Cherished Collections: A Blog Tour

This marks the second time recently that a blog party has gotten my butt in gear. First was the Parade of Homes, which made me hurry up and finish my office, and now there's a little something a fellow blogger, Casey, put together that made me sort my jewelry stash.

Shocking that a jewelry-maker would collect jewelry! In fact, I needed to dial it down a little--my magpie tendencies just take over when I see a good sparkle. So now things are organized, streamlined, and a few favorites are ready for show and tell.

And keeping with the theme of the blog, I'll tell you about the good deals I got along the way.

First up, what I call my Hogwarts ring:

Hubsey got this for me for our first wedding anniversary, and no, it's not HP memorabilia. It's an old promise/engagement ring from...

1871! Several things sold me on it. One, I've never seen anything like it. Two, it's hard to find an engraving that old in such good shape. Three, it's 140 years old! How often do you see that?

Next, my wedding jewelry--that I acquired for a grand total of $3.

The crystal brooch was found in a bin of junk at an antique store. I'm positive it was mislabeled, but I still got it for the aforementioned $3. Which means my wedding earrings were f-r-e-e! They were a gift from my mom, who has a matching pair.

Here's something I learned recently: white sapphires look a lot like diamonds. Not quite as sparkly, but still gorgeous AND easier on the ol' pocketbook. This ring was only $65.

Finally, a recent purchase during our trip to San Fran.

NOOOO! I wore it for two days and knocked one of the pearls out. So if anybody knows where I can buy one teeny tiny pearl (and not a bag of 6,000), that would be great.

So there you have it, a few favorites from my jewelry hoard collection. To see more showcases of fabulous things, be sure to check out Casey's daily round-up happening the rest of this week.

Do you collect anything? Anybody else have a soft spot for vintage jewelry? Does anyone know where I can get a teeny tiny pearl without buying the entire factory?