My Jewel Box: Five Ring Additions to Round Out 2016

I was giving myself a good chuckle yesterday because I’ve gotten a few comments from people asking why I stopped my YouTube videos–especially my main series Gem Gossip Read & Wear. The point of the series was to try to keep in tact a New Year’s Resolution I made last year–which was to only buy one ring per month, and also read one jewelry book per month. As with most resolutions, I started out strong–almost too strong. I knew my demise was near. Sure enough, I couldn’t keep up and bought way too many rings. Also my sister who edits and creates all the video content was having health difficulties, so that contributed to my sudden drop off from YouTube as well. Hopefully I’ll be back with something new and exciting, so stay tuned.

As the year came to a close (nearly 20 days ago, are you kidding me?!) I kind of went over board with the additions to my collection. So much so that I haven’t been keeping up with the My Jewel Box posts–so I’m compiling a bunch of my acquisitions into this one post! Five rings, to be exact–all acquired in November/December. Wanted to share the stories behind and details for those interested–BECAUSE I LOVE READING STUFF LIKE THAT. Hope you do too! 😉

This beauty was my Christmas gift from my husband this year–yes, another antique elongated diamond ring. “Don’t you have enough of those kinds of rings?!” Umm, no. I seriously cannot get enough of this style–something about it. This particular ring was found at auction from Hampton Estate Auction. It’s platinum and set with Old European cut diamonds, a 1920s piece through and through. Most of my other elongated rings are from earlier than that–so this was fun to add to the collection.

For some reason this opal cluster ring caught my attention like no other! Some might not think it is anything special…10k gold…a few simple opals in a cluster design, nothing groundbreaking. But the glow in these opals, I mean, you can’t put a price on something like this! Well, actually you can…and then I’ll buy it. I found this baby at Nashville’s first ever Big Flea. It was from a booth that had LOTS of items and I spent quite some time looking. When I saw it my heart obviously did that flutter thing–and of course, the lady in charge of the booth was busy with other people–so for a good while I stood there pale as ever, thinking someone would swoop in and grab it lol.

This ring was actually not a ring at first–it came to me as a brooch! There were certain signs I noticed that kind of point to this brooch actually being a ring originally, and I was happy to restore it to its natural state. I was covering the Shirley Temple sale for Heritage Auctions when I came across another sale they were having just a few days after and the amount of amazing lots they had floored me. I automatically thought, “there’s no way I’m going to win” upon seeing all the jewelry. Auction day came and it was a late night, constantly checking bids and the proxy bids. I was thrilled to win this brooch and no sooner than I received it, I had it in front of my jeweler, showing him what kind of style band to put on it. I love how it turned out and can’t tell you how comfortable it is.

You may have noticed that a lot of my new acquisitions are rarely from eBay (like they always used to be)! I’ve fallen off the eBay bandwagon and haven’t found anything good on it in awhile–I used to search daily, and now I’m down to maybe once a month and I’m usually disappointed. This fun turquoise ring is actually from eBay–the rare occurrence I went on there and actually came away with something decent. I truly miss the good ole eBay days where everything was amazing and authentic…and most of all, cheap! Now it is riddled with knock offs from India and sketchy sellers, along with the same items that haven’t sold in 5 years.

The last ring I’d like to highlight has been in the “pipeline” for a couple months and I’ve been clearly obsessed with it because if you follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen this a lot! 😉 It is designed by Becca of BCE Jewelry and when we met up over dinner in Nashville late last summer, she brought along some major drool-worthy jewels and some loose stones. I fell in love with three opals that magically looked as though they belonged together. We went back and forth on the configuration (I even posted two different versions and asked for YOUR opinion) and in the end, I settled on what Becca had originally designed for the layout. I love her aesthetic and style of her jewelry designs, and so pumped to finally own something from her. Can’t wait to see what is in store for her future!

WANT MORE? See more from my personal jewel box!