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Los Angeles Lakers

Receive Championship Rings

by special correspondent, Anthony DeMarco

Typically, championship rings tend to look like larger, gaudier, blinged-out versions of high school graduation rings. The Los Angeles Lakers may be setting a new trend in the design of such baubles by allowing a local jewelry designer to create rings that tastefully tell the story of the basketball team’s 2008-2009 championship season and its lauded history in the National Basketball Association.

Jason of Beverly Hills (www.jasonofbh.com) created the rings using a combination of computer-aided design advances, hand-made craftsmanship, and other technologies, such as laser inscription.

“Championship rings were desperately in need of a new and fresh direction. Every ring began to look the same,” says Jason Arasheben, CEO of Jason of Beverly Hills. “We chose a design that reflects the L.A. lifestyle, which is bigger and flashier while maintaining an element of class.”

Arasheben created the design which was approved by the Lakers’ organization.

Each ring is made of a special batch of 15-karat yellow and white gold, which is meant to commemorate the team’s 15 NBA championships. In addition, 14 round brilliant colorless diamonds, representing the fourteen past championships, surround a gold replica of the trophy awarded to the championship team - the trophy, of course, signifying the latest 15th victory. The word Lakers is spelled out in gold in the center of the trophy. The trophy replica lays on a bed of pave diamonds. (The total carat weight of the diamonds - 2.85 cts.). The ring’s profile is designed in the shape of the Staples Center, where the Lakers play their home games.

“I wanted to create something that was completely different than anything else,” Jason Arasheben told the Roskin Gem News Report. “I made it the shape of the Staples Center built into the ring.”

Using laser-inscription technology, each player received a personalized ring with their face and jersey number on one side.

The other side of the ring is inscribed with the Roman numerals XV, again signifying its 15^th championship. The NBA logo appears in the center of the number. Above the roman numerals the numbers 4-1, 4-3, 4-2 are inscribed, which represent their records against the three teams they faced prior to the championship series. Below are the numbers 4-1 which represents its record in the championship series.

The container for the rings, also designed by the jeweler, serves as a true showcase. Each ring is displayed on a rotating platform and the box contains two LED lights that shine on the ring as it rotates.

“A spectacular ring needed to be shown in a way that was equally spectacular and give the ring some justice,” Arasheben told the Roskin Gem News Report.

The Lakers received their rings on Oct. 27, prior to its opening day game in a ceremony that included players from its 14 previous championships as well as the raising of the championship banner.

You can view a video of how the rings were made on the Jason of Beverly Hills blog (www.jbhblog.com)