Does a Heisman Trophy Ring Qualify As a "Real" Championship Ring?
 

Does a Heisman Trophy Ring Qualify As a "Real" Championship Ring?

This is a tough call but in my book, no this is not a legitimate "Championship Ring", here's why: (and it has nothing to do with the design of the ring)

First off, I am not implying that the ring shown above, or any of the Heisman Trophy rings (including the one selling on ebay this week) are fakes or replicas.

Like the Heisman trophy itself, the rings are made by the Herff Jones company. The ring is made of 14K solid yellow gold and contains an assortment of real diamonds.

What I am stating, in my opinion, is that the Heisman Trophy, championship style rings, are not really championship rings and the strongest reason I have is that the majority of these rings were made and given to award winners decades after they won their award. I forget the exact year the rings were designed and created, but I believe it’s been during the last two decades.

The Downtown Athletic Club of New York, has been awarding the Heisman trophy since 1935. When they started to award rings along with one of the most iconic trophies in all of sports, they retroactively made and distributed rings to all the previous winners. If the player had already passed, the ring was given to their family.

Another reason I don’t believe these rings should be considered championship rings, is that players don’t covert the ring. The trophy is amazing (the player gets one and their school gets one). Besides the trophy, there is tremendous prestige in being named the best college player in the country. Can you recall who was the NFL most valuable player 10 years ago? Probably not, but you probably can name the Heisman trophy award winner though. Unlike a Super Bowl ring or a World Series ring, the Heisman Trophy ring is an afterthought.

So, in my opinion no, a Heisman Trophy ring is not a true championship ring, but perhaps other collectors and championship ring enthusiasts see things differently.

What do the net54 members think?

Interesting question. A few months ago, I had lunch with a hall of famer. He wasn't wearing his World Series rings but was wearing his HOF ring. Does that count? What about All-Star rings?

Hall of Fame / Replacements / 1955
 

The Baseball Hall of Fame also retroactively created Hall of Fame rings but many of these rings sell without mention of that (though the newer ones are created using the same mold). Sometimes lost rings of players and staff are replaced with new rings from the same mold years or even decades later. Tommy Lasorda and Vin Scully received 1955 rings decades later. Since this happens often, maybe there should be language used in the hobby to state that they are replacements or later creations.

I agree 100%

Some auction houses do point out that rings are redone, other auction houses bury their head in the sand and refuse to modify a listing no matter what evidence if offered to them.

In their defense, sometimes, the auction house has no idea a ring was made , as the consignors don't tell them all the details and auction houses are certainly not ring experts. And in fairness to them, they can't be an expert in everything.

And also, the cosigners of the rings sometimes have no idea a ring is not original. Ball players such as Whitey Ford and Cliff Johnson were well known to have extra copies made and then would sell them directly to collectors.