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.
June 14, 2011
Cycles
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.
A client recently came in with a lovely vintage engagement ring in need of some repair. She shared her engagement story. It was Thanksgiving, many years ago, and her young and sweet husband to be was ready to propose. He had a plan! He was going to hide the diamond ring INSIDE the pumpkin pie. Fortunately, he chose to share his idea with his mom, who convinced him, at the last minute, to leave at least the diamond visible above the surface.
Thanks mom, for saving the moment, the ring and, quite possibly, a tooth!
4/9/10
THE STORY – R.Z. Loved a ring. She came in months ago, to get a necklace repaired, spotted the Art Deco diamond ring in our case, and it was love at first sight. R. mentioned it to a friend, who wanted to see it too, so they came in together “to visit”. The friend ooh’d and ahh’d and so R. mentioned it to another friend, who wanted to check it out too. This went on for a few weeks, until the sad day that R. brought in a friend to visit “her” ring, only to find it GONE! Yes, there were a few tears.
THE TWIST – R. was one of the lucky ones. Unbeknownst to her, the ring had secretly been purchased by her fiance, (tipped off by friend #2), who held on to it for several more weeks before presenting it to a shocked and delighted, (and tearful), R.
THE MORAL – Come visit our rings as much as you like, but once you know a ring is “the one”, please put a deposit on it! Our vintage rings are one of a kind pieces. Once they go, they are gone, and until we perfect our time machine (we are working on it), we can’t travel back to 1925 to get you another one just like it.
3/10/10-
R found a particularly good looking novelty box in the shape of a crab, and hatched a proposal plan. The ring was put into the box, and a trip to the coast was scheduled. R got a few paces ahead of his beloved on a beach walk, bent down, and “found” the crab in the sand. He called his sweetheart H over to check out his find, but instead of walking nearer, H saw the wiggling articulated box in R’s hand, and took off screaming in the other direction down the beach.
After much cajoling, H came close and bravely examined the “crab”, which revealed its secret, a beautiful late Victorian ring featuring a particularly vibrant and beautiful sapphire with diamond side detail.
We suspect H and R will live happily ever after.
2/26/10 The staff at Maloy’s wants to thank our clients for sharing their wonderful family jewelry stories! It is an honor to be included in the process of getting your precious heirlooms ready for another generation to enjoy.
THE ITEM- Today I worked with a woman who has a beautiful, heavy , 18k yellow gold chain. The chain dates from the Victorian era, and is almost 6 feet long.
THE STORY- This woman’s grandmother hid this extraordinary chain in her clothing when she immigrated to the United States from Greece around 1910. She was traveling with her two small children, and brought the chain as an “insurance policy”, thinking she could use it in an emergency as a bribe to secure safe passage. Happily, it was not needed, and all arrived safely, with the chain still hidden in her bodice.
THE NEXT CHAPTER – “The Chain” is now being divided into a number of shorter necklaces and bracelets, so that each of this brave woman’s descendants can have their own piece of this wonderful family story.
2/22/10 Good thinking! Clients A. & C. came in today with a scary story
but happy ending. C’s ring was too big on him, and next thing he knew, it
fell off his cold wet hand on the beach at Sauvie Island. The heavy gold
band immediately vanished into the sand without a trace, and they knew
sifting through the sand was only burying it deeper. In a burst of
brilliance, they ran out and rented a metal detector. They located the ring
within 5 minutes of searching, and brought it in to have it sized correctly.
