Spoon rings date back as far as the 1600s in England and were originally thought to represent love, responsibility and commitment. As the story goes, servants who had fallen in love and wanted to propose marriage would steal silver spoons from their masters' homes and have them crafted into rings. They were too poor to afford any sort of "real" engagement ring, so this was their best alternative to offering a beautiful and valuable ring to the woman they wanted to make their wife.