Monday, November 30, 2015

Lockets of Yesteryear



This morning I read Phillis Hoffman DePiano’s piece on lockets. It was so interesting to read about the bracelet Prince Albert gave to Queen Victoria with eight lockets, each with a hair clipping from their eight children. I was also impressed to learn that Anne Boleyn’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth, wore a locket with a painting of her and her mother.
This reminded me of a locket I have but have not worn for a while. It is gold and I wore it many days teaching or going out to dressy affairs. But since being at home, I have kept to the family tradition of sliver brackets on my arm and simple necklaces. They go better with the jeans and sweat pants I wear now!

But I am digging out the locket today. It was my great grandmother’s piece. Although hard to read in the script, her initials for Louise Toy Brasher are etched on the front. Inside she carried pictures of both her daughters when they were young women.



My great-grandmother died when I was a freshman in college. I can’t remember how I came to have the locket. But at some point, I took out my great aunt’s picture and put in my future DH’s picture. I thought my Granny and he were my loves! I still have the small picture of my great aunt somewhere. I need to find it and return to it to its place, the one my great grandmother loved.

The publisher of Victoria magazine writes a blog that you can view here: http://www.theribboninmyjournal.com/the-secret-life-of-antiques-lockets/#comment-17221



Do you have a locket?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's lovely. I had my great aunt's locket and passed it off to my aunt to enjoy for a while. I'm not much of a 'jewellery girl'.

Anonymous said...

Claudia--I had a locket as a teenager, but lost it decades ago. This would make a great short story.

Elephant's Child said...

No lockets here. They are among the most sentimental (and often poignant) pieces of jewellery though...

Donna Volkenannt said...

What a lovely locket and sentiment. I have a locket but no photo inside. I agree with Sioux that it would make a great short story.

Susan said...

Hi Bookie...
Lovely locket! I have one but, to be honest, I never wear it. Maybe I should start! Nice post. Susan

Lisa Ricard Claro said...

Love lockets, but don't have one. My brother gave me one for Christmas when I was 9 or 10 that opened and it was a watch. I loved it, but of course lost it. :(

Marylin Warner said...

Oh, Claudia, lockets are my favorite jewelry. In our Brethren family, the women didn't often wear much flashy jewelry, but they all had lockets. My grandmother was buried with her locket that still held a lock of hair from her first husband who had died when she was a young mother raising their five children.
One of my favorite birthday presents was a locket my daughter Molly had found at a collectible shop in Kansas. She put tiny pictures of my two grandchildren in the two picture spaces.
Thank you for this reminder.