Wearing My Grandmother’s Locket: The Real Value of an Antique Beauty

Ethel Sherman

I was thinking the other day about the family jewelry I have had the fortune to have had passed down to me over the years. Not many pieces, really, but I have been lucky to receive at least one piece of jewelry from each family member. I have actually incorporated each piece into my personal wardrobe over the years.

Back in my early 20s, my grandfather Otto Gilomen (on my mom’s side) gave me one of his Southwest lariats. It was a black cord with a shiny gray stone embedded in sterling silver that slid up and down. It was not exactly high fashion back then, but oddly a cool accessory for its day. I loved that I was wearing a part of his personality, some of his masculinity – and as family jewelry it expressed his genes that were also part of me. I loved its touch and I wore it for many years. For some reason, I allowed it to slip out of my life.

“I loved its touch and I wore it for many years. For some reason, I allowed it to slip out of my life.”

Then in my late 20s, I was given my grandmother Ethel James’ (my dad’s mom) gold locket. It opened to hold two small photos that were long gone. I used a pink satin ribbon in lieu of the missing chain. Wearing it offered me both an emotional and physical connection to my grandmother. She had died long before I was born and, given my resemblance to her, it was my only true connection to the grandmother I would never know. The pink ribbon had a habit of slipping off so one day I stored the locket away.

My grandmother’s locket with the initials “E.J.” for Ethel James (before marrying my grandfather)

In my 30s, my other grandmother Ida Gilomen (on my mom’s side) handed me one of her cameos in a spur of a moment gesture. It was an unexpected, lavish gift and I wore it with a silk blouse, reliving the 40s with its stylized, carved head and gold detailed trim. It felt a little too conservative for my style, and I have since put it safely away with the gold locket.

“It was an unexpected, lavish gift and I wore it with a silk blouse, reliving the 40s with its stylized, carved head and gold detailed trim.”

My mom’s rhinestone brooch

Long ago, my mom gave me her collection of rhinestone jewelry. I’ve hung onto it for decades, up to the point that it’s become fashionable again in more recent years. I have finally worn her rhinestone brooch at a few New Year’s Eve parties. It dazzles with all the glamour of the 50s Mad Men parties she attended.

You see, It’s not about the value of these pieces of jewelry. It has much more to do with their beauty, or the emotional connect between who they were and who I am today. To touch what they touched, to feel jewelry on me what they felt. It’s a strong DNA connection.

I needed to reminisce today.

Read more of my Sharing Suzette stories.