In the British-American tradition, an engagement ring is a ring worn by a woman on her left-hand ring finger indicating her engagement to be married. By modern convention, the ring is usually presented as a betrothal gift by a man to his prospective bride while or directly after she accepts his marriage proposal. It represents a formal agreement to future marriage. Similar traditions purportedly date to classical times, dating back from an early usage reportedly referring to the fourth finger of the left hand as containing the vena amoris or "vein of love". In the United States today, it is becoming more common, but still quite rare, that a woman will also buy an engagement or promise ring for her partner at the time of the engagement. In Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Germany, both the man and the woman wear engagement rings. However, in these countries the man's engagement ring is often used as the Wedding ring. (In Germany often the engagement rings for both partners are plain gold or platinum bands, worn on the left hand, which are then moved to the right hand and used as the wedding bands once they get married.) The female usually gets a diamond wedding ring, priced usually around 500-2000 dollars. Nowadays even some men wear two rings, but this is still rare. In Western societies the 'recommended' cost of an engagement ring has ranged from two weeks to the early 21st century norm of one month to as much as three months of the man's wages; although the source of these recommendations is often the jewelry industry, the recommendations have nevertheless found their way into general usage. In the United States, de Beers and some jewelry merchants have promoted a general guideline of two or three months' pay. A spokesperson from Tiffany’s Australia, quoted on the television program A Current Affair (February 1, 2005), suggested that a man should spend two to three month's salary on an engagement ring. Hope I Helped!

History The inception of the engagement ring itself can be tied to the Fourth Lateran Council presided over by Pope Innocent III in 1215. Innocent declared a longer waiting period between betrothal and marriage; plain rings of gold, silver or iron were used earliest. Gems were more than baubles; they were important and reassuring status symbols to the aristocracy. Laws were passed to preserve a visible division of social rank, ensuring only the privileged wore florid jewels. As time passed and laws relaxed, diamonds and other gems became available to the middle class. At one time, engagement rings mounted sets of stones. One traditional sentimental pattern mounted six to celebrate the joining of two families: The birthstones of the bride's parents and the bride (on the left), and the birth stones of the groom and his parents (on the right). The parents' stones were mounted with the mother to the left of the father. The bride and groom's birthstones would be adjacent in the center. Another similar pattern, for four stones, mounted the birthstone of the parents' marriages, and the birthstones of the bride and groom. These token rings often disassembled, to expose a channel in which a lock of the suitor's hair could be treasured. The first recorded diamond engagement ring was presented by the Archduke Maximillian of Austria to Mary of Burgundy as a betrothal gift in 1477. However, the diamond engagement ring did not become the standard it is considered today until after an extensive marketing campaign by De Beers in the middle of the 20th century. A Victorian tradition was the Regards ring, in which the initials of the precious gems used spelled out the word 'regards'. In the early 20th century, the jewelry industry in the United States attempted to start a trend of male engagement rings; going so far as to create a supposed "historical precedent" dating back to medieval times. The attempt failed, although the industry applied lessons learned from this venture in its more successful bid to encourage use of male wedding rings [1] Hope I Helped! For more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engagement_ring