Vintage Love

This is a picture of a pearl choker that belonged to my paternal grandma. She was obsessed with finding the perfect pearl necklace, and despite the numerous gifts of pearls from my Pap-Pap, Grammy was never completely satisfied with any of the necklaces. This choker is of uncultured pearls and it broke one day; I don't remember how. My grandpa took on the tedious task of re-stringing it. I always loved this necklace and luckily inherited it. The clasp is really cool, unfortunately it's missing some stones. I have plans on taking it to a jeweler to get it fixed. I have another one of her pearl necklaces, one a little longer of cultured pearls.


It was Grammy who sparked my love of vintage jewelry. She was always decked out in necklaces, rings (more than 1 ring on each hand), sometimes braceletes. My sister and I loved to play dressup with her jewelry and put on her makeup when we were young. Before she passed away, Grammy started giving away her jewelry to the grandkids. I was the lucky recipient of some cool vintage costume jewelry. I thought I would share a few of my favorite pieces.



Below is one of my favorite necklaces:


I love the backs of these earrings. I have yet to wear them though.




I also have my great-grandmother's engagement ring c.1917. I love it, there is so much detail put into the band and setting. They just don't make rings like this anymore.




Now, moving onto my maternal grandmother. She was a model back in the 1940s. Mostly pinup photos for calendars like the kind found in garages and gas stations. I have, so far, found only one of her modeling photos among the boxes of her things I have.


This is what she actually looked like:


I never knew her, she died of uterine cancer in 1959 when she was 37. So we don't have a lot of her jewelry. Just a few necklaces and a mink coat. I don't know much about her, all everyone says is that she was a great beauty. And going through pictures of her I can see why, she was stunning.

I did find a necklace with matching (clip-on) earrings of hers. Interestingly, I found a similar necklace on clearance at Target a few weeks ago.


But the Target necklace doesn't have the clasp detail that the vintage necklace does.



I mentioned the mink coat. I remember when I was about 5 or 6 my sister and I pulled it out of the box. It both scared and repulsed me. The thought of having a dead animal wrapped around me made my skin crawl (and still does). I let my sister have that coat.


my grandma in her mink

Sorry this isn't a post on food. I have really been feeling horrible the past couple weeks and I'm on a liquid diet, which eases my symptoms. But this phase will pass and I will, hopefully soon, be able to get some real food posts up. Thanks for being patient with me.