Thursday, September 6, 2012

Heirlooms - Old and New

Occasionally we all inherit, or are given, or get something or some things that are too good to use for a variety of seemingly sound but really quite silly reasons-they’re heirlooms or too rare or too expensive or too fragile or too pretty. The result is heirloom linen handed down from generation to generation that falls apart when some benighted heiress decides to air it. While I’m glad that past generations saved some things we now enjoy, we are enjoying them by using them instead of carefully storing them for our kids-in turn to store. Unused beautiful things are a waste.
Malcolm Forbes

Do you have a piece of jewelry that you wear every single day?

Besides my wedding band, I do (or did!)

I am with Malcolm.  I try to use my things.  I take great pleasure in knowing that I am using the things I love and that they are bringing me pleasure, rather than leaving them in the drawer, untouched and unloved! I inherited many things from my mother and father after she died and he was too ill to stay in the house.  They were beautiful things that were used rarely or not at all and I vowed I would not  let them sit idle when they could be enjoyed.

Many years ago, I inherited a sterling silver cuff from my father's mother.  I do not remember this grandmother; she died when I was three years old, but there are pictures of her holding me very tightly which I have always cherished.  I am not sure how many years she had the cuff but my father tells me that she wore it every day until she died, when it was passed along to my aunt.



When my aunt died many years ago, I inherited it from her.  My grandmother's initials are carved on it and it is beautiful.

I decided several years ago that I would wear this bracelet daily.  It has become a bit of my talisman - I feel close to my grandmother when I wear it and I love having a piece of jewelry which is completely unique and meaningful.

But recently, a large fissure began to form in the back part of the cuff.  It is the type of cuff that must be gently loosened and then tightened when you put it on and take it off, and over the years that loosening and tightening has resulted in a fine crack that was threatening to break the bracelet completely.  I took it to the local jewelry repair shop and they did a wonderful job of repairing it, but warned me that it would happen again and that it really ought to only be worn for special occasions so as not to hasten the problem.

I agreed, but felt quite naked without my bracelet.  I decided I would look for a new bracelet in France, one that I could wear daily and that would have meaning.  I found such a bracelet in the south of France, in a little artisan's shop just up the lane from the house we were renting (Dani - you know the place well I am sure!).

There, on the table was a little silver bracelet of multiple hammered plates.  Lovely and delicate and meaningful as well, as now it would recall for me a lovely week spent in a lovely place!


It wasn't inexpensive, but it wasn't expensive either , so it was just right in my estimation.  It does not jangle, but sits daintily on my wrist.  I am so pleased to have found it and will sit nicely beside my grandmother's cuff on those rare occasions when I wear it.

Do you have such an heirloom or something similar?  I would love to hear about it!

Have a wonderful day!

21 comments:

  1. Oh it's very beautiful, what a lovely piece to own.
    I don't wear jewellery on a daily basis, I like feeling natural and pared down. I do haul it out for special occasions, I think I wear my rings about 6 times a year!

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    1. I am wearing less and less, but I was so used to that bracelet that when it was gone, I felt naked!!!

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  2. I do know the place, how perfect that you were able to find your bracelet there!
    It is lovely, and will look so beautiful with your grandmother's cuff bracelet.
    I don't have any heirloom jewelry, but I do have a set of platinum diamond bands, three of them, that I wear every day, one of them is of course my wedding band and the other two were gifts over the years from MrBP. I have a diamond and platinum engagement ring but I don't really wear it anymore.
    I guess I have pared down a little bit too, just like Tabs.
    Thanks for sharing your heirloom with us and your new find. I hope your week is going well.

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    1. Well I am still so jet-lagged! I think it is arriving back at work as well! I have fallen asleep each night by 7:30! Will have to wait to call you on the weekend unless I suddenly come to my senses!

      I did some damage at that little shop - bought 2 espresso pottery cups, 2 liqueure glasses, the print of the village, and jewelry for my daughter, her friend and my son's girlfriend...

      What I really want is diamond earrings. Not large, not ostentatious. But real!

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  3. Your new bracelet is lovely - and how special that it will remind you of your trip to France. The only piece of jewellery I wear that wasn't mine to start with is my mum's wedding ring. It's just a thin gold band, so I can wear it with my wedding set (in fact, I can't get it off my finger now!). My watch is an Omega that I bought myself over 20 years ago - is that vintage now? The other thing I always wear is one of those Nomination charm bracelets - I don't think they are particularly stylish, but it was given to me by a dear friend and I've since almost filled it up with charms from our travels.

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    1. I actually have my mother's diamond ring, which is white gold, but I have to re-size it down and keep forgetting - thanks for the reminder!

      I would love a nice watch - 20 years is a good long time anything nowadays, isn't it?

      I think I am getting more and more sentimental so I think that nomination bracelet sounds amazing!

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  4. I like your bracelets and think that you'll find the days when you wear the cuff will be special. I wear my wedding and engagement ring daily, plus my Michele watch. I've been wearing the watch since 2004 and now can't read it without glasses. I have heirloom stuff all over my house. My grandmother's dining room set is used all of the time though the jewelry I inherited lives in a safe deposit box-worn only a few times a year - it is quite fancy. I was not particularly close to my grandmother, but I take quite seriously that these family gems are with me for safe keeping until the next generation has an opportunity to enjoy them.

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    1. Julie - I love that you are such a good caretaker! OMG _ if I could see any watch without glasses these days, I would be so HAPPY!!!! I am getting blind as a bat!

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  5. WMM, not big on jewellery, but with you on the diamond studs! Only a few wearable heirlooms, but I also have a wide, engraved and hinged silver cuff from the beloved spinster great-aunt I was named after. Now over a century old, so occasional only. But it has a lovely patina and every time I see it on my bureau or arm *smile*.

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    1. Oh, I had a spinster great-aunt, as well. She deserves her own post! How wonderful to be named after her (I hope!). I am an amalgamation of my two grandmother's middle names - sort of - Wendy after Gwendoline (and Peter Pan!) and Elizabeth after Eliza. Nice to have those connections!

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    2. WMM, she was Annie Elizabeth (Bess) after her two grandmothers so I ended up with Elizabeth Anne as most of my moniker. Although I'm Anne, most family calls me E.A. since there is an older Ann(drea) in the mix and I didn't care for all the schoolyard nicknames that come with Elizabeth (Beth, Bets, Lizzy, Lizard). Went to grade school with a Gilberto (Latin America) too, but no reason to call me Carrots.

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  6. Your silver cuff is wonderful. Cuffs are my favorite style of bracelet; my 2 silver ones are "old pawn" from the southwest. I would love a hammered gold one, maybe some day.

    I have a few vintage pins; I wear them on my lapels every day( some new ones too). My favorite is one from my Norwegian grandma, an elk enamelled on a silver disc, part of it worn away. I too feel it links me with her.

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    1. Oh Lane - we will need pics of these - they sound so wonderful!

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  7. i have some of my mother's pieces, which I cherish, and I have picked up some other nice things over time... I have some small gold bracelets, one links, one little primitive tube, which I wear every day, and I am very well equipped for "state occasions," should they ever return. I know what you mean about a weak spot, I have a gold torque which started to "sit funny" on my neck. I brought it into its jeweler of origin, who had to send it back to Greece for repair, and got quite a few lessons on how to put on torques or torque-like bracelets. And in addition to antique gold Paris-themed charms, I collect intaglios of mythical beasts.

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    1. WFF - I am quite convinced that you are the fount of all knowledge of the universe! I do not know what you do, but I am pretty sure it involves something very complex and important.s I was pretty sure I knew what an intaglio was but I needed to check to be sure!

      I want jewlery for a state occasion!!! DO you have a tiara????

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    2. Heavens, no! I was using the term to describe a very formal company event or dressy wedding, when you take out the trophy pieces...

      Anyway I enjoy my cute little rings with dragons and griffons incised into a sem-precious stone, and in the course of looking for one or another at antique jewelry stops, ive learned a lot about old pieces.

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  8. I love your new bracelet! I wear my engagement ring every day, as well as a solid gold ring I made in art class in high school out of my mom's melted down broken jewelry. It isn't perfect (hell, I was 17 when I made it!) but I love it. Otherwise, I am not a big jewelry wearer. If I do, it's usually a fun piece from J.Crew!

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    1. Oh the ring sounds so cool! I love stuff like that!!!!

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  9. Both of your bracelets are beautiful! I am always forgetting to accessorize, but do have a few pieces I wear every day; my wedding/engagement rings, and the nice watch my husband gave me the Christmas after we married. I used to wear a simple white gold band with tiny diamonds embedded around it on my right hand every day (we bought it on a trip to Italy in one of the shops on the Ponte Vecchio), but I have replaced that with an antique ring I inherited from my grandmother this summer. It reminds me of her daily, so it has a lot of meaning for me.

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  10. What a lovely blog post! I do not have any family heirlooms to wear, but I have been wearing lovely jewelry bought for me by my husband over the years. I used to wear it only on special occasions, but have also readjusted my thinking, as I might as well enjoy it before it gets passed along to my daughters! I love your cuff, and the bracelet you found on your trip looks lovely too! I was wondering if you might share some info about the place you rented in Paris? Sounds like you learned of it from DaniBP? Would you, if you have the time, email about it to me at bichonluvrscloset at gmail dot com? Thanks so much! :D

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