Show me your family heirloom!

[Kaleigh]

Oh widget,
That picture of you and your mother is just precious!!!! Your mother was quite the glamour queen and look at you, too cute for words. I love your baby bracelet!!! When my daughter was very little she wore a bracelet just like yours. She loves jewelry just as much as I do, it''s fun but also very costly!!! It is genetic!!

 

[Dancing Fire]

widget

WOW!!! that''s a giant $10 indian bracelet almost 2.5 oz of gold,are they dated 1926 or 1932? that would be the most common dates.yes... in 1933 the U.S. got off the gold standard and president Teddy Roosevelt declear it was "illegal" for citizens to own gold,they had to return all their gold coins to the government to be melted down.this is where all the gold bullion came from,that are store at Fort Knox today.most citizens got scare and return all their gold pieces.the rich citizens shiped all their gold pieces to europe for storage.

 

[Jennifer5973]

Everyone's heirlooms are just wonderful!

Kberly, I love your Edwardian ring with OEC stone!!
Widget-your mom looks like a movie star herself!

 

[KBerly]

i love seeing these old pieces! thanks widget and jennifer

diamondlil, i am in love with you gma''s ring, love that double-prong look, but it does look like it would spin.

 

[michela002]

This is my family heirloom. An "M" necklace (white gold and diamonds). My grandfather first bought one for my grandmother, then later bought one for each of his daughters (my mom has a K and she too wears hers every single day) and the daughters-in-law (there were eight children so this was not a small task!

) My grandmother''s was an M and she wore it everywhere. I''ve attached three pics spanning from the 1970s - 2000 of her wearing it.

When she passed away, I (as the oldest M granddaughter) inherited it.

And, really cool, a few years ago, the daughers (i.e. my mom and her sisters) and family chipped in and got some custom made so now all the granddaughters have one. But mine is an original, very old.

It''s truly the most precious piece of jewelery I own, I never wear another necklace. I love it because of the family sentiment behind it, I never plan to wear another necklace because nothing will ever mean as much to me as this one does.

 

[widget]

Indecisive!!!!!!!!

What a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful family tradition! I actually got goosebumps looking at those sweet pictures of your grandmother. Is that you?

Thank you so much for sharing!

widget

 

[diamondlil]

Everyone, these pics are all so great. I think the older I get, the more I appreciate items with heritage. I have an facination with antique furniture and very old houses as well.

My mother has all her mother''s jewelry, so I don''t have that to photograph, but I''ll have to do that the next time my folks come to visit. The blue-stone ring was my dad''s mother''s ring. I''ll post it again in colored gemstones and see what happens. I need to have my new wedding set reappriased for insurance purposes, so maybe I''ll bring this one along just for a quick assessment.

Seeing those family pictures makes me want to dig out all my old albums.

Widget, I love the story with the gold coin bracelet.

Mingagreen, that is awesome that your grandfather "made" that ring for your grandmother. There has to be an interesting story there. Was he a silversmith?

KBerly, your inherited ring look so delicate and lacelike. It goes to show that pave is not as fragile as some think. Only having lost 1 tiny stone in 80 years is incredible!

Keep the pics coming!

 

[michela002]

Yeah, that''s me with my Grandma

I miss her a lot ...

It''s a wonderful tradition, I do love it. My sister and I are both "M" names so we have the same necklace and its cool cos people know we are sisters. And my mom has her K and all my aunts have one too, it''s very sweet and it''s so precious to me. If I have a daughter one day I will get one made for her, for her 18th birthday. (Whiteflash ACA meelee anyone?

)

And when my aunts got the "new" batch of necklaces and gave them to the granddaughters, they didn''t want me to feel left out of the "not getting new jewelry" loop so I got a gorgeous pair of white gold & diamond "huggie" earrings

Hehe! So I have earrings and the necklace.

I love this thread by the way ... I love heirlooms, they are so special ... I love having something with so much sentimental meaning.

 

[JessesGrl]

Your story is very sweet and I love the fact that your cherish that special knecklace. My Nana bought a ring in each of her granddaughters birthstones and wore until they were old enought and then gave it to them as a gift. I was five when she died and my aunt (uncles wife) took it. They got divorced and my uncle tried to get the ring back but it was an UGLY divorce and she refused. My dad''s sister died at an early age a few years back and my "aunt" (uncle''s ex-wife) came to tje wake....and she brought the ring. She pulled me aside and told me my nana wanted me to have it and she did as well....it was a very nice gesture after all these years. Anyways....It is a HUGE flower made of garnets....very pretty and means VERY much!!!! I will post a pic when I get a chance

 

[Jennifer5973]

Indecisive, your story & pics are so beautiful. Your grandma was a beautiful lady. I am glad you have that special & sparkly piece with you always.

 

[Kaleigh]

Indecisive,
What a beautiful lady your grandma was, and you were too cute!!!! Thanks for sharing the lovely pictures and story with us!!!

 

[diamondlil]

Can''t wait to see pics, JessesGrl. I always smile when other people call their grandmothers "Nana." It''s a tradition in our family. When my kids finally have children, I''ll get to be Nana too!!!!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Author: widget


MichelleCarmen: I wish I could see the aqua better...it looks really interesting...almost art nouveau...great rings!

Thanks. . .my rings aren''t really very old (around 25 yrs.), lol, but they''re the start of heirloom rings. My mom passed them down to me and I''m hoping to pass them down to my grandchildren.

 

[widget]

Date: 4/17/2005 2

0:41 AM
Author: Dancing Fire


....that''s a giant $10 indian bracelet almost 2.5 oz of gold,are they dated 1926 or 1932?

Hi, Dancing Fire....

Only two of the five coins have indian heads, they''re 1908 and 1910. The others have Lady Liberty heads: 1880, 1881, and 1882.

widget

 

[LaurenThePartier]

This is my great-grandmother''s engagement ring that gets passed down to the oldest female grand-daughter.

 

[icekid]

i''ve posted this before, but it''s burried in a old LIW thread so most people probably have not seen it.. my heirloom is actually from my bf''s family though, not mine!

this necklace was a gift from bf''s grandfather to his gram, many many years ago (both have passed away). apparently his grandfather called his gram "my number 1." my bf always called me this also, but i never knew there was a story behind it until he gave me this pendant last christmas. i can only guess it''s somewhere around 50-70 years old (boys never pay attention to these sorts of things!) but i do know it''s custom tiffany''s (designed by this grandfather), from a time when tiff''s was really something special! i am pretty sure this is the best christmas gift i will ever receive

as usual, the pictures don''t do it justice

 

[icekid]

annnnnd neck shot

 

[krcdm]

This was my great-grandmother''s engagement ring from 1920. I never knew her, but my mom gave it to me.

 

[krcdm]

here is another pic of the ring.

 

[krcdm]

ok, one more. I think it is 3/4 ct.

 

[michela002]

Oh this is such a wonderful thread!

Jessesgirl I love how your Nana actually wore the rings first, that makes them so much more special than just having bought them. I''m so glad you have yours now

Icekid - I love it, that is a sweet story and the necklace looks beautiful on you!

The engagement rings are great! It is a nice thought that maybe in fifty or a hundred years my grand/great-grandkids might be posting jewelry of mine as heirlooms!!

Keep posting people. I love seeing all the old jewelry that are still cherished.

 

[JessesGrl]

all of these pieces are gorgeous!!! and so much meaning behind them....makes them even more beautiful!!! I am actually ''in to" jewelry because of my nana...and how she was so sentimental about it, to me jewelry is meant to have that sentimentality about it...

 

[mingagreen]

Yes my Grandfather was a jewler, my Grandmother tells me stories of when he would bring presious stones home and after they had dinner he would let her fiddle with the stones and look at them She has alot of things he made. She also has my other Great Grand Mothers E ring which is a huge amazing 3 stone platinum edwardian filigree ring. I also admire it. My G,grandfather made that amethist ring for my G grandmother because she alwys complained her hands were cold. I love it but it is too small to wear on my right hand. Not sure if I should have it sized, I don''t want to mess with it. Funny story...... When I first got it I would wear it to high school, and one day it got caught on a friends pants and ripped apart! I was devistated and finally got it fixed 3 years ago by a friend who was going to jewlery school,

 

[sjz]

This is a fun thread! I''ve already posted a couple of my grandmother''s rings on another thread, but since I don''t know how to cross post, I''ll post them again here. The first one is a diamond cluster ring that she used to wear all the time.

 

[widget]

sjz: Your pictures didn''t come up!!

Could you try again?

krcdm: I love your great grandmother''s ring. Is that diamond round, or actually cut in a hexagon?

What a treasure, Icekid! and what a great story behind it!!

widget

 

[belle]

perhaps this is the cluster ring sjz is referring to....
it is her grandmother''s ring as posted in another thread

 

[belle]

here it is with the ring guard....

 

[belle]

great thread widget!! these are all such beautiful pieces!!!

 

[sevens one]

Here''s is Kaleigh''s Grandmother''s beautiful ring.
It is simply stunning. Unfortunately I was not able to "capture" it the way it "needed" to be.

 

[sevens one]

Here''s another: