Man Onyx Gold Ring?

Q: Does anyone remember if an explanation was ever given about who supposedly gave Barnabas the ring and why it meant so much to him? Joshua says something to the Countess about it during the 1795 storyline, when Josette collapses and they see that she's wearing the ring Joshua knows was buried with his son. I don't remember the details, though. Minor peeve--when they'd move the ring from the right to the left hand for one day so that it would show up better in a close-up. I always thought changing the finger on which you wear such a distinctive piece of jewelry would be like moving your wedding ring to the other hand. Of course on some days the costume people or prop man would forget it altogether, which was worse. I do give extra points for scenes in which I can see that Mr. Frid is wearing his own gold pinkie ring, too.

A: It's not exactly an answer to your question, but the background of the actual prop is quite interesting, so I'll re-tell this tale for the benefit of the newbies. Although the Barnabas ring may have looked very impressive on screen, in reality it was a cheap piece of costume jewellry readily available from the Woolworths chain of stores, with its green stone

painted black to simulate onyx. As they were cheaply bought, they could be easily replaced - something that the ring's flimsy construction frequently called upon. I think I read somewhere it was a class ring from the university in Canada he attended, McMaster. The one where he recently performed his one-man show. That is interesting, thank you. So I guess the replica MPI is selling is probably better made than the original dimestore ring. Didn't fans get carried away at public appearances and pull the ring off Jonathan Frid's finger sometimes, too? It might be fun to know how many rings the prop department had to buy during the run of the show.