When did you realize that your were a jewelry collector?

[nala]

What was the pivotal moment or was it a gradual realization? Did you resist or did you dive right in? I’ll be honest. I don’t know how it happened. Lol. Please share your experience.

 

[stracci2000]

In the 6th grade I did a school report on birthstones for science class.
We were studying geology or something.
At the time, I had 7 of the 12 standard birthstones.
I decided then that I needed to collect all 12.
Eventually, I did get them all!

 

[MamaBee]

It all started when I wanted to buy higher quality studs than the ones I had. I started doing research and found PS. I’ve been spiraling out of control since..Haha In two or three years I somehow acquired a “collection”...lol

 

[Calliecake]

It all started when I wanted to buy higher quality studs than the ones I had. I started doing research and found PS. I’ve been spiraling out of control since..Haha In two or three years I somehow acquired a “collection”...lol

It’s funny how that happens @MamaBee

 

[PreRaphaelite]

My mom’s best friend (and also my best friend’s mom) was an elegant Anglo-American with raven hair and fingertips that might have been wrought from marble by Canova. She wore Chanel eyeshadow flagrantly on her deep set violet eyes and a huge antique emerald-cut amethyst ring which mesmerised me. She had cabochon sapphires and emerald beads, ropes of pearls, black jet earrings, stacks of diamond bracelets, and a signet ring with her cousin’s seal. Everything about her was Art Nouveau, to the atomic level. She was luminous, musical, brave, fragile, loved the wrong men, and smashed plates at will. She was alive with beauty, and knowing her was how I came to know it when I saw it.

I loved her the way one loves a mountain.

 

[Cerulean]

It was meant to be.

It runs in my family. My great aunt, Barbara Cartlidge, was a successful jeweler and ran a jewelry gallery in London. I was taught to have an appreciation of jewelry as a form of art. I have a few pieces from her, most was auctioned off...my aunt has most of them, huge, incredible, artistic rings she wears on almost all of her long, beautiful fingers.

I also covet a diamond heirloom necklace my grandfather smuggled out of Nazi Germany (he was a German Jew)....it is too delicate to wear, and frankly not my taste, but I cherish the history and dream of turning it into a very special project one day.

One of my first memories is of my grandmother unveiling an antique, Navajo squash blossom turquoise necklace and matching earrings. It took my breath away! Also was auctioned off...I was too young to know what was happening. She had a magnificent collection...all of it is gone.

And then my first job in high school was working art fairs with a jeweler. I loved learning about all of the stones and their properties. Jewelry represented decadence and beauty, earning a very special place in my heart.

I hope to slowly rebuild the collection that my family lost or sold off over the years for the next generations. It breaks my heart to think about it, but onwards and upwards. This will be a decades-long project, and I can't wait to do it all!

 

[LilAlex]

A jeweler referred to me as a "collector" maybe a decade ago. I was deeply offended. It seemed so...acquisitive. More! More! More! I think we only had about three nice things. I hope that "connoisseur" was the word he was looking for.

 

[dk168]

I was about 12 or 13, and used the red packet money given to me during Chinese New Year to buy myself a diamond band, on my own, without my mum's knowledge.

Got told off big time for wasting my money. She still does, so I hide my bling obsession and pieces from her.

DK

 

[Missy]

I love collecting things. Not just jewelry.

I collect boots, whimsical dresses, fun leggings, coats, bikes, books. My DH loves collecting tools, bikes, books, stereo equipment, clothes and watches. We have both slowed down these past few years though.

Why do I love collecting? It brings me pleasure and relaxation. It allows me to get absorbed in the moment and I spend time enjoying what I love.

It is also (regarding jewelry) a connection to history and one I intend to pass on to my nieces. I have a feeling they will love and appreciate my pieces almost (or as much) as much as I do.

When did I realize? Probably from the time I was conscious of things in general. I have always been this way.

 

[Mrs_Strizzle]

I guess I realized it when I joined PS and started looking for pieces I never cared anything about previously, evenafter collecting loose gems for more than a decade. For instance, I have never seen a really beautiful Sapphire or Ruby ring IRL, so I never really understood the appeal. Then PS exposed me to what true gem quaity looks like and I had to have a Sapphire (actually two). I never knew of OEC until PS, now I wear one every day. I never heard of chrysoberyl, but my current gem obsession is a Vanadium one. I haven't added a ruby yet because I also tend to be a size whore, so a quality ruby that i can afford and is big enough that I'll wear has eluded me as of yet. So its either collector or greedy. I'll take collector

 

[MMtwo]

I am not sure I qualify as a collector. Hoarder may be more appropriate
The answer: ever since I saw shiny things. I remember coveting rock candy ring pops as a child because I wanted to wear it. Nothing much has changed.

 

[HollyJane]

I knew since I was child.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

I think I was always a lover of all things bling - come by it honestly, my mother loves bling too and she is my icon in a lot of ways. Always dressed very simply and not expensively, but splashing out on her accessories. Huge lover of scarves, bags and bling (just like me!) She was (and is) a big one for saving all her pennies and putting them towards a few purchases in a year that were/are always meticulously chosen. My dad has bought some of her bling as presents, but most of it was funded by herself.

She also has such a great eye - once she went to this estate/liquidation sale with all her friends. They were going through all the things with abandon and each picked out a bunch of things to buy and she hung back and waited. After around 30 mins they were done and they turned to her to ask her if she wasn’t going to buy anything. She tells them all that she’s just going to buy one thing - and picks out this brooch everyone else had passed over, kind of dirty, and she buys it for a song. The next time she met them, she was wearing it - she’d had it cleaned, polished, and had mounted an enormous pearl at the bottom of the brooch and fitted the top with an attachment so that it could hang from a string of pearls. They were falling over themselves like “omg where did you GET that??” She must have paid maybe 30% of what it would’ve cost to buy it retail and once she was done with it her friends who were with her when she bought it didn’t recognise it!

These stories excite me. I love wearing jewelry and designing it and seeing it come to life but I’m also pretty choosy and discerning in that I won’t just buy ALL the things. I basically realised I inherited this obsession from my mom when I started making my own money and just immediately went to setting up my bling fund and buying myself sparkly things but I’m not an indiscriminate collector, I want to build a collection that is true to me.

 

[MamaBear]

Since I was a teenager.

 

[RosieR]

When I went to the bank to transfer a five figure sum from my savings to my spending account. The teller asked if I was buying a car, I said no I’m a jewellery collector and this is to add to my collection. That was the first time I’d uttered those words with reference to myself.

 

[LLJsmom]

Still in denial...

 

[Calliecake]

I am not sure I qualify as a collector. Hoarder may be more appropriate
The answer: ever since I saw shiny things. I remember coveting rock candy ring pops as a child because I wanted to wear it. Nothing much has changed.

I have about 20 of rock candy ring pops waiting for my grandniece. They are her favorite candy. Do you want me to send you a few?

 

[MMtwo]

I have about 20 of rock candy ring pops waiting for my grandniece. They are her favorite candy. Do you want me to send you a few?

Hahahaha the little girl inside squeals! lol

 

[diamondringlover]

I have always loved things that sparkle, I dont really collect jewelry, I tend to have more rings then anything and I honestly havent bought anything (other then some CZ rings) in probably 3 years or so, now I am currently having a stone reset so I guess that counts as a purchase a minor one though...if I had the money I can honestly say I would be a big collector lol....

 

[caf]

When I was born!