Some time ago, we wenches were talking jewellery (or jewelry depending on where you live.) It was inspired by this blog by Mary Jo. And I mentioned some of the little pieces I was given in travels when I was a child.
Mary Jo said: “Travels through my jewellery box” would be a fabulous blog! And so, since I'm scrambling to meet a deadline, and don't have time to do a research-heavy blog, here it is.
I was very fortunate to travel quite widely as a child, and at many places we visited, I was given a little souvenir. Mostly they are cheap little things, but I've never equated monetary value with personal value, and these little items are precious to me.
I took the photos today, using a piece of plain white paper as a background. Bizarrely it turned out blue! No idea why. Sorry about that.
In this photo at the top left, there's a little brass Cockington Piskie—yes, that's the correct spelling—from Cockington Forge in Devon. Ugly little fellow, isn't he, but he's supposed to be lucky. I vividly remember visiting that big dark old forge.
Next to it is the letter A from the Book of Kells which is in Dublin. Beautiful, isn't it? I used to wear this on my favourite blue jumper until the jumper fell to bits. I visited the Book of Kells later on as an adult, and fell in love with it all over again.
On the lower left is a dear little donkey pin from the beautiful little village of Clovelly in Cornwall. It's very steep and so they used to use donkeys to transport things (and people) up and down the hill. I was eight when we visited, and of course I fell madly in love with the donkeys, so I'm very fond of this little pin. These days, of course, the donkeys are there for tourist reasons — and they now charge you to enter the village, which they didn't when I was a kid. More about Clovelly here.
Last in that photo above is a sphinx from Egypt which we visited that same year. I don't think it needs much explanation, does it?
The blue and gold bracelet was from Italy, and was a gift from friends we met up with in Italy. We didn't do a lot of travel through Italy when I was small, so I didn't get to visit all the places and sights portrayed on the enamels — not until I was an adult and backpacking. My strongest childhood memories are from Genoa and Naples.
Also in that photo is a dragon boat brooch — from Thailand, I think. That dates from later on in my travels, from when my parents lived in Penang, in Malaysia for three years.
Next is my favorite brooch from Scotland— orange carnelian. It was my mother's—but I've never worn the earrings that go with it because I have pierced ears and don't like wearing screw-on earrings that squash your earlobes. But I love celtic-design jewellery, and have bought a number of pieces in silver over the years.
The paua shell bracelet and letter A brooch are from my first visit to New Zealand, when I was eleven. My whole family went — it was just before my oldest sister got married, so it was a special family holiday, the last time we all went away together. It was a magical trip — I still remember my first sight of glow worms in the forest, and I collected paua (abalone) shells from the beach and brought them home. I also found a greenstone rock on a beach near Greymouth, and when I showed it to a man at the greenstone carving factory, he polished off one side for me so it glowed dark green.
Next is probably my favourite brooch, this silver one of dancing brolgas. Brolgas are a kind of heron that llive in Australia. They are very tall and they do an amazing courtship dance before they mate. (More about brolgas here.) I bought this brooch for not very much at a local craft market — it's not even real silver but I love it, and one time, when I thought I'd lost it, I was devastated. (Turned out I had removed it and put it in a Very Safe Place while I got my jacket dry-cleaned.)
Last is not so much a travel souvenir, but a memory of my grandmother — this pretty little micro-mosaic brooch and earrings. I always loved it. I think it's from Italy, but I'm not sure. It's hard to see in the photo, but it's made of tiny chips of glass, called tesserae, arranged to make a design or a picture. You can read more about the history of micro-mosaics here.
It was one of my favorite things to do when I was a child, to go through Nana's or Mum's jewellery boxes and look at all the pretty things. So you see, I was travelling through jewellery boxes from a young age. And clearly I haven't stopped.
What about you? Do you have any pretty pieces that remind you of places you've been to, or people you've known. Did you like to go through your mother's jewellery box? Tell us about it.