You won’t typically find a lot of jewelry at Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art, devoted as it is to the art of cutting, carving and polishing stone, but a winning exception has been made for its current featured exhibit.
“Chicago’s Championship Rings,” running through April 19 in the Elmhurst museum, is a collection of team rings from all 11 Chicago sports championships won during the past 54 years.
Blackhawks center Stan Mikita’s 1961 Stanley Cup ring is the earliest ring in the exhibit. Bears star Walter Payton’s 1985 Super Bowl ring is also included, along with six Bulls rings from the 1990s, a White Sox 2005 World Series ring and rings from the Blackhawks 2010 and 2013 championships.The only team missing of course is the Chicago Cubs.
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Lizzadro Executive Director Dorothy Asher said she was inspired to create the exhibit after reading an article in a gem trade magazine about Super Bowl rings created by master jewelry designers. Though the Lizzadro Museum primarily displays carved and polished stone, much of it from the collection of museum founder Joe Lizzadro, the diamonds, rubies and sapphires used in the rings make them fair game.
“I didn’t realize how many gems were used in those rings,” Asher said. “Or how detailed and decorative they were.”
Most of the rings were created by Jostens, the country’s largest producers of class rings. However, many of them originated with original designs submitted by the winning teams. Martyl Reinsdorf, for example, wife of White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, designed all six Bulls rings and the 2005 Sox World Series ring.
“The exhibit gives you an idea of how championship ring design has developed over the past 50 years,” Asher said. “The 1961 [Blackhawks] ring is very small and simple, almost like a class ring. But through the ’80s,’90s and 2000s, they become more and more elaborate and much larger in size.”
The rings are on loan from the Walter & Connie Payton Foundation, the Stan Mikita Family, Charles H. Walsh, Jr., a member of the board of the Chicago White Sox, and Joe O’Neil, senior director of ticket operations for the Bulls.
“I was amazed at how much symbolism is engraved on the rings — playoff records, miniature trophies, sayings,” Asher said. “Each one is unique.”
‘Chicago’s Championship Rings’
Through April 19
Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art, 220 Cottage Hill, Elmhurst.
Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, $3 for students and teens; (630) 833-1616; http://www.lizzadromuseum.org