My father knew I loved family heirlooms, so he used to give me items as he came across them.
These are some of his mother’s costume jewelry with the jewelry box they were in. My grandmother always loved jewelry, but I only remember her wearing pearls (both cultured and costume) and diamonds and rhinestones. She may have worn jet, but I am not sure.
The items on the bottom row are button studs. They work like buttons in a buttonhole, but are removable. These are usually used for men’s tuxedo shirts.
On the second from bottom shelf are two hatpins. I remember those nasty little things from my childhood. You wouldn’t want to sit down on one by mistake!
I suspect most of my grandmother’s jewelry came from Marshall Field & Company at State and Washington in Chicago. That’s where my grandmother worked as Head Fitter for many years.
When I got married, it was only a year after my grandmother passed away. Her only daughter (who had three boys) sent me the wedding pearls Grandma had given her when she was married in 1955. They came in a Japanese black lacquer box. Aunt Marge did not wear them for her wedding portrait or on the day of her wedding.
Aunt Marge
I am quite certain that my grandmother would have made her dress.
Did you wear them for your wedding? I wonder why your aunt didn’t. It’s a lovely photo and a lovely dress!
That’s what is also strange. I don’t see them on me in my wedding photos either. There is one photo where it’s a closeup just after the ceremony concluded. I have to find that and see if they were on at that time.
Maybe it’s a family tradition NOT to wear the wedding pearls? 🙂
Maybe it is now! I can’t imagine my daughter wearing them–I hope I can imagine her getting married!
LOL!
What a lovely post Luanne, gorgeous wedding photo of your Aunt Marge. Three cheers for heirlooms!
Thanks, Sharon. She was a striking woman. I am so thrilled to have them. I know there are brooch collectors who would love the brooches. I also know you have a new post up, and I am looking forward to reading it this morning!
Don’t you dare think of selling 🙂 (I know you won’t)
I definitely won’t! 😀
What a wonderful post! I love antique jewelry. I have a beautiful emerald four-leaf clover brooch that belonged to my Great Aunt. She passed away before I was born, but I was extremely close to my Great Uncle and he gave it to me when I was around 10 years old. So glad I managed to keep it and treasure it as such a young age.
Wow, Karen, that must be gorgeous! That was very risky to give it to a 10-year-old. But I guess you were already a genealogist-in-the-making!
It is wonderful that you got these treasures!! Such items have dear memories attached.
They do. They are tangible manifestations, in a way, of the person who owned them. I so remember my grandmother wearing brooches like this on her coats. She wouldn’t have worn a coat “plain.”
I love stuff like that. As far back as I can remember, I liked to play with my mom’s jewelry. You aunt looks very much like your dad. The dress is exquisite.
I love the dress! Do you think she looks like my father? Maybe she does. I hadn’t really thought that, but you might be right. I hope you have some of your mother’s jewelry.
I have a bracelet with a clasp identical to the one on those pearls. My mum never wore it because she couldn’t figure out how to undo the hook. The Squire picked it up, inspected it carefully, put to together – and it is STILL together! I guess it’ll remain that way for ever!
I have a couple of hat pins that belonged to my grandmother or her own mother. They are much longer that what passes for a hatpin today. One is an astounding 5 inches long, and another is almost 4. The modern pins are a puny 2-1/2 inches.
Those were popular clasps in those days, I think. When I was little, I even had a little children’s pearl string that had a clasp very similar. I love that the most modern bracelets today I can put on myself and don’t need to ask for help ;).
Five inch pins–YIKES! I can imagine the hats one needs such long pins for! That would be even more dangerous!
I spy a tree in there. Funny how a genealogist always notices trees. Haha! I love the photo of your aunt. What a beautiful dress. Do you wear any of this jewelry or just display it?
I thought about that, too! Quite a coincidence, isn’t it?! It’s missing one pearl, sadly.
I haven’t worn the jewelry, but I was thinking the other day that I try wearing one of the brooches and see how I feel about it. After all, nobody will ever appreciate them as belonging to Grandma more than I will because I am the last generation who knew her. She was born in 1892 and died a year before I was married. I think that photo of Aunt Marge is pretty stunning.
1892?! That is awesome that you have a grandparent you knew personally who was born in the century before you were. I like your idea of wearing her jewelry on occasion. You are right, no one will appreciate it as much as you.
Even my brother and cousin who knew her, too, were younger than me, and they are both boys. The only other cousin who would have appreciated it as much as me passed away in her early 40s.
How wonderful to have this collection of jewellery Luanne. Just a thought about your aunt’s wedding photo; it’s obviously staged, probably in a studio. It’s conceivable that the photographer had her take them off for aesthetic reasons. A string of pearls would have broken the line of her skin and distracted attention from both her face, and her ring.
Am I turning into a photography nerd?
Yes, you are a photography expert! I actually checked out the photos of the wedding itself, and she didn’t wear it then either. So I guess it was just a gift!
That’s interesting; my mum and all her sisters wore pearls on their wedding day. I’m wondering now if it was the same set. I’ll have to go and look and ask Mum. 🙂
Oh, that’s got to be it! A family tradition! I kept looking at my own wedding photos to see the pearls on me, but I don’t see them. Of course, my raggedy hair (it was HORRIBLE) was all over my neck in every pic.
I’ll have to check with my mum now 🙂
Yes, you will!
Vintage jewelry is so much fun to look at – even if you don’t wear it.
I agree. I enjoy looking at it in antique malls!
Beautiful Jewelry and the meaning behind it.
Thank you so much. And thanks for stopping by.
Absolutely! Keep up the great work!
Thank you!
Beautiful! I love the jewelry my people left me. I wear it all the time!
[…] This photo shows me that my grandmother’s love of pearls started young. She always wore pearls and collected a bit more pearl jewelry over the years. She gave my aunt a string of pearls for her wedding, and eventually my aunt gave them to me (she only had sons). You can check that out at this post, if you like: Vintage Jewelry. […]