My Grandmother’s Pearl Earrings
“The pearl is the queen of gems and the gem of queens.” – Grace Kelly.
My maternal Grandmother may not have been a queen, but in many respects, she was very much like Queen Elizabeth II. Only six years older than the Queen and being a young woman in the 1930s and 1940s, she felt all her adult life that she could never been seen in public without wearing her pearl necklace, a double strand of graduating cultured pearls with a platinum, diamond and pearl clasp given to her by her parents when she was twenty-one, and her cultured pearl clip earrings which she was given to her by her parents when she was eighteen.
The theme for “Looking Close… on Friday” for the 22nd of January “earrings”. I was originally going to submit a photo of some other family heirloom earrings in my possession, a pair of Regency ebony and ivory cameos I lovingly called Flora and Fauna when I was a child, but then I considered that I submitted them for the theme of “earrings” for the “Smile on Saturday” group last year. Instead, I have chosen these pearl earrings and necklace which remind me more of my maternal Grandmother than any other possessions of hers I own. These pieces of family jewellery have survived the Blitz and have travelled all around the world to places like Paris, Madrid, Aden and Cairo: they have signs of wear and age, but my what stories they could tell! These pearl earrings always make me smile and think of my maternal Grandmother, and the Queen. I hope that you like them too.
My Grandmother’s Pearl Earrings
“The pearl is the queen of gems and the gem of queens.” – Grace Kelly.
My maternal Grandmother may not have been a queen, but in many respects, she was very much like Queen Elizabeth II. Only six years older than the Queen and being a young woman in the 1930s and 1940s, she felt all her adult life that she could never been seen in public without wearing her pearl necklace, a double strand of graduating cultured pearls with a platinum, diamond and pearl clasp given to her by her parents when she was twenty-one, and her cultured pearl clip earrings which she was given to her by her parents when she was eighteen.
The theme for “Looking Close… on Friday” for the 22nd of January “earrings”. I was originally going to submit a photo of some other family heirloom earrings in my possession, a pair of Regency ebony and ivory cameos I lovingly called Flora and Fauna when I was a child, but then I considered that I submitted them for the theme of “earrings” for the “Smile on Saturday” group last year. Instead, I have chosen these pearl earrings and necklace which remind me more of my maternal Grandmother than any other possessions of hers I own. These pieces of family jewellery have survived the Blitz and have travelled all around the world to places like Paris, Madrid, Aden and Cairo: they have signs of wear and age, but my what stories they could tell! These pearl earrings always make me smile and think of my maternal Grandmother, and the Queen. I hope that you like them too.