How Much Gold Is In a Super Bowl Ring?
Later today, fans in Philadelphia and New England will be hoping their respective football teams strike gold in Super Bowl LII.
The Roman numerals "LII" indicate it's the 52nd iteration of the National Football League's yearly contest to crown a new champion.
Have you ever wondered: How much precious metal goes into a Super Bowl ring?
It turns out the answer is probably close to what you would expect.
Championship Rings Are a Super Bowl Tradition
When head coach Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers won the inaugural Super Bowl held in January 1967, the team borrowed a tradition that began in baseball in 1927 by distributing rings to all of the players.
The squad that becomes NFL champion now receives up to 150 rings. This covers the coaching staff and management in addition to the 53-man roster of players.
Those first championship rings featured just a single one-carat diamond. By comparison, last year's Super Bowl ring was decked out with 283 diamonds—commemorating New England's improbable comeback victory from a 28-3 deficit.
The jeweler with the most experience in producing Super Bowl rings, a firm based in Minnesota called Jostens, confirms that diamonds and gold are most often used for the rings.
Interestingly, in some instances, another precious metal is also used: platinum.
Image courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection via FlickrEvery Team's Super Bowl Ring Must Meet NFL Restrictions
Each winning team is free to design its own Super Bowl ring. Sometimes this process can take as long as four months!
Nonetheless, there are certain guidelines that each design must follow. If the ring commemorates the first Super Bowl championship in a franchise's history, it cannot include a diamond larger than 1.5 carats.
If a team has won multiple titles within a span of five years, its Super Bowl ring is allowed to be more opulent.
According to Time magazine, it's also a rule that the ring must contain 10-karat (41.67% pure) gold. This is certainly considered "jewelry-grade" and is nowhere close to the .999 fine (99.9% pure) gold used for most modern bullion coins.
While a Super Bowl ring is undoubtedly a commemorative piece of sports memorabilia, its gemstones and precious metals can add up in value.
Some of these rings could fetch $50,000 or more at auction. Others have been rumored to be worth $30,000 in intrinsic value alone.
No matter who wins tonight's game between the Eagles and Patriots, you can bet that there will be plenty of bling to go around.
The opinions and forecasts herein are provided solely for informational purposes, and should not be used or construed as an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to buy or sell any product.
Everett Millman
Everett has been the head content writer and market analyst at Gainesville Coins since 2013. He has a background in History and is deeply interested in how gold and silver have historically fit into the financial system.
In addition to blogging, Everett's work has been featured in Reuters, CNN Business, Bloomberg Radio, TD Ameritrade Network, CoinWeek, and has been referenced by the Washington Post.