Well, we always have green in mind, using recycled gold, restoring antiques to extend their useful lives, and re fashioning old pieces, but over the holiday break, we also got a bit of a facelift, in the form of new carpeting, in a lovely shade of deep soft green! Come visit and tell us what you think!
1) Multiple instances of dads coming in with kids to help pick out gifts for moms. Input ranging from “that necklace is as pretty as mommy” from a 6 year old to “Mom would want a bigger one” from a 14 year old.
2) Re creating L’s mother’s wedding set from the only surviving part – the damaged head and diamond. Working with only her memories and a few remaining clues, we were able to rebuild the long lost rings for her.
3) Our favorite – an “in house” proposal! R and B had chosen a ring together, and were in to make their final lay away payment. When we asked B why she wasn’t putting the ring on, she answered “because he hasn’t actually proposed yet”. R got down on one knee and said “in front of these two lovely ladies… and this dog – You are the girl of my dreams, will you be my wife?”
Really, we love working here. Thanks to all our clients for another great year of letting us be part of your jewelry stories
V. was checking out our website even before R proposed. She noticed our “English Buttercup” ring and immediately fell in love with it. Her hunch about R’s intentions was spot on, and within a short time, R asked for her hand while they were on a motorcycle trip together. V was overjoyed and mentioned that buttercup might be “the” ring, but before they could come into the shop, their priorities shifted. R was in a motorcycle accident. All time, energy and finances were redirected towards healing. Several months passed. Without telling each other, they would each periodically check our website in secret to see if “buttercup” had sold, and were relieved each time to learn that she seemed to be waiting here for them. R is now sufficiently recovered (and sporting a cool mermaid handled walking stick). Today they came in, and after months of stalking buttercup online, R slipped the ring on V’s finger. All agree it’s even better than the picture, and so worth the wait. You will notice that buttercup is finally marked “sold” in our featured section.
Thirty years ago RM found MM, and knew she was “the one”. He popped the question, and then popped a second question… did she want a ring, or did it feel more important to put that money towards a downpayment on a house? The lure of homeownership was great, and MM put aside her desire for sparkly things and went for lathe and plaster (and a simple band) instead. Now, for their 30th anniversary, RM and is celebrating by finally rewarding MM’s delayed gratification. Together they have picked out a beautiful natural, unheated, cornflower blue sapphire for a splendid celebratory ring. Sapphire was the original engagement stone, by the way… it’s where the expression “true blue” comes from. Indeed! Happy anniversary to MR and MM from everyone here at Maloy’s, we wish you many more joyous years together!
E.C. came in to re visit a favorite ring in our shop. Her beloved, M, could not be with her, because he was stranded at home with a broken leg. While E. tried on assorted sparklies in the shop with Julie, our phone rang. Unbeknownst to E, the caller was M, (who had known where E was heading). He spoke in secret with staff member Nina, who gave him a blow by blow report as E looked around. Once E found just the right ring, and asked Julie to place it on hold so she could talk to M about it, M gave Nina the go-ahead to run it on his credit card. Imagine E’s shock and delight when Nina presented the ring to E, in a special box, and told her the ring was paid for! Smiles and squeals all around, and a wonderful homecoming to M. for sure.
A few days later, a sweet note arrived from E. “I can’t thank you enough for helping my boyfriend surprise me. Your kindness and understanding will always be remembered. Thanks again, you are great!
Moral of the story-
We are almost always happy to “play along” with a clever little plan you cook up… just give us a heads up. It is always an honor to be a part of your special story!
R.P. and B.D. are avid surfers. After they came into Maloy’s and fell in love with the perfect ring, R had what seemed at the time, a brilliant and romantic plan. On their next surfing trip, he would attach the ring to the key clip on the shoulder of his wetsuit, then paddle out and propose in the waves. Let’s take a moment and think about that…
Fortunately, all those images you just imagined of the ring slipping out of his gloved hand and being tossed for a moment on a wave before sinking to the bottom of the sea? R had those visions too. He instead proposed somewhat spontaneously at a dinner gathering. B says it was perfect, and that no, she does not plan to wear her delicate Victorian diamond ring while surfing – she wants to always keep it out of Poseidon’s grasp.
J.B. and M.D.R. are avid cyclists. J, being all artistic, came up with a lovely pattern they call “infinity bike chain”. They used the pattern on all their wedding stationery and also had us hand engrave it on their wedding bands. The endless pattern evokes continuity and interconnectedness. Further developing the theme, J. wanted to incorporate her grandmother’s rings, and came up with a novel way to do it. We are lightly tacking them together, slightly offset, with the laser. J. will then weave a chain through the openings, and close the circle of the chain, woven through the circles of the past, around her neck on the wedding day. What a lovely way to express so many “cycles”
T.C. Was so happy with her engagement ring from us that she brought her friend, S.B. In to do a little preliminary shopping for her own ring. We helped S. narrow down our selection to her favorite style, and we were happily exploring different rings in that genre.
Suddenly S. pointed to a ring in the case that was quite flashy, and nothing like the other rings she had been looking at. S. explained that she had recently unearthed the diary she kept at the age of 12. In it, she had described the “fantasy wedding” her future self would have. The ring she pointed to in our case was strikingly similar to the picture she had pasted into her diary all those years ago.
Other fantasy options from her 12 year old self that her adult self will probably pass on- the fashion ideas. Options at the top of the list back then were
1) The tight bodice with extremely giant tulle skirt
2) The winter wedding with fur muffs (aka the Russian princess wedding)
3) The bikini wedding.
We were flattered when R.B. came into the shop recently and told us that Maloy’s had made it into her dreams. After “visiting” several favorite rings, she had a nightmare in which she came into the store to find we had sold all of them. In fact, in dreamland, our stock had been reduced to nothing but rings made of wood and strips of sharp plastic (!) She was relieved to find that our selection of marvelous antique rings- made of precious, long lasting, and comfortable materials, was as healthy as ever.
A.B. was browsing our website and spotted the ring of her dreams, the large yellow sapphire ring we have nicknamed “Bourbon, straight up”. She mentioned the ring to her sweetheart, J.C., several times with no results. She decided to up the ante, and actually changed the background photo on his computer to the “Bourbon” image on our site!
J. got the message, and came in to discover that Bourbon had already sold, but we were able to custom build a variation on the theme for her that was proportioned beautifully for her hand, as well as being proportioned well for his budget.