Treasures, Part 2

These are a few more of the treasures from my mother's little red cardboard jewelry box.

This may have been her mother's wedding band. It's 14K gold, and the design covers all but about a half-inch of the outer ring, leaving a space for engraving. But nothing is engraved, leaving some doubt as to whose ring it actually is.

This is my mother's wedding set. The stones look larger in this picture than they really are. In fact, until I saw this photograph, I hadn't realized that a stone was missing from the larger ring. You can see the empty hole on the right-hand side of the ring. At the time that my parents married, there couldn't have been much money to spend on the rings, but I've always admired this wedding set. The rings are designed in a way that enhances the stones and shows them in their best light.

I don't know whose ring this cameo was. I don't think I ever saw my mom wear it, so it may have belonged to an aunt who died when I was about nine. It's also 14K gold and was one of the many items that stirred my interest and imagination as it languished in Mom's jewelry box when I was young.

This is my mother's birthstone ring. Information inside the ring includes the letters "OB," the 14K designation, and what looks like a sort of cross. The "OB" identifies the ring's manufacturer as Otsby and Barton. Interestingly, Otsby was a passenger on the Titanic and died when that ship sank on her maiden voyage in 1912. I'm not sure what the cross symbol might mean. It might be an indicator of the date of production, but I couldn't find any information about that.

I always thought that this ring was my grandmother's birthstone ring, partly because the size was larger than my mom's rings. But Grandma's birthday was in October, and the October birthstone is an opal, not a garnet or a ruby. So, again, I have an object that I don't know a lot about. And again, the photograph reveals a blemish that I didn't know existed until I saw it in the picture. You can see that there's a chip out of the stone. If there is any information inside the ring, I'm not able to make it out with a regular magnifying glass. The gold is dull and tarnished looking, so it may not be of a very high quality.

This is one that I don't have a clue about. It's a sterling silver filigree ring with what is most likely a genuine diamond chip. It's quite tarnished but would probably be very pretty if professionally polished. I know nothing of its history.

On another note...the hand model really should get a manicure.

I saw my niece, Beckie, today; and she was asking why she'd never heard of these "treasures" before and said she was waiting with anticipation for the next installment. So, Beckie, this post is for you.