Lord of the rings: New jewellery record set in Lahore

Fragrance of Love is acknowledged as world’s largest silver ring by Guinness World Records.

LAHORE: Sick of being called a terrorist nation and being surrounded by negativity, Pakistanis are working hard to make a name for themselves in a positive way and be known for something other than Talibanisation and suicide bombs. A popular route to this seems to be setting and breaking records; first it was 19 girls in a car, then Pakistani wrestler Munir Ahmed managed to complete 2,503 push ups in one hour and 25 minutes and now the world’s largest ring has been made by a Pakistani goldsmith.

Fragrance of Love which has been acknowledged as the world’s largest silver ring by Guinness World Records will be on display at the Alhamra Art Gallery on Tuesday (today) in Lahore till January 13.

Another ring, the Global Peace Ring, which is the heaviest ring in the world, will also be displayed at the exhibition. Both rings have been designed and manufactured by Lahore-based goldsmith, Amin Saleem and his team.

Saleem who runs a jewellery company in Lahore told The Express Tribune that he first attempted to break the record for the world’s largest ring with the Global Peace Ring. The ring took 577 days to make and was completed in 2009, however, it did not fulfil the specifications set by Guinness World Records, “The Global Peace Ring weighs 74.66 kilogrammes (kg) which makes it the heaviest ring in the world, but we used gold, pearls and silver to make this while Guinness World Record officials asked us to make the largest ring using only one metal,” said Saleem.

Saleem said that although the Global Peace Ring was not accepted by Guinness Worlds Records, it paved the way for the making of the world’s largest silver ring. “The Global Peace Ring is unique in many ways and is our token of love and peace for the entire world. It has 210 flags drawn on its surface which are an indication of global unity and integrity.”

“When the Global Peace Ring wasn’t included in the Guinness Book of Worlds Records, I decided to make another ring which I have called Fragrance of Love. This time I made sure to get the exact specifications from the officials at Guinness World Records to ensure that this ring finds a place in the book . Fragrance of Love is made of 97.83 per cent pure silver, it weights 71.68 kg and its diameter is 85 centimetres (cm) wide. The ring has been made manually without the help of machines and took 70 days of rigorous work to complete.

The team who made the ring consists of Saleem himself, Salahuddin, Imran Saleem, Faisal Ashfq, Waseem Muhammad Ali, Qamar Siddique, Kaleem Saleem, Awais Hafeez and Azeem Saleem. Saleem has received a letter from Guinness World Records acknowledging him and his company for making the world’s largest ring.

Saleem said that when he began working on the ring, it seemed like a very daunting task but regardless he forged ahead. “This ring was a dream of my late father and we want the world to know that Pakistanis are very talented and creative,” he said.  He added that it cost approximately $40,000 to make this ring.

Saleem said that he organised this exhibition to display the two rings and to show that anything is possible if one works with devotion and hard work. “I would like to take these rings to other countries to show that Pakistanis can do wonderful things,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2011.