A while back I posted about the overabundance of mid-2oth century costume jewelry I have inherited. One response to that post was a suggestion that I make it into hangable wall art with a frame and pieces fastened to an attractive background (such as black velvet).
I am definitely going to do that, as soon as I can get my hands on some shadow boxes. The other issue, though was a few nicer pieces, such as the matched set of jade earrings and cufflinks that my parents gave each other for their wedding.
They're too nice to mix in with costume jewelry, so I'm going to get the earrings remade into pendants, and then keep one for myself and send the other to my sil. It can be a memento of my mother. The cufflinks could go to my brother and my son - if I can figure out a way to repurpose them that they would actually like.
Wednesday afternoon I had to do (way too much) running around in town, and I slipped the earrings into a bag in my purse to take to a small jeweler. Even though it was about 1:30 when I got there, they all seemed to be on their lunch break. This being a small business in a small town, the lady In Charge just had one of the guys give up his chair and she sat opposite me at a tiny desk laden with a whole lot of clutter. I showed her the earrings, told her what I wanted, and she pulled out her loupe. "These are gold filled," she announced frostily, "We'd have to use a gold bail*; we Don't Do gold filled."
? Bitch? I briefly considered my options.
"I'm aware that they aren't valuable," I answered her, putting on my educated, white collar diction and lowering the temperature of my voice a few degrees. "However, I want them as a memento of my mother. You seem Dubious about this. Should I take them somewhere else?" I may or may not have raised one eyebrow.
aaaaaaand suddenly she was very, very happy to help me. We know all about sentimental value, yes we do, GARY GO GET ME THAT BOOK FROM THE FRONT ROOM. Gary, whose chair I had inadvertently stolen, ambled off to the front room to get the Big Book of jewelry bits-n-pieces. He brought it to her. It was a big book, all right. She flipped rapidly to the page she wanted. Her eyebrows drew into a scowl. "Well, THIS is asinine!" she exclaimed. Turns out that recent price increases have been SO extreme that this tiny little piece costs $86 dollars. At that point, she had my full agreement. That was asinine.
She started trying to think of more reasonable options. The guys behind me were having a political discussion that I was thankfully able to ignore completely, but when it got a little too loud she suddenly bellowed "CAN YOU GUYS KEEP IT DOWN!!!!"
I'm now biting the inside of my lip to keep from laughing. The guys are all middle-aged, she appeared to be at least 80 years old. They fell silent like second-graders who have underestimated their substitute teacher. She and I shared a Look.
It was taking every ounce of self control I had not to drop to the floor howling with laughter.
In the end, she gave me a receipt for the earring and promised, since we have plenty of time before Christmas, to find a reasonably-priced bail and turn the blasted earrings into pendants. I left with a pleasant expression on my face, and didn't melt down until I was out in the parking lot.
If I ever get them back, I will post a better photo than the one above. It has been an adventure, for certain-sure.
-* The bail is the part of the pendant that the chain goes through. I did not know that either.