After she passed, we got to do the whole tear apart the house, sort everything out, prepare things for donation and being given to the children as per her will etc. etc. etc. Her craft room became a sort of... sorting place. Towards the end, mom said that I could run up and look through her costume jewelry and if I saw anything I liked, I could probably have it. Now, there was some AWESOME stuff in her costume jewelry collection. Fun cocktail rings, great necklaces, amazing pins... she had amazing taste, and a fun and eclectic sense of style. She could pull off a big bling-y cocktail ring and make it look expensive. She was just that classy. So... I was a little more than excited to sort through these treasures and find something tangible and wearable to remember her by.
Digging through the little clear acrylic divider boxes, I found a little tiny chunk of silver-colored metal. It was round... so I assumed it must be a ring, but it certainly didn't look like any other ring I'd ever seen. For starters, it didn't have any stones. It was just... metal. It had three flat holes in it, and some delicate looking, vintage-y scrollwork on the sides. I was entirely transfixed. I knew enough in my 15 year old mind to know that this HAD to be important, and definitely NOT just costume jewelry.
I took it to my mom, and said, "I think I want... this." Her eyes got a little wider, and she quietly said, "Where did you find that?" I showed her the box, and she smiled, and pretty soon we were showing it to the aunts and my Grandad and as it turned out... this was no ordinary ring. I had found my great grandmother's wedding ring. Grandad's mom. My great grandmother, Vera, was born in 1893... on Indian Territory in Oklahoma. She married my great-grandfather, Frank, in 1916 in Portland, OR. Of course, that's only part of their story... but the neat thing about life, is that we leave little pieces of ourselves behind for those who come after us. We're all tied together. And I had found her ring... everyone had thought it had been lost. Nobody knew what had happened to it. And I'd found it, inside a box, in another box, in Mimi's costume jewelry.
It had (at some point) had its stones removed. This is pretty common with antique jewelry, so I'm told. I took it to a jeweler who specialized in restoring antique jewelry, and he informed me that the side stones were likely heart shaped, as evidenced by what was remaining of the prongs. He said that someone had ground off the prongs... which isn't the best way of removing stones from a setting, but that it wasn't irreparably damaged.
Here's some of that gorgeous, vintage detail I was talking about. Can you imagine? This ring is nearing 100 years old...
Also, same size as my finger... because, you know... genetics. :-)
(Also, also... ON my finger... because I am A GIRL and it's what WE DO.)
I'm really excited to eventually get this beautiful ring restored. I have NO idea how much something like that would cost. I do know that I have two diamond wedding sets and a diamond necklace that need to find new homes... and I would be MORE than happy to let the jeweler take them in trade for newer, better, and prettier stones for this gorgeous ring. I love that someday this ring won't sit empty, like a sad little skeleton. But it's going to be happy and loved again. Someday.
No comments:
Post a Comment