Monday, August 16, 2010

Rubie's year


It is 1910 . . . women are still nearly a decade away from the right to vote, the Titanic is being built at a shipyard in Belfast, Georgia O'Keefe just finished art school at the University of Chicago, Gershwin is learning how to play the piano, Oklahoma is the newest state in the union, Nicholas II is the Tsar of Russia and - someone gives a girl named Rubie a lovely locket.

I have great reverence for sentimental jewelry of all kinds, but this piece in the shop is particularly touching. It is easy to imagine what was happening - and what was about to happen - in the country and in the world when Rubie first put this locket around her neck 100 years ago. This is the magnificent thing about vintage and antiques - through surviving material culture, we have a powerful link to the past.

The feelings bound up in the locket are a century old, but they feel fresh and new. The locket is wonderful, the photos are charming . . . it begs to be worn again.

7 comments:

A Wild Tonic said...

Just beautiful.

samantha ramage said...

soooooooo pretty. i love your introduction. i would buy it just for that, even if my name isn't rubie.

xo
sami

Wildfell Hall Vintage said...

I love imagining who those people were in the little pics...this one is a beauty!

Em said...

The engraving is just beautiful...

labonnefemme1 said...

My Great grandmother was a Rubie and she was born just about this time. I had the pleasure of knowing her until my Junior year of high school...sweet memories and a sweet post- Thank you!

Elizabeth McTear said...

Hi! I'm MouseTrap Vintage's (Sarah) friend, Beth. I was the one that she and another friend of ours bought this locket for! I'm soooo excited. I'm wearing it right now. Sarah had sent me the link to it right after you listed it, and I had gone back and forth on buying it, and the day I'd finally decided I HAD TO HAVE IT, it was gone! I was so bummed! I swore at my computer and then obsessively started searching for possible other lockets, but nothing compared. I had had this fantasy of wearing it on my wedding, with a picture of my groom on one side and our dog, Ruby, on the other. And little did I know that the locket was on it's way to me! I cried when I opened it and am so absolutely thrilled that I'll be able to live out my fantasy on my wedding day.
Hoooooray!!!!

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