The following is a post from my website Chrissy…In Her Sixties, which I am currently working on shutting down. The website you are now looking at, That Hobbit Lady, has been with me since November 2004 (nearly 20 years) and contains over 500 posts. In Her Sixties only goes back to 2017, with less than 40 posts. So, you see…in the interest of consolidating, I could either send 500+ posts from That Hobbit Lady to In Her Sixties, or 30+ posts from In Her Sixties to That Hobbit Lady. In addition to the math of that first option not making much sense, it also happens that the term “In Her Sixties” will only to apply to me for a few more years. But I will be a Hobbit Lady forever. So: no-brainer.
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October 5, 2017
I’m not a “Jewelry Person,” but like most women of her generation, my mother was. I am happy with a couple pairs of earring, my wedding and engagement ring. My mother had all that, and more.
Throughout her lifetime, Mom had also acquired many items of significant monetary value, but before she died, while splitting up her collection between her daughters and granddaughters, I knew it would be a waste for me to end up with any of her “good pieces,” because I would probably never wear them. Now, I did take my paternal grandmother’s wedding ring, if only for the historical and sentimental value, but other than that, what most interested me was Mom’s large collection of costume jewelry pins and brooches.
In particular, Mom was a big fan of Sarah Coventry, and I believe most of her brooches came from this company, which had its heyday in the 1960’s. I have clear memories of her wearing many of these pins on dresses and sweaters, from the time I was a little girl till just before she died. So, talk about sentimental value! Each of these pins brings back warm memories of my childhood, and my Mom.
I think of these pins not only as jewelry, but also as “art.” Therefore, as you can see, I made a decision to arrange them in a shadowbox, with a black velvet background, now hanging on a wall in our house. This way, they are not stuffed in and suffocating in a jewelry box….which I would rarely open. This way, I have the opportunity every day to look at this lovely collection of nostalgic pins and brooches, many of them 50 or more years old, so, technically, would they be “antiques”? At the very least, they are “Vintage.”
There was one pin I remembered and admired more than all the rest, the Aurora Borealis, and by some twist of fate, my sister ended up with that one, rather than me! Oh, sad day! I was jealous. But then, I had an idea. E-bay. It only took a little looking, and I found multiple offerings, and settled on this one, for all of $12.00. As you can see, I’ve pinned it to my purse. Because, as I mentioned earlier, I’m not really a big jewelry person. I can’t be bothered spending a whole lot of time fussing around with accessories and ornamentations on a daily basis. But I do love to dress up my purses. Usually it’s with silly buttons of witty sayings, or pictures of cartoon characters, but now I’ve moved up in the world by adorning my simply purse with a Vintage Aurora Borealis.
Now that I have my own VAB, I no longer begrudge my sister having the original. In fact, I rather prefer walking around with this duplicate. A pin on a purse can be a precarious situation, as it might be damaged, stolen, or lost. In fact, one time in the Fort Lauderdale Airport, it came loose and fell to the floor! Luckily I heard it clunk, retrieved and reattached it. But the experience brought home to me how absolutely devastated I would have been if this had been Mom’s original pin from the 1960’s, which she kept in good repair for 50 years, and after only a few weeks, I had somehow managed to lose it. No, much better, I decided, to walk around with a copy. Then, Heaven forbid, should I ever lose or damage it, I’ll be pissed at myself no doubt, but it won’t be devastating. Because I know for about $10-$15, I can always go back to Ebay and get another.
When Mom distributed her jewelry, I’m sure she was happy to see these items, which she had treasured all her life, going to good homes. I hope she knows how much I appreciate the gift, and how much I enjoy my collection of nostalgic costume jewelry, remembering the fine lady who all her life made them shine just as brightly as any of her “good pieces.”
(Update 2024: The shadowbox arrangement still hangs on the wall in my dining room to every day remind me of Mom.)
