Today’s featured jewelry collector is Mia of Fare Well Fine Jewelry. She is based out of Nashville, TN – just like me! Her personal collection is filled with incredibly beautiful pieces and lots of sparkle. Let’s hear more about it and how it came to be:
“I’ve been drawn to jewelry since I was a child (my family owned and operated a fine jewelry store in Hawaii for over 25 years) and I was gifted some gold pieces, but I didn’t seriously collect fine jewelry until around four years ago. Some antique motifs in jewelry that I’m really drawn to is like a lot of imagery that I also collect around the house/ in other aspects of my life. I think love tokens are beautiful, figured animals, celestial Victorian items like crescents and stars, the question marks, anything gambling related, and also good luck charms like horseshoes and clovers.”
“I think anything that consumes most of your waking thoughts can be considered a passion! I just really enjoy handling jewelry, wearing it, selling it, and sourcing it. And of course sometimes even designing it. I just kind of view it as miniature sculptures made of really valuable material. It’s always so impressive to me the extent of just how much detail you can get so extremely small!”
“I will keep most of my sources secret, as I am also a seller, BUT I can say that as far as places go, the northeast has always been my favorite source for ANY antiques and vintage even beyond jewelry. For antique jewelry I purchase for myself, I love to support my friends and their small businesses. So I love shopping with Elizabeth at @themoonstoned for personal pieces, I’ve also sourced some really nice antique rings from @knoxjewels as well. @chelseagirlnyc has insanely nice rings. The list is extensive of websites and instagrams with a beautiful antique selection.”
“I think the piece that started it all was actually found in Franklin, TN during a visit here from Honolulu in around 2006. It was a vintage sterling silver and malachite pendant with seed pearls, on a silver rope chain, and it really sparked something in me… so much so that I began making/ assembling jewelry as a teenager back in Hawaii around 2006-2007 and had a few trunk shows (none of it was fine jewelry, just semi precious stones and a lot of gold filled items). I took a couple of bench classes focusing on silver also. I gradually because more and more interested in jewelry and that kind of started my collection. Eventually I traded up, all my sterling turned into my collection of gold over time.”
“My most sentimental piece is my grandmother’s watch (my mom has a matching one) that I inherited when my grandmother passed away.”
