Legend has it that is it very unlucky to lose an engagement ring.  If you lose your engagement ring it is said this action predicts the ending of your marriage.

Ever wonder why contemporary engagement rings usually are set with diamonds?  Besides being extremely valuable, the diamond has favorable properties in myths and legends.  For the couple being married the most important is that of the diamond being said to bring loyalty and fidelity.

Also, diamonds are said to be aids to intuition.  This leads into the myth that as a man places the engagement ring on a woman's finger, the potential bride will instinctively know if this is the man for her.

Incidentally, wearing a diamond is said to bring self confidence when dealing with the opposite sex.  Many single women wear diamond rings on their right hand.

The first engagement rings were not set with gemstones.  They consisted of love knots in gold or silver that quite often could be separated.  A part was then given to the potential bride and groom at the betrothal ceremony.  The two parts of the whole were then reunited on the wedding day.

And finally, when the birthstone of the bride is precious, such as Emerald, Ruby or Sapphire it is considered good luck for the marriage to also set the bride's birthstone on the engagement ring as accent stones to the diamond.

In recent years more and more couples are doing the reverse of this by using diamonds as accents to the bride's birthstone which is used as the dominate gemstone in the ring.  One famous example - the engagement ring of the late Diana, Princess of Wales.