In 1839, Prince Albert gave Queen Victoria an engagement ring shaped as a snake, its head set with an emerald, her birthstone, its body coiled into an unbroken circle. The Romans had read the same shape as eternal love long before him, and Victoria's engagement made it fashionable across an entire century. I think about this every time someone tells me snake jewellery is "having a moment." It has been having a moment since before electricity.

What follows is twelve pieces worth knowing, not twelve pieces worth buying in sequence: a mix of the icon, the antique, the London studio doing it properly for not very much money, and one auction result that proves the motif still commands real sums when the piece is right. Ranked, as always, by how hard I'd defend the purchase to my bank.

In Brief: the snake motif runs continuously from ancient Egypt through Victorian England to Bulgari's Serpenti, launched in 1948 and still the modern benchmark. An antique Victorian ring from a Hatton Garden specialist is the most historically honest buy; Bulgari's Serpenti Viper is the modern icon, from roughly £2,120 for a ring; a London studio such as Louise Wade makes a hand-carved, hallmarked serpent ring from £105 in silver, or £950 in 9ct solid gold. The motif still performs at auction: a two-headed snake ring sold for £130,000 at Tennants in March 2023, more than fifty times its mid-estimate.

Where the motif actually comes from

The ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail, is ancient Egyptian in origin and meant eternity and renewal; the Romans separately read an entwined snake as a symbol of everlasting love. Both readings survived into the nineteenth century, and it was Victoria's 1839 ring, more than any single factor, that triggered what jewellery historians call a genuine snake-mania across Victorian England: coiled snakes turned up on brooches, bracelets, earrings and rings, in gold, turquoise and jet, worn for romance and for mourning in roughly equal measure, since the ouroboros suited a grave as easily as a wedding.

The twelve, in order of how hard I'd defend the purchase

1. The one that started it

Queen Victoria's own ring isn't for sale, and that's rather the point of starting here: everything on this list descends from a single piece of jewellery, given by a besotted prince, that a sovereign wore to her own engagement.

Verdict: not buyable, essential to know.

2. The one you can actually own from the era

A genuine Victorian or Georgian snake ring, bought from a specialist such as Berganza at Hatton Garden, is the most historically honest way into this motif: gold, often turquoise-eyed (turquoise meant "forget me not" to the Victorians, which is why so many snake pieces carry it), and a real object from the century that made the shape famous. Grays on Davies Street is the other reliable London source for the same category. Expect anywhere from a few hundred pounds for a simple gold band to several thousand for a fine, gem-set example.

Verdict: worth the mortgage payment, and the piece I'd buy first.

3. The modern icon

Bulgari's Serpenti line, launched in 1948 and drawing on the house's own Greco-Roman heritage, is the motif's current benchmark, and the Serpenti Viper ring is its most wearable form: a flexible, scaled gold coil that wraps the finger instead of sitting on it. UK prices for the gold Viper ring run from roughly £2,120 for a single plain coil to £3,630 for the larger and pavé versions, with earrings from around £3,050. (For the house itself, see our history of Bulgari.)

Verdict: worth the mortgage payment, if the icon is specifically what you want.

4. The modern icon, around the neck

The Serpenti Viper necklace is the same coiled language scaled up, at roughly £5,000 to £8,900 in the UK depending on metal and diamonds. It's the version that photographs best and costs accordingly; the ring does the same job for well under half the price.

Verdict: worth it only if the neckline is the point.

5. The French rival

Boucheron's Serpent Bohème, launched in 1968 and tracing back to a snake necklace the house's founder, Frédéric Boucheron, gave his wife in 1888, is Bulgari's most serious competitor for the motif: pavé-set gold drops shaped like a snake's hood, sold as single charms that stack along a chain or ring. UK prices for an S-motif ring start around £2,120.

Verdict: worth the mortgage payment, and the better pick if you want to collect instead of wearing one statement piece.

6. The London heritage answer

Garrard's Muse collection, inspired by Queen Alexandra, has a Signature Serpent line that nods to the snake bracelet she wore curled around her wrist; it's the house's answer to Bulgari from inside London instead of Rome. These run into five figures, around £14,500 and up for a sapphire- and diamond-set ring, and are worth knowing about even if you never buy one, because they're the clearest thread connecting the royal history above to a British maker still working the same motif today. (More on the house in our Garrard history.)

Verdict: worth the mortgage payment, for the history as much as the gold.

7. The London studio doing it properly for not very much money

Louise Wade makes a hand-carved Serpent Ring to order in her London studio, hallmarked at the London Assay Office: £105 in recycled sterling silver, £165 in 14ct gold vermeil and £950 in 9ct solid gold, with emerald eyes for £75 more, a nod to Victoria's ring. This is the entry point I'd actually point a first-time buyer towards: a real, hallmarked, London-made object at a price that doesn't require agonising. For what that hallmark actually guarantees, our guide to UK hallmarks is worth a read before any gold or silver purchase, antique or new.

Verdict: worth the mortgage payment, and the best value on this entire list.

8. The everyday entry point

Astrid & Miyu's Essential Snake Chain Bracelet, from the brand's King's Cross studio, is demi-fine, not fine, £85 in gold or silver, and the easiest way to wear the motif as a bracelet without committing to a ring. (We compare the brand with its peers in our Astrid & Miyu, Daisy London and Otiumberg guide.)

Verdict: worth it, as a starting point, not an heirloom.

9. The earring nobody mentions

Most snake jewellery conversations are about rings and bracelets, which leaves Astrid & Miyu's Snake Piercing Stud oddly underrated: a tiny solid gold snake, £190 for a single stud in yellow or white gold, made for a helix or conch piercing and the easiest way to wear the motif daily without anyone clocking it as a trend piece.

Verdict: worth it.

10. The solid-gold step up

Missoma's Solid Gold Square Snake Chain Bracelet, at £475, sits between the demi-fine entries above and the fine jewellery below: genuine gold, not plating, at a price a long way under Bulgari or Boucheron.

Verdict: worth the mortgage payment, as the sensible middle option.

11. The one that proves the motif still has teeth

In March 2023, a gold crossover ring modelled as a two-headed snake, one head set with a rare pear-cut fancy greyish-blue diamond and the other with a colourless one, sold for £130,000 at Tennants Auctioneers, more than fifty times its mid-estimate. I mention it not because anyone reading this is bidding at that level, but because it's the clearest evidence that this motif, sentimental and two centuries old as it is, still moves real money at auction when the piece is genuinely rare. Specialist jewellery auctions, and dealers such as Grays, are where that kind of piece actually surfaces. Our guide to how to sell your jewellery covers the same auction routes from the other side, if a piece like this is what you're hoping to find out you own.

Verdict: not buyable by most of us, worth knowing exists.

12. The one worn as armour

Tubogas, the technique Bulgari adopted in the 1940s and built into the Serpenti line, makes a flexible metal tube from tightly wound gold strips, the engineering that lets a Serpenti bracelet coil smoothly around the wrist like an actual snake instead of sitting rigid. It's less a single product than a piece of goldsmithing worth knowing about on its own terms, since it's the technical reason Bulgari's snakes move the way they do, and the reason vintage Tubogas pieces hold their own value at auction and through specialist dealers.

Verdict: worth knowing, whether or not you ever buy one.

Quick Reference

PieceMakerRoughlyVerdict
1839 engagement ringPrince Albert, for Queen VictoriaNot for saleEssential history
Antique Victorian ringBerganza / Grays£300–£5,000+Worth the mortgage payment
Serpenti Viper ringBulgari£2,120–£3,630Worth it for the icon
Serpenti Viper necklaceBulgari£5,000–£8,900Worth it for the neckline
Serpent Bohème ringBoucheronFrom ~£2,120Worth it to collect
Signature SerpentGarrardFive figuresWorth it for the history
Serpent RingLouise WadeFrom £105 (silver), £950 (9ct gold)Best value on the list
Essential Snake Chain BraceletAstrid & Miyu£85Worth it as a start
Snake Piercing StudAstrid & Miyu£190 (single, solid gold)Worth it
Solid Gold Square Snake Chain BraceletMissoma£475Worth it, the middle option
Two-headed snake ring (sold)Tennants Auctioneers, March 2023£130,000Not buyable, worth knowing
Tubogas techniqueBulgariVaries, archive/vintageWorth knowing

Worth it?

Start at the London studio, not the flagship. Louise Wade's £105 serpent ring and a genuine Victorian antique from Hatton Garden will teach you more about why this motif has lasted two centuries than a Bond Street window ever will, and either one earns its place on your hand before you've spent a fraction of what Bulgari or Garrard would ask. The icon is still worth knowing, and worth wanting; it just isn't where I'd start.

FAQ

What does snake jewellery actually symbolise?

Across most of its history, renewal and eternal love, not anything sinister: the ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail, meant eternity and the cyclical nature of life to the ancient Egyptians, while the Romans read an entwined snake as everlasting love. Queen Victoria's 1839 engagement ring from Prince Albert, with an emerald-set head, made the romantic reading fashionable across Victorian England.

Why did Bulgari choose the snake as its signature motif?

Bulgari launched its Serpenti collection in 1948, drawing on the house founders' Greco-Roman heritage, and used the Tubogas technique, which it adopted in the 1940s, to let gold coil and flex like a real snake around the wrist. The collection has remained the house's signature motif since.

Is antique snake jewellery a good investment?

It can hold value well, particularly fine examples with good provenance; a two-headed snake ring sold for £130,000 at Tennants Auctioneers in March 2023, more than fifty times its mid-estimate. Most antique snake rings sell for far less, typically a few hundred to a few thousand pounds, and buying from a specialist dealer such as Berganza or Grays is the safer route to a genuine piece.

Where can I buy snake jewellery that isn't expensive?

London studios and demi-fine brands make genuine, well-made versions at accessible prices: Louise Wade's hand-carved Serpent Ring starts at £105 in hallmarked sterling silver, and Astrid & Miyu's Essential Snake Chain Bracelet is £85 in gold or silver.

What's the difference between Bulgari's Serpenti and Boucheron's Serpent Bohème?

Both are heritage houses' signature snake collections, but the designs differ: Bulgari's Serpenti Viper coils the whole snake around the finger or wrist as a flexible scaled band, while Boucheron's Serpent Bohème uses a single hooded snake-head motif as a pendant drop or charm, often stacked or layered instead of coiled.

Sources: Kalmar Antiques; Odette Lopez on serpentine symbolism; Monica Rich Kosann; Alex Cooper; Berganza; Bulgari UK; Boucheron UK and US; Garrard; Katerina Perez; Louise Wade; Astrid & Miyu; Missoma; Tennants Auctioneers, accessed September-October 2026. Prices are as listed and will change.