Jewels of Denial: Collecting Costume Jewelry
05.30.07 By Val UbellFor as long as I can remember, my kid sister, Vicki, loved costume jewelry! From the time she was a small child, she would sit on my Aunt Mary’s lap and play with her necklace, or ask my mom if she could ‘just hold’ her earrings. She was in awe of anything that sparkled or clinked or jangled. She would save up to go to the local Five & Dime Store to get a pretty bauble and when garage sales started to be popular, she would trek wherever she had to go to find a trinket. She rarely paid more than a quarter or fifty cents for any item, even if they were marked “Weiss” or “Kramer” or “Boucher” or “Monet”, etc.
As we got older, I became more appreciative of her treasures and even asked to borrow them from time-to-time. They always had to be treated with respect. If we went to an antique store and they had their rhinestones ‘in a heap’, she would berate them, advising that they were fragile, made of glass and could easily scratch. As she got older, her love, and her collection grew. She was well-known for her bright, rather gaudy pins that she’d put anywhere. They would be on her jean pocket, pinned proudly to her purse, perched on her shoulder, or elsewhere. She also wore large, dangling earrings, often they would brush her shoulders. And clinky bracelets! Ahhh, now that was fun when you were sitting in a theatre with her.
One of her best finds was at a flea market in Indiana. She was one booth ahead of me, ran back and asked to borrow $30. I said sure, but why and she proceeded to drag me to the booth that had this amazing bracelet! I just stared! It is so large and dramatic and not for the shy or demure! All the signs of the zodiac are found, in a most interesting display. A bracelet fit for a …well, sister!
Wearing “sparklies” was a big part of her and she could not resist! She was quite a dazzler. And she was the first to comment to others about their jewelry. Once we were in a restaurant, right in the middle of a conversation, and she jumped up, ran across the room to talk with an ‘elderly’ lady. She just HAD to tell her how beautiful her crystals were and ask where she found them, wondering if they were heirlooms or new. It always seemed to make their day! Her kindness and appreciation of the jewelry they wore always brought smiles to their faces and often a little story too.
Unfortunately, my dear sister had a second and final bout with cancer a while back. It did not deter her from her love of costume jewelry. She still sparkled! A stunning pin would adorn the loose shirts she wore, and bracelets that were too large for her thin wrists still were adored.
The last vacation we took together was special. She would wear a turban to cover her naked head but with a lot of pizzazz and of course a brooch! She had a long, long necklace with about 150 charms and she wore it often. It seems that it was now payback time. For on our trip, there were many times when people would stop her and comment on her lovely jewels or how nice the jingling of her bracelet sounded. I was, of course, in ‘denial’, and refused to see that this was indeed our last trip together. But she knew. The last time I saw her was in the hospice and she had no jewelry on, no turban, no ‘bling’ at all. Then I accepted it.
Her love for jewelry has been passed on to me, my daughters and granddaughters. They love grandma’s sparklies! When I hear the song by Mariah Carey “I Know You’re Shining Down on Me From Heaven”, I look upward and see Vicki. She has dazzling pins on her white gown, a long, sparkling necklace and earrings that reach to her feathers. And I know she IS still shining!
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Article Tags: bracelets, costume, earrings, jewelry================
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May 31st, 2007 at 2:45 am
:sniffle: You know what I’m thinking…