In which The New York Times speaks about the rings my friend Andrew and his fiance made:

Some people bring their own metal. Christopher Michaud, 34, a product strategist at Huge, a digital agency in Brooklyn, and his fiancé sawed in half a South African Krugerrand, a gold coin and a family heirloom, as the raw material. The rings, made with Mr. Abbay for roughly $2,000, cost less than the thick platinum bands from Tiffany’s that they had first considered for about $4,000.

“There’s always a double take when we say, ‘We made the rings,’ ” said Mr. Michaud, who recently proposed to Andrew Cohen, 33, a lawyer. “They say, ‘Ohhhh, who made the rings?’ and we say, ‘No, we made the rings with fire,’ ” he said.

His band — white-gold outside and the Krugerrand crown gold on the inside — has a clue about its pedigree. A tiny line where Mr. Cohen fused the ends together is visible, but like so many in love, Mr. Michaud sees imperfection with rose-colored glasses. “I kind of love it,” he said, “because it reminds me of when we made it.”