The Jewelry Box

THE JEWELRY BOX 

The backdrops for jewelry this month are jewelry boxes. They are on loan from our customers, and some consigned by our dealers. If a box catches your eye, please ask. For practical use, the jewelry box is a simple container - a functional box, designed to organize and protect jewelry from damage or tangling. For the jewelry sentimentalist, the significance of the box goes beyond its practicality. The box may hold items of a certain value, but the real treasure ensconced within are the memories, emotions and stories of the pieces themselves.  The box itself serves as a vessel securing the material and emotional contents held within.  Many jewelry boxes are fitted with a simple lock and key. Close inspection typically reveals a lock incapable of foiling any attempts at entry. Despite this obvious flaw, do you remember hiding that tiny key so your treasures could remain hidden, secret, and secure? It is the allure of this locked vessel that provides us with a sense our treasures - either emotional or worldly, are hidden within, preventing the world from gaining access.  Some jewelry boxes are ornately carved, while others are lined with soft and perhaps faded velvet linings. The faded velvet evokes a history of the generations who have gently lifted the lid of this precious box to gaze upon items illicit a smile, a skip of the heart and a warm remembrance.  Consider the words of our customers who have so generously allowed us to display their jewelry boxes:"I remember my Gram's jewelry box being opened on Sunday mornings. Sunday church was a time when my Gram ritualistically pulled out certain pins, earrings and necklaces befitting of that day.  I will always remember those pieces - the Easter jewelry, the Christmas pins, and the sparking white crystal beads, which lay neatly in her jewelry box, ready for Sunday church.  My Gram's jewelry box is my heritage, holding my love for my grandmother and forever safekeeping these pieces of jewelry and my memories of Sunday mornings".  "My childhood jewelry box, when opened had a beautiful ballerina whose skirt was trimmed in white tulle. She spun gracefully above my sparkling rhinestones and colorful beads inviting me to select a piece to wear. With my box open, Somewhere My Love softly playing, and my jewelry adorning my neck and hands, I would gaze at myself in the mirror allowing myself to be secretly transported to a dazzling ball, or a grand stage on the arm of a prince. When the reality of my ordinary life required me to return, my jewelry neatly back in its place, I closed my jewelry box and returned to its place on my dresser. While closed and quiet my jewelry box always beckoned me to return for another bejeweled and dazzling adventure".  Classic Facets invites you to reflect on your own jewelry box. What does it hold - symbols of family, heritage, tokens of love and affection, memories of a by-gone era? Come in and tell us your story.