Show me your family heirloom!

[diamondlil]

Date: 4/21/2005 11:18:24 AM
Author: glitterata
I especially love your mom''s present to herself, Rube.

In the 19th century, rings that spelled things out with stones were popular. I''ve seen REGARD rings--ruby, emerald, garnet, amethyst, ruby, diamond.

Hey, let''s start a new trend reviving it. Somebody should come up with an alphabet.

Amethyst
Beryl
Cat''s eye
Diamond (of course!)
Emerald
Fire opal
Garnet
H?
Iolite
Jasper
K?
L?
M?oonstone
N?
Opal
Pearl or Peridot
Q?
Ruby
Sapphire
Tanzanite
U?
V?
W?
X?
Y?
Z?

Okay, sorry, went off on a tangent here. Back to the beautiful heirlooms...

Hessonite
Kunzite
Lapis
Morganite
N ?
Quartz
U ?
Verdelite
W ?
X ?
Y ?
Zircon

This is fun. Any more?

DiamondLil

 

[Jennifer5973]

Kaleigh & glitterata, I love your heirloom rings!

 

[Kaleigh]

Thanks Jennifer,
I told my grandmother today that her ring got many compliments on PS and she was thrilled. She''s 94 and still has all her buttons so to speak. She said did they really like it?? She was so cute about it, she loves jewelry just as much as I do, guess that''s where I got it from.

Her name is Bunny, but I call her Nanny or the Bunster when I want to tease her.

 

[Jennifer5973]

94? God bless her!

My one grandmother is 78 and still sharp as a tack and put together like a fashion model. All my grandparents are still with us and hanging in there. I treasure every day with them.

 

[Kaleigh]

Yes she was a young bride, and I treasure every day with her. She has such a great sense of humor. At her nursing home she''ll say " why if you want to loose weight, don''t join Jenny Craig, just come here the food sucks, you''ll loose weight in no time!! God sometimes she embarrases the heck out of me, but love her with all my heart.

 

[krcdm]

Thanks Widget! The diamond is round but the setting makes it look like a hexagon.

 

[rms]

hi everybody. Hopefully my collage won''t be too wide. Here are 2 rings and a bracelet. They are all yellow gold from Lebanon, so I think are 21 K (is there such a thing as 22 K?). The bracelet was my grandmother''s. She passed away about 10 years ago. She had 4 of them, and wanted each of her 4 children to have one (2 sons, 2 daughters). So my dad gave this to me from her, since of course he can''t wear it

I don''t wear it too much nowadays, but it is beautiful.

Then you see a yellow gold ring made with sea pearls dangling on little chains, and a gold wedding band. These both belonged to my mother and she wore them on her wedding day. My husband and I actually had 2 wedding ceremonies, 1 civil and 1 religious. I wore the pearl ring on my right hand for both ceremonies...1 wedding pic included. For the civil ceremony, I used my mom''s gold band as my wedding ring. For the religious ceremony I used my new wedding set. This way, I felt like all of my rings, old and new, had different places and meanings. My mom passed away suddenly 4 years ago at a very young age. I only got married a few months ago, so with her rings I felt that she was there close to me. In wedding photos of my parents, my mom had gloves on except in 1 photo where I can see both her gold band and the pearls dangling from her fingers. I love all these pieces.

I love seeing everyone''s pieces here. So many beautiful pieces and stories and memories to go with them.

 

[widget]

Oh, Rita...

THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH for sharing your story! Those pieces are simply gorgeous...

Do you know anything about your grandmother''s incredible bracelet? It''s age? If that is a style typical, or of some special signifigance, to Lebanon or the Near East? (Yes there''s such thing as 22 karat gold!...I think pure gold is 24kt)

And your mother''s pearl ring!! It is SO lovely and feminine...and the sweet sentiment behind it...I just can''t get over it.

Having heirlooms like this is such a blessing...

Thank you!
widget

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 4/20/2005 5:53:45 PM
Author: glitterata

Let''s see if this worked! If it did, on the left, here''s my grandmother''s engagment ring, from 1929. It''s a transition cut, F/G, VS1, approx. 1.4 carats, with single-cut melee and a pair of marquises.

On the right, only the stone is an heirloom. It''s my other grandmother''s OEC from 1921, K/L, SI2 (with the inclusion hidden under a prong), approx. 1.65 carats, set in a reproduction mounting.

I much prefer the cut on the K/L, but I adore the setting on the F/G and prefer the color.

WOW!!! beautiful rings ,your grandmother''s must of been loaded with $$$ to afford that kind of ring during the depressions.

 

[Jennifer5973]

Rita, what beautiful heirlooms and what a wonderful story. Thanks for sharing.

 

[rms]

thanks Widget and Jennifer. I wish I had more stuff from them...just because I link the memories with the pieces. Heck, I have clothes that my mom gave me and always remember that they are from her when I wear them.

Widget, I am not entirely sure of the age of my grandmother''s bracelet and if it was the "in" style. I will have to ask my dad about that. My guess is that it is from around the 1950s. It is really heavy and such a rich deep gold color. It probably is 22 K since that does exist. Yellow gold is definitely popular in Lebanon, even today. The rings are from around 1966, when my parents got married.

 

[fountainfairfax]

Does anyone mind a very modest, but meaningful heirloom? My Great-Aunt Louisa bought this little flower ring with the money she saved up from her very first "city job" ! Prior to that she worked at the Greenport Long Island Oyster Factory & picking strawberries and green beans in East Marion....going to Pratt Institute and becoming a "Big City Girl" was unheard of! She was an amazing woman & although she was my Dad''s Aunt she was actually closest to my Mom- my Mother couldn''t have loved her more and the feelings were more than mutual... When Aunt Louisa passed away she left my Mom some money with the understanding that it was to be used to build a vacation home so my Mother would always have a place of her own. My Mom had a cute little house in the Poconos built that is such a sanctuary for us all- God Bless Aunt Louisa!

 

[fountainfairfax]

just one more pic of my pretty little "Auntique" flower (sorry for the pun.....)

 

[widget]

Date: 4/25/2005 11:13:17 PM
Author: fountainfairfax
Does anyone mind a very modest, but meaningful heirloom?

MIND????!!!!!!! Those are my favorites!!!!

Your Aunt Louisa's ring is precious in every sense of the word.

I swear...these stories give me goosebumps!

Thanks for sharing..

widget

 

[Kaleigh]

fountainfairfax,
Your Aunt Louisa's ring is so pretty. What a neat story to go with it!!! She must have been a remarkable woman, thanks for sharing!!! It's gorgeous!!!

 

[Buena Girl]

fountainfairfax-
What a special ring!!! I love it

 

[Jennifer5973]

FFF, you know *I* love it even without its wonderful sentimental value

...not only is it beautiful, it is a reminder of a very special and strong woman in your life--actually, two women--your Aunt Louisa and your mom.

 

[sevens one]

Thanks Fountain. What a special ring. I can only imagine how much you cherish it.
What a remarkable woman.

 

[njc]

Everyones rings are fabulous! I love hearing the stories that go with them too.

Here is my grandmothers white gold engagement ring circa early 1930''s. I have no clue to the size of the center stone, .25 maybe? Im horrible at guessing. I wish i had taken a picture of it next to my ering. I do know that it is a transition cut and extremly white. There are 13 bead set stones in the band (one was lost) that our family jewelry has estimated to be under .1, and i cant remember if he said transition or single cut, but i dont know what a single cut is!

 

[njc]

Here are some blurry sparkles. My mom turned her rings around...

 

[njc]

And here are some better pictures of the details. There was beading all the way around on the edges, but it has pretty much worn away. We are taking the 13 tiny diamonds and bead setting them for my wedding ring. It will have beading on the edges like my ering and Nana''s ring and it will also have the diamond shapes engraved on either end of the diamonds like Nana''s. Not sure what we will do with the center stone. Maybe a pendant?

 

[JCJD]

These are my great-grandmother''s pearls earrings. Set in 14k yellow gold. My original thread can be found HERE. They are gorgeous - great lustre, and as you can see, very large.

Size comparison with my ering.

Both earrings.

Ear-shot is in sister''s digital camera. Will post once she gets them to me.

 

[widget]

NJC...Your grandmother''s ring is SO SWEET! I just love it! I gather that your mom still has it...does she wear it often?

JCDC: Wow...those pearls are really really beautiful...are the bottom ones baroque? They''re gorgeous! I wonder if possibly they''re natural (not cultured)...

Thanks you guys for sharing your treasures!

widget

 

[njc]

JC - i dont think i commented in your thread, but i love your earrings. Such a special gift from your grandfather. Im so glad they were able to repair the one link. You are going to look great!!! Only a few more weeks...

Widget - No, my mom doesnt wear it. Its been sitting in the original box (very art deco, teal and white) in her jewelry box for a quite a while. I never saw it until after my grandmother died. My grandfather died when my mother was 15 and she remarried just before i came along, so she never wore it. There is a matching wedding band with the diamond shape engraved all the way around, but my grandmother has that.

So this will be the second ring of my grandmothers that i will have recycled. Ironicly, both were her e-rings. I feel bad for recycling them, but i like to think she is excited and happy i am using them. I wish i had some jewelry from my paternal grandmother but my aunt has it all. I guess shes keeping it for herself since im the only granddaughter... but thats another story!

Here is my first recycle, the opals are from the 60's when my grandmother remarried. It was originally a three stone ring, so they are all the same size and color. For my 18th birthday we got them reset into a ring and earrings. The back of the ring is actually open and you can see it has no backing. The pictures dont show it well, but they have lots of green and blues, even a little pink and purple.

 

[JCJD]

Thank you widget!! Yes, the bottom pearls are irregular baroque. My guess is that they are natural, not cultivated, because as my father said, that sort of thing was important to my great-grandmother.
When I turned 10, I received a gold watch from her. It was tiny!! It was too tight on my wrist by the time I turned 12, and she had still been wearing it before passing it on to me while in her 80s. Somewhere along the line, I ended up popping the gearbox out of the glass face (does this make sense??), and now I''m not sure where it is.

njc - Thanks!! I love them.

I love your grandmother''s ering - very pretty. Is the center stone round with little diamonds on the corners, or is it cushion? It looks tiny - what size is it?
The opals look very pretty!! I love the colors! If I were your grandmother, I''d be glad you were recycling the stones and enjoying them.

 

[njc]

The center diamond is a round transition cut. Im not sure of the size (im horrible at guessing), but it is pretty small, .25ish??? I wish i had taken a picture of it next to my ering like you did to compare size. There are no diamonds in the corner, its just the way the setting is made. It gives a pretty good illusion of a larger stone in person.

 

[JCJD]

njc - Ah, I missed that somehow in your original post. Thanks! Illusion settings and clusters are so pretty. They just draw me in. You know we won''t turn down more pictures!


This thread was a great idea! Proof that jewelry obsession is inherited.

 

[widget]

Date: 5/20/2005 10:38:30 AM
Author: JCJD
Yes, the bottom pearls are irregular baroque. My guess is that they are natural, not cultivated, because as my father said, that sort of thing was important to my great-grandmother.

Do you have any guess as to their age? I did a quick history check, and I think they started culturing pearls in the early 1900s.

I ask because if there is a remote possibility that they ARE natural, they could be quite valuable (monitarily...we all KNOW they''re priceless sentimentally!

) and worthy of being insured.

If you''re interested or curious, you might take them with you the next time you viisit your dentist and have them x-rayed to see if there''s a bead inside. (I''ve heard you can do this...I may be wrong...

)

Regardless...they are just GORGEOUS!!!!

widget

 

[widget]

Author: njc

So this will be the second ring of my grandmothers that i will have recycled...I feel bad for recycling them, but i like to think she is excited and happy i am using them.

I think recycling family heirlooms is just great. They don''t lose their sentimental value at all by being transformed...they just become more wearable and enjoyable!

I love what you did with your grandmother''s opals! They''re beautiful!

widget

 

[JCJD]

Date: 5/20/2005 12:18:34 PM
Author: widget

Date: 5/20/2005 10:38:30 AM

Author: JCJD
If you''re interested or curious, you might take them with you the next time you viisit your dentist and have them x-rayed to see if there''s a bead inside. (I''ve heard you can do this...I may be wrong...

)

Ooh! Very curious! You''ve piqued the scientist in me now! Anybody else heard of this? Is it safe? Maybe I''ll start a new thread.... I hadn''t thought specifically of insuring the earrings, so thanks! I''ll make a point to do so.

LOL - I''m not good at this... the bead inside would mean it''s cultivated, yes?