Help me find a rotational cipher (aka “secret decoder”) ring

June 11, 2022 6:20 PM

I’m looking for a simple rotational cipher “secret decoder ring”. This would be a piece of jewelry that goes on a finger (as opposed to a flat disk) and has two sets of all the letters of the English alphabet (in alphabetical order), with one or both sets being able to rotate. This is intended as every day jewelry, so not wood or plastic. Stainless steel is a great price point, but I’m willing to spend more money on the right piece of jewelry.

I went to Etsy, expecting to find dozens of stores selling simple rotational cipher rings, and was shocked to find none.

These are very close, but wrong for the following reasons:

1. Fixed rot13 offset. This has the perfect look, but one or both sets of letters should rotate so that it is not a fixed 13 letter offset.

2. One set of letters is not in alphabetical order. (I would have said that money is no object, but then I saw the price tag on this one).

posted by ellenaim to Shopping (9 answers total)

The same shop as the last ring you posted has an alphabetical, spinning, three-row, more expensive ring. I only mention it because it seems there should be no problem with them making an alphabetical two-band one if you contact them and ask.
posted by sardonyx at 7:01 PM on June 11, 2022

There seem to be a lot of this style available in various online shops. Even Lee Valley had them, but sadly they're sold out.
posted by sardonyx at 7:07 PM on June 11, 2022

Looking specifically for "Caesar cipher" might help, though the best one I found was a plastic 3D print.

Maybe Shapeways can do the same one in a nicer material?
posted by clew at 8:15 PM on June 11, 2022

Hm, I found someone willing to do something that meets your needs (Green Lake Jewelry, it's three rings-- with a superfluous number ring-- but the two alphabet rings can be spun against each other) but it's a custom piece and it'd run you more than $3000 per the site to commission another.
posted by peppercorn at 9:03 PM on June 11, 2022

Would it work to get two of the first ring you link to and stack them? Then you could rotate the two “middle” sections against each other.
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 1:38 AM on June 12, 2022

Do any of these at Retroworks fit the bill for you?
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 2:02 AM on June 12, 2022

Personally, I think your best bet, other than to commission a custom piece, is to get 2 alphabetical rings, slightly oversized, and have those transparent "threads" to lock them under the finger (usually used for sizing adjustments).

Rotating rings are easy, as China makes a ton of "fidget spinner" rotating rings, but it seems the only ones on massMarket are the RetroWorks ones, and they don't do a plain Caesar Cipher one.
posted by kschang at 5:02 AM on June 12, 2022

This isn’t super high quality, but seems to be the right type of ring.
posted by suviko at 1:34 PM on June 12, 2022 [1 favorite]

(I am also stunned this doesn't exist, and thus have continued to search.) Another possible approach is to find a double-spinner ring like this and contact the seller/bring it to a third party for engraving.

Or, here's a place that does customized single spinner rings - could stack them or reach out to see if they could do a custom double spinner.
posted by suviko at 2:17 PM on June 12, 2022