A RING ON HER FINGER

CATEGORY: MRS. ANDERSON
PHOTO: 1) THE RING ON HER FINGER
2) THE RING

Bob wanted to make my wedding ring.  Because I have long fingers, I wanted a wide gold band.  Plain gold would have suited me, but Bob had other ideas.  An architecture student I knew who was taking  jewelry class drilled a hole the size of my finger in a small block of wax that was the width of the intended ring .   Bob carved the ring out of the wax, and then took it to a Portland jeweler and had it cast in gold.

The Symbolism of the Ring:  In its center is the sun with the moon in its forehead.  The sun’s rays are the teeth of two “critters”–Bob and me–one on each side–who are biting into the sun.  Behind the one that is Bob are waves because Bob loves the sea.  Behind the one that is me are leaves because I love the land.  In the back of the ring the waves are lapping on the leaves.  The “critters” are very strange looking.  They are a combination of Northwest Indian Art, of which Bob was an aficionado, and of pure Bob Anderson whimsy.

About a month after we were married, we were walking along a Portland sidewalk and Bob said, “Here is the jewelry store where I had your ring cast.”  Before he had finished his sentence, we saw my ring in the window.  Bob almost turned purple.  He stormed into the store.  The jeweler was a small, slight man on the order of Donald Meek.  At Bob’s onslaught, he immediately took the ring out of the window and apologized for re-casting it.  After we left the store, I suggested to Bob that he go back and demand that “Meek” give it to him and ask for the plaster casting too.  But Bob just shrugged and said.  “He’ll probably just keep making them and send them to some jeweler in southern California.”