What's in Your Jewelry Box?
What jewelry is a part of you? These are the pieces that are so special you rarely wear them. Or you wear them every day. Take a peek inside other jewelry boxes and see their forever pieces sparkle, hear their stories, hold them close.
Favorite heirloom pieces embodying romance, friendship, and nostalgia
I became a jewelry person later in life. Growing up, we didn’t have much money and the women in my family weren’t exactly dripping in diamonds. But the few pieces my mother and grandmother possessed were simple, elegant and told a story.
Every now and then, my mom would open the top drawer of her French Provincial dresser and show me her engagement ring: a platinum solitaire with an accompanying flower-shaped enhancer. She would muse about how she and my dad met at a Tito Puente concert in New York in the late ’60s, before he went off to serve in the army.
Similarly, my grandma would pull out from her powder-blue jewelry box a pair of gold earrings my grandfather had given her during their courtship, or her wedding band with its missing baguette, and recount how her beloved had saved several months’ worth of paychecks to purchase each of them. They were stories of love, patience and sacrifice, and forever seared in my brain the concept that jewelry and memories are forever entwined.
As I got older, I began collecting pieces that spoke to me—such as the chunky silver ring I bought myself during a crafts fair along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue—and treasured sparkly, meaningful gifts from people I loved. These days, I’m thinking more about the heirlooms I’ll leave my children someday, and how they will hopefully weave their way through subsequent generations like family folklore.
A Familiar Ring
When my husband and I were planning our wedding, I wanted nothing more than to use my mother’s ring as my band. I had grown up admiring my parents’ matching bands from 1967, his thin and hers fashionably thick, both featuring a refined Greek leaf-scroll pattern. Alas, even my size-five finger couldn’t squeeze into my mom’s exceptionally tiny ring, so I brought the band to a jeweler who produced a replica for my own nuptials. My daughter’s finger and mine are roughly the same size, so hopefully one day we won’t end up with a second clone of this platinum stunner.
Out of the Blue
I have to admit, my husband has great taste when it comes to bling. The first “real jewelry” gift I received from him was a sterling Tiffany & Co. Heart Tag Toggle Bracelet, which he presented to me over dinner one night when we were both in our twenties, living paycheck by paycheck in New York. Fast forward a decade, to the birth of our second child, and he surprised me with this gorgeous push present, a sapphire and diamond bracelet he had purchased during a business trip to Jaipur, India (known as the Pink City of Rajasthan). I feel very fancy when I wear this on my wrist and always receive compliments.
All Heart
This sterling silver pendant was a birthday present from one of my oldest and dearest gal pals. A jewelry connoisseur herself, she told me at the time that this gift marked three decades and counting of our friendship, which dates back to kindergarten but really took off when we started walking to middle school together every morning. The Paloma Picasso Crown of Hearts medallion necklace from Tiffany & Co. is something I wear frequently. It goes with so many outfits and is just big enough to make a statement without overpowering my petite frame.
In Like a Lion
It feels like yesterday that my grandma “Nanny” and I popped into a jewelry store during a shopping trip together in the ’80s. It was a windy day in March, just before my twelfth birthday, and she said she wanted to buy me a piece of “grown up” jewelry to mark the occasion. I remember trying on several birthstone rings before honing in on this one, a 14K teardrop silhouette featuring an aquamarine gemstone. Needless to say, I did feel very mature that day. Now and then, I pull the ring out of my jewelry drawer, slip it on my finger (yes, it still fits), and think of Nanny, the most generous and loving woman I have ever known.
In the Name of Fashion
Sure, the “Carrie” has become cliché as the writer’s pendant of choice, but hey, what’s a budding young journalist to do when she’s simultaneously addicted to a little show called Sex and the City and working in the same crazy New York fashion world? It actually took me several years to get around to buying this “Maryann” necklace, but I finally made it mine. It reminds me of the years I toiled twelve hours a day at a cutthroat publishing house, running around town in stilettos, going from fashion show to designer-hosted dinner to Met Gala...and how much more I enjoy working from home in my fuzzy slippers these days. Sometimes nostalgia works in reverse.
Editor: Samantha Durbin
Wordsmith: Maryann LoRusso
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