In a relief engraving, the motif is worked out from the stone plastically; this technique is very time-consuming. A coat of arms in relief engraving, set in a ring, is a very noble form to carry his coat of arms, but is not sealable. Stones for this type of engraving must have a minimum size.

With a relief engraved ring the coat of arms looks positively (left-looking) into the stone. The classical signet ring is engraved with a mirror-inverted (right-looking) coat of arms plastically deepened. The coat of arms in relief engraving is always carried left-looking.