'I wear it on my middle finger': The rise of the defiant divorce ring

'I wear it on my middle finger': The rise of the defiant divorce ringImage source, AuthenticallyDebImage caption, Deb Marino spent more than £2,000 having her engagement ring reset in a new design after her divorceByLucy HookerBusiness reporterPublishedJust nowShimmering on Deb Marino's finger are diamonds set in an eye-catching gold ring."Of course it's a middle finger ring, because, why not?" the Florida-based blogger says on her Tiktok feed.Getting rid of her engagement ring would have suggested a regret the 34-year-old doesn't feel - after all, her marriage brought her daughter. Even just not wearing it would have felt like a waste."I didn't want it locked away in a box," she says. "Diamonds are precious."Plus she does sometimes feel like sticking one finger up after the break-up of her marriage.Deb is part of a rising trend promoted by jewellers around the world of women marking a new chapter in their life with a new statement piece: the divorce ring.Deb had the diamond from her engagement ring set at one end of an open circle and added a new sapphire to represent her daughter to the other end. It cost $3,000 (£2,245).It's a sizeable sum to part with when divorces can be expensive.Ring resale values tend to be only around 30% of the original price so for many the trend of giving their old jewellery a new life feels a better investment.And Deb's middle finger statement fits right in with what the fashion pages are calling this year's "hot divorcee summer" - a celebration of liberated glamour and a "don't care energy". Divorce rings can also be a way of marking a kind of financial liberation, says Kate Daly, co-founder of Amicable, a UK company offering mediated divorce services."Your whole life gets thrown up in the air," she says. "Your finances are under extreme pressure." If at that point a woman decides to buy a new ring it's a sign th...