Memento mori was never only about death. It was about noticing you are alive. That is the part most people miss, and it is why these rings were made as objects to be worn every day rather than kept for funerals. If you want the full history, we wrote what memento mori actually means and why it ended up in jewelry.

Because this ring is Made to Order, it is available in every ring size and the gemstone is personisable. The versions shown wear garnet, amethyst and a deep olive green stone, and they read as three different rings. Garnet is blood-dark and romantic and the most historically correct of the three. Amethyst goes purple and softer, more whimsygoth than mourning. Olive green pulls the whole thing toward moss and overgrown graves. There is no wrong answer.

People buy this one as an engagement ring more often than you might expect, and we are entirely in favour. Engagement rings without rules covers why the diamond solitaire expectation is younger and flimsier than most people assume. If you want to know how a wide, detailed ring like this will sit on your hand before you pick a size, which type of ring suits your hand and finger type is the practical guide.

Made in our own atelier in the Netherlands, in real recycled 925 sterling silver. No plating, no filled, no vermeil. The honest breakdown of what those words mean is in solid gold vs gold filled vs vermeil vs gold plated.

Perfect for lovers of memento mori jewelry, gothic rings, skull rings, alternative engagement rings, cemetery symbolism, Renaissance and Victorian mourning jewelry and witchy sterling silver rings.

Creation Details

Jewelry Type: Ring
Availability: Made to Order
Collection: Curiosity Cabinet
Brand: Atelier Wolfstone
Material: Recycled 925 Sterling Silver
Gemstone(s): Oval faceted, personisable. Shown in garnet, amethyst and olive green zirconia (synthetic). Alternative gemstone options available.

Weight: Varies with ring size and stone. 4.56 g at size 17 with amethyst. 5.25 g at size 18 with olive green zirconia. 5.95 g at size 19 with garnet.
Size: All sizes available (see our size guide)
Sizing: Fully size inclusive. Every made to order ring is made to your size.
Personalisation: Available for gemstone choice and ring size.

Production Time: 8 to 12 weeks

This is a Made to Order creation. Each piece is crafted specifically for its future wearer. If you would like to learn more about the process behind our made to order jewelry, please visit our Made to Order blog post.

Crafted using in-house digital and traditional techniques: 3D designing, 3D printing, casting, sawing, shaping, soldering, stone setting, engraving, blackening and polishing.

Every skull, bone and leaf is finished by hand. The blackening is worked into the recesses and then polished back off the raised surfaces, which is the only way to get sockets that read as sockets at this scale, and every prong is closed over the stone at the bench by us.

Style & Wear

A serious gothic statement ring for memento mori, cemetery and skull-loving baddies, and a genuinely good alternative engagement ring.

She is detailed rather than tall, so she reads as substantial without standing far off the finger. The shank narrows toward the back, which makes her comfortable for all-day wear despite how much is going on at the front. She stacks well with a plain band, and she looks best in real light where the blackened detail has something to catch.

Garnet is the historically correct choice and the darkest. Amethyst softens her and pulls her whimsygoth. Olive green is the mossiest and the most overgrown-graveyard of the three.

Perfect for a proposal that was never going to involve a diamond, a memorial you wear rather than visit, a market you got dressed up for, and any day that could use a reminder that you are still here.

Practical Notes

• Images are unedited and photographed in a light box and only lightly enhanced to adjust the lighting.
• Model pictures can be edited.
• Colors may vary slightly in real life.
• 6 months warranty starting from the day of delivery.
• Warranty covers defects in workmanship.
• This warranty is in addition to your statutory rights under EU consumer law.
• Always check gemstone hardness and physical properties to see if this gemstone suits you.
• Prices include 21 percent VAT.

Safety, Care & Documentation

For EU GSPR compliance, safety regulations and technical documentation, please visit:
Product Safety
Technical Documentation & Upkeep
Terms and Conditions
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Order Cancellation
Our Full AI Usage Policy

For warranty details, safe usage, sizing guidance and care instructions, visit our More page or our FAQ page. Each order includes a jewelry upkeep document so your creation can last for ages.

Questions & Answers

What does memento mori mean?
It is Latin for remember you must die. It sounds grim and it was never meant to be. The point was always the other side of it: remember that you are, right now, alive. That is why these were made as everyday jewelry rather than funeral objects.

Why are there skulls and leaves on the same ring?
Because that is how they were actually made. As the Renaissance loosened the church's grip on knowledge, people started studying the world directly, plants and anatomy and decay all at once. Jewelry followed. Botanical and skeletal in the same object, growth and rot together. It was never treated as a contradiction.

Is a memento mori ring morbid?
Not historically, and not to the people who wear ours. It is a reminder to pay attention. Plenty of people buy this after a year that nearly took them out, which is about as far from morbid as it gets.

Can this be used as an engagement ring?
Yes, and it is. There is no rule requiring a diamond solitaire, and that expectation is younger than most people assume. If you want the full argument, engagement rings without rules covers it.

Which gemstone should I choose for daily wear?
Honestly, it depends how much you love the stone. Garnet sits around 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale and amethyst at 7, both fine for regular wear, though over decades of daily wear either will pick up fine surface marks that can be repolished. If you want the toughest option we offer, sapphire is a 9. Choose the one you actually want to look at and know what you are choosing.

Is the olive green stone a real gemstone?
It is a synthetic zirconia, and we label it that way on purpose. It is lab-made rather than mined, which is why it costs what it costs. If you want a natural green stone in this setting we can do that instead, so ask us.

What is a garnet?
A natural red gemstone, one of the oldest used in jewelry, and the stone you see most often in genuine antique mourning pieces. Its deep blood-red is exactly right for this design and it is the most historically faithful of the three shown.

Does amethyst fade in sunlight?
It can, over prolonged exposure. Amethyst pales if left in strong direct sun for long periods. This is very slow and normal wear outdoors will not do it, but do not store her on a sunny windowsill.

What ring sizes do you make?
All of them. Every made to order ring is made to your size, so there is no size range to fall outside of and no upcharge at either end.

Will the blackening wear off?
The recessed blackening is very durable because it sits down in the detail where nothing rubs. Raised areas will brighten over years of wear, which most people prefer, because it means the ring develops contrast that belongs to you. We can re-blacken it for you if you ever want it reset.

Will sterling silver tarnish?
Yes, all sterling silver does. Normal reaction to air and skin, not a fault. On this ring a little tarnish genuinely improves things. Your upkeep document explains how to clean her without scrubbing the blackening out of the skulls.

Can this ring be made in gold?
Yes. We work in 14K and 18K as well as sterling silver, and for a ring somebody plans to wear every day for fifty years that conversation is worth having. Message us and we will quote it.

How long does a made to order piece take?
Between 8 and 12 weeks. She is cast, set, blackened and finished specifically for you after you order, by two people, by hand.