When we went to Washington state a few months ago for a family reunion, my sister-in-law had brought along some wonderful pieces of jewelry, given to her by a cousin, whose mom, my husband's Aunt Marie, had passed away a few years back. This cousin wanted all the females of the family to be able to partake in the joy of owning these pieces. So we were able to pick and choose and enjoy in a happy party atmosphere!
My sister-in-law laid the pieces out on several different place mats and let us drool over the various items for several hours, then we had a lot of fun picking our favorites.
Above are my amber earrings and gold hoop earrings. We started with the oldest cousin first, there were six of us choosing, each taking a turn as we went along, and as you will be able to tell, there were a lot of choices.
It seems Aunt Marie must have been specially fond of marcasites, and I am also, plus I feel they look rather old fashioned, so I can use them as part of my costuming as El Dorado Rose. Above is one set with marcasites, and I guess jade (?) not sure, but I love the coloring, and with the roses on the earrings I am all set to show them off as Rose.
I am not sure where Aunt Marie got all her jewelry, but she loved the many Indian Casinos around the Seattle area where she lived, and I think she may have picked up a lot of the jewelry in the Casino gift shops, perhaps in lieu of money with her winnings. Above is a lovely set with necklace, earrings and bracelet. Keep in mind that each item was one choice. We had lots of fun with this "game" and the choosing went on for a very long time! The necklace above is "reversible", I will show you what I mean in a photo coming up.
This absolutely lovely marcasite watch was my first choice. I wanted it especially to wear as the Rose, it has the perfect old fashioned feel so that it doesn't look out of place to wear a watch.
I took a chance that the only reason it wasn't running was it needed a battery. I was right and it has now graced my wrist at many a El Dorado County Chamber gathering!
Above is my "reversible" necklace, and the other matching bracelet and earrings that go with the silver/gray stone on that side.
The rose marcasite earrings above were my second choice. My third choice would have been the flower necklace, however, a sister-in-law picked it and it was gone... until, right at the end of our little party, she decided she didn't really like it, and didn't want it, and she heard my gasp! A few moments later and she had given it to me instead. I love it, in fact I have it on right now.
This lovely marcasite bracelet with the rainbow stones is definitely one of my most favorite pieces and I wear it a lot.
We are so lucky that our cousin shared this wonderful jewelry legacy from Aunt Marie with us. She herself is not into jewelry and it was a thoughtful decision on her part to give us the opportunity to partake in her mom's good taste. We all loved Aunt Marie, seamstress and doll-clothes maker extraordinaire! I will think of her every time I clasp a bracelet around my wrist or glance at my sparkly watch to see if it is time to start the ribbon cutting!
5 comments:
These are really beautiful, and even better because of the sentimental reasons. Wonderful post!
Very lovely treasures!! And a fun way to divide things up.
How beautiful is that jewelry! I can't even pick a favorite. It's so special to have pieces that have been passed down. Such a wonderful keepsake. Xx
Wow, Tina - ALL of that jewelry is absolutely fabulous! And it is very special, indeed to have them, since they belonged to Aunt Marie.
How wonderful to have so many things that were your aunt's. Bravo to all for the sharing! A little while ago one of my cousins surprised me out of the blue with a little packet of childhood pics of my mother, many of which I had never seen before.
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