http://www.dworin.com/goldtone-brooch/
Jewelry of My Great-Grandmother
My great grandmother was a collector of so, so many knick-knacks. She hoarded imitation food, squeaky grapes and misshapen apples and hard fake bananas; she hoarded embroidered scarves from Spain, pale drawings of lumpy badly-drawn ballerinas, statues of the Virgin Mary in stone and copper and wood. She hoarded knitting and cushions and above all she collected jewelry, from antique rings to trash jewelry, enormous piles of wholesale jewelry that poured out of containers and across tables and out of drawers. Her house was like a museum of jewelry fashions from the past forty years; I used to wander, run my fingers through them in awe and wonder.
When I was a young child, my great grandmother was sick, as great grandmothers typically are. Every weekend we would visit her, like clockwork, take her unsure hands and her quiet humming out to dinner and a game of cards, vacuum her house and push the heaps of wholesale jewelry into fewer piles.
One day she didn’t answer the knock on the door and I realized, even then, what had happened. I hid in the car and hummed Amazing Grace to myself while the ambulances came to remove the great-grandmother. She was ninety-six:96 years old and she had lived lonely for twenty years in the apartment she grew up in, unrelentingly independent, consistently unwilling to move to a nursing home.
They snuck through her remnants, weeks later, bickered over the vintage fabrics and sorted through the bad drawings and ugly statues, made great piles of things too tasteless to keep, meant to be passed off to someone, anyone who might enjoy a basket of broken wax apples with their red skins chipping away to uncover cool white insides. They gave me a pile of her wholesale jewelry to keep my slippery hands out of the way; there was a strand of rosy peeling artificial pearls, long enough to wrap around my waist twice, and a junky gold ring with a great amethyst stone the size of a pebble, the setting shaped to look like small sphinxes, foreign and slightly bent. There was a wire brooch and a lucite bangle and, nestled at the bottom of the case with a ugly goldtone chain twined through it, a real wedding ring. It glittered like a firework before they stole it away from me and gave me a wax banana to love instead.
About the Author
Anna Su has been in the wholesale business since 2001. She became one of the largest wholesale importers in China.
Paula Abdul FYG Faux Fur Neck Wrap with Pav Brooch
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Sparkly Diamante Gold Tone Lucky Elephant Brooch Broach $0.01 |
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3.75″ Gold Tone Metal Panther BROOCH PIN $0.01 |
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LOVELY SMALL VTG VICTORIAN RHINESTONE GOLDTONE METAL ESTATE STICK BROOCH PIN NR! $0.01 |
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Vintage Christmas Brooch Goldtone Tree and MistleToe New-Never Worn! $0.01 |
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Cute Italian Mirco Mosaic Red Guitar Flower Brooch Pin Gold tone Millefiori $0.01 |
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Gold tone BROOCH PIN Rhinestones Navy Blue Faux Pearl $0.01 |
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Set of 5 PINS Brooch Gold Tone Blue Enamel Clouds Stars $0.01 |
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Pewter and Gold Tone BROOCH Pin with Purple Triangle Rhinestones 2.5″ Bellissima $0.01 |
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Gold tone BROOCH PIN Rhinestones Simulated Pearls BLUE $0.01 |
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Gold tone BROOCH PIN Rhinestones Simulated Pearls BLACK $0.01 |
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GoldTone Metal Scorpion BROOCH PIN w Simulated Pearl $0.01 |
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GOLD TONE BROOCH Pin Clear Austrian RHINESTONES SWAN $0.01 |
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GoldTone Metal Double Cats Kitty Kitten BROOCH PIN $0.01 |
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GoldTone Metal Tiger BROOCH PIN with Simulated Pearl $0.01 |
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Gold tone BROOCH PIN Rhinestones Navy Blue Faux Pearl $0.01 |
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Set of 5 PINS Brooch Gold Tone Blue Enamel Clouds Stars $0.01 |
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Silver and Gold Tone Cowboy Western Boot with Horse Spur Pendant BROOCH Pin $0.01 |
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Gold Tone Metal Butterfly PIN BROOCH $0.01 |
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Gold Tone Elephant BROOCH PIN w Simulated Pearl $0.01 |
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Gold Tone BROOCH Green Simulated Emerald Pin Dragonfly $0.01 |
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GEORGOUES ADORABLE VINTAGE GOLD TONE DACHSHUND CLUB OF AMERICA BROOCH $0.25 |
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Pearl Fish Rhinestone Pin Brooch Fashion Gold Tone $0.49 |
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Vintage Gold Tone Peach Brooch $0.50 |
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VINTAGE ESTATE 1930′s GOLD TONE STERLING SILVER FLORAL BROOCH PIN RHINESTONES NR $0.69 |
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From an Estate Beautiful Goldtone Christmas Wreath 1.5″ Brooch $0.75 |
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VTG Signed ART Bow Leaves Charm Brooch Gold Tone Art Nouveau Pin Ready 4 Charms $0.75 |
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VTG Gerry’s Art Nouveau Red Rose Flower Circle Eternity Brooch Gold Tone Pin NR $0.75 |
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From an Estate Beautiful Goldtone Star with Clear Stone Brooch $0.75 |
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VTG WESTERN GERMANY PIN/BROOCH~GORGEOUS GOLD TONE DESIGN W/EMERALD GREEN STONE $0.75 |
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From an Estate Beautiful “Best Teacher” Goldtone 2.5″ Wide Brooch $0.75 |