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There Sauron took the Nine Rings and other lesser works of the Mirdain; but the Seven and the Three he could not find. Then Celebrimbor was put to torment, and Sauron learned from him where the Seven were bestowed. This Celebrimbor revealed, because neither the Seven nor the Nine did he value as he valued the Three; the Seven and the Nine were made with Sauron's aid, whereas the Three were made by Celebrimbor alone, with a different power and purpose. [It is not actually said here that Sauron at this time took posession of the Seven Rings, though the implication seems clear that he did so. In Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings it is said that there was a belief among the Dwarves of Durin's Folk that the Ring of Durin III, King of Khazad-dum, was given to him by the Elven-smiths themselves, and not by Sauron; but nothing is said inthe present text about the way in which the Seven Rings came into the possession of the Dwarves.] <-- Part in [] is commentary by Christopher Tolkien. -Unfinished Tales
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UT is absolutly the least canon of all the published works. It was CT's first publication of some of Tolkien's notes and he himself has stated that he missed a lot of important notes of his fathers when compiling it. That being said. I would be willing to stand my logic on the situation up against any quote from UT. That logic being that the Elves were unlikely to create Seven rings of power to give away to Dwarves so that the dwarves would get richer.
The idea that Durin III was given his ring by the Elven-smiths is equally likely and unlikely, but in either case, nothing can be infered from it. Durin III was the king of Kazad-dum and was especially friendly with Elves for a dwarf. It was under his rule I believe that the West Gate to Hollin was built. He could have recieved a ring from the Elves and this wouldn't imply anything about the purpose of the Seven or the Elven intentions when making them, only that they felt Durin III was worthy of having one.
I'll also comment that in other writings it is implied that Sauron was upset that the Dwarves could not be conqured by the rings. This clearly indicates that it was HIS purpose that the Dwarves should have the rings. I would go on to suggest that if the rings were made for the Dwarves, the Dwarves would have already recieved them from the Elves and not from Sauron. But I concede, this is all my personally musings, though founded on texts and logic they be.
[ April 14, 2002: Message edited by: Mhoram ]