“just because it’s Tuesday and I love you.”

I am passionate about jewelry, especially estate and vintage pieces. I often hold a piece and wonder “Why was this given?” If it could only talk and tell us where it has been and what it has seen! A hopeless romantic, I imagine jewels as being tokens of love. My favorite gifts are “just because.” Richard Burton made this idea famous when he gave Liz Taylor a suite of emerald jewelry “just because it’s Tuesday and I love you.” I recommend we embrace this idea and shower our loved ones with magnificent jewels.

My love affair with jewelry began in my grandmother’s jewelry boxes. Fourteen years before I was born, my grandfather, Frederic Hammer, died. My grandmother, Ida Katherina Hammer, affectionately called Oma, never remarried. After the loss of her husband, she turned her master bedroom into a walk-in jewelry box. This room ignited my imagination and fueled my appreciation for magnificent baubles. The walls were filled with framed vitrines of vintage brooches while jewelry boxes of necklaces, rings and gem bracelets were scattered over every available surface of the room. As a child, I spent hours finding hidden treasures. Often playing pirates so I could wear as much jewelry as possible without ridicule!

Picuted Left: During the Victorian era fine emeralds were more valuable than diamonds. These emeralds are large, beautifully cut and of exquisite color.

 

Picuted One: Oma, circa 1925

Picuted Two: Detail of an earring 18th Century Dove Florentine micro mosaic, which is created by using small pieces of cut gemstones set in onyx.