An important memory

I've got my mum's wedding ring on and I never take it off! It has to be taped over if I have an operation. I remember dad giving it to mum one Christmas as they couldn't afford one when they got married straight after the war. He had wrapped it dozens of times until the parcel was quite large. That impressed me because he wasn't a demonstrative sort of man.

Except for one or two pieces which I hope my daughter will eventually wear and cherish, I have no particular attachment to my jewellery, some of which is very good quality. What did upset me somewhat is the way both my late sisters split my mother's meagre collection of pieces between them without even asking me whether I wanted anything. They thought I wouldn't be interested. I wasn't, particularly, but it would have been nice to be asked. It has upset me more that since one of them died, all the photographs of my father taken during his Army service in WW2 have fallen into the keeping of one of my nephews, who has seemingly no intention of letting me have any of them, or to have them copied, for which I would have footed the bill. I have his medals, though, and they will stay in the family. When we were on holiday recently, my son asked if he could borrow one of the two pairs of binoculars I had brought with us. I gave him a pair and said that when I died, he could have my Leitz Trinovids (which rarely come out of the house these days) as they are probably the only thing of any value that I personally would be able to gift to him. He got quite upset at the thought of it!

My DH has recently bought me three very pretty rings with different gemstones, sapphire, Moldavite, and one with five different coloured sapphires, totally unexpected, they are beautiful. I love them.
As for selling things, my Great Aunt was awarded Maundy money, and got all dressed up to be presented with it at Carlisle Cathedral many years ago. She was a spinster, so when she died my father and his brothers disposed of the estate. They sold everything. I would dearly have loved to keep the Maundy money as a memento. There were only five great nieces and nephews, between us I'm sure we could have come to an agreement about it.

Ann, the ring is in the safe as is her eternity ring - which is going to one of my sisters in law! Why am I looking after them, I ask myself?

I had some of my mum's and grandma's jewellery, which I kept in a drawer and never wore, they didn't fit me and were very old fashioned. I got a lady who makes bespoke jewellery to use the one large diamond into a ring for my eldest DD, she used the gold and some of the tiny diamonds to make me an eternity ring, and two other matching rings,( my OH footed the bill so he did " give " them to me) I have a bag of a few small diamonds left which I may get made into a ring for my youngest DD next time she has a special birthday. I feel this was a good use of the jewellery and I love my matching rings. I have my dad and grandad's medals which I have had framed with a photo of each of them, so they will mean something to future generations.

I have my grandmother's engagement ring. I had to have it enlarged as she was a very small woman. Granny and grandpa's initials are inside along with the date - May 1904.

When my mother died a few years ago, I inherited a gold sapphire ring that she`d been bought by her MIL, my paternal grandma, many years ago. One stone is missing, and the mount is cracked, so I took it to a couple of jewellers to ask about getting it mended. I`d been wondering if they WERE sapphires, because they were quite pale, but the first jeweller said they were watery sapphires, and valued the ring at £675, the next one said they were real stones, but didn`t want to risk the mending of it, but the third jeweller said after just a glance that they were fake stones, hardly worth anything at all. The result of it all is that I still have the ring, in the condition in which I received it, because I couldn`t afford the first jeweller`s price for repairs.

I have my mother's jewellery, I could never sell it. I say that but you never know what circumstances you may find yourself in.

When my Mum passed away there were 3 'good ' rings.

A diamond solitaire that was her Mums. Her wedding ring and her eternity ring.

There was no argument between the 4 of us. Everyone chose a ring which was valued and then what money there was , was given out with it being adjusted to take into account the value of the ring.my brother didn't want jewellery but therefore got more money.

I chose the solitare because it had been my grandmothers as well and I knew the story of the stone being won in a card game on a tie pin by my grandad . He had it reset in platinum for my Gran. It was pawned and retrieved a number of times during her life.

I would never sell it and it will go to my youngest DD , my Grandmothers namesake. I know she would never sell it either .

When my mother died DH removed her wedding ring and eternity ring and gave them to me. I was a bit shocked because I thought she would have wanted to keep them. However I didn't feel up to trying to put them back on and I have worn them ever since. I know DD would like to have the eternity ring eventually.

As an only child I solely inherited my parents/grandparents possessions. I have ornaments that were my grandmother's and passed to my father which are now mine. I guess they have a value and by definition antiques. I also have my grandmother's ring which the hallmark is 1899 because it was a family piece. The ornaments are in the attic because they are not my taste and the ring too big for my finger but I still could not part with them.

I kept my Mum's engagement ring but didn't wear it as the underside of the band had become very thin. I wanted to be able to wear it though and as the Jewellry Quarter is very accessible, took it to a Jeweller I knew and asked his advice. He designed and made a pendant using all the ring's gold and stones and included my birthstone. It is just lovely and when I wear it I feel that Mum is included in family events. Also, I think my daughter will - eventually - be more likely to wear it than a ring.

Is this a solution? I photographed my jewellery on a cushion with a number by each item, then I wrote a list of the items with information as to whom they originally belonged, and how I came to own them - with some interesting stories. ( A studio photograph of my grandmother, circa 1908 wearing "my" gold locket is included.) My children have been instructed to chose, in turn, various items that they would like to own. My sisters and I did this after our mother died, it worked well, and I love seeing mum's engagement ring being worn by my niece.
One consolation is that, by then, I will not know how things will turn out!

Keep the ring but wear it. Jewellery is of no consequence hidden away while wearing a knock-out, valuable piece will make you feel a million dollars.

my mother left me her diamond ring which was valued quite high for insurance purposes.
then, after a series of bad luck incidents, i needed to buy a car to get around [i'm disabled and need a car on a daily basis].

for reasons i won't go into i was unable to get a motability car or buy one on hire purchase so i was forced to sell my mum's ring. the money bought me a car which saved my sanity and helped with the transport situation.

i regret selling the ring but i know my mum would understand the reason why i did it and she would have approved. she would never want me to be without.

i know this is different from the original poster's situation but i would add that you wouldn't get anything like the insurance value if you sold it. i had to accept an offer very considerably lower than the insurance value.

I must be the odd one out here, I sold my engagement ring to buy something of greater value. I've now upgraded that one and I've bought a new wedding ring. I should actually say 'we' as all these purchases were made with my loving and tolerant husband by my side. And we go halves!!

Thank you everyone for answering, I feel much better, and will certainly keep Mums engagement ring, AND wear it , and think of MUM even more each day, AND feel a million dollars as Lilyflower said.

I inherited my Granny's rose gold gate bracelet (I have only ever seen one other like it) when my Granddad died - it bypassed Mum much to her disgust. My DD doesn't wear gold jewellery (I only have a few pieces) so she will probably sell my jewellery & as I only have 1 DGS I don't know what will happen to the bracelet.

On the subject of medals, I have my Granddad's WW1 medals,nothing special plus his call up papers & a few photos. I don't know what my DD will do with those as she never knew my Granddad.

All my ornaments, I'm a collector, will be sold - my DD frequently tells me - I love them but not her taste so it's entirely up to her - I shan't be here to worry!!!!

The subject of medals is a tricky one. As I said, I have my father's and we have DH's, including one special one. They will go to our son, who will keep them with his medals, so three generations. He has stepsons, and much as we love them, they are not family, and I would like them kept in the family. I would like to suggest that he wills them to my only grandson (DD's child), along with a special pair of DH's cuff links which will also go to him, but I don't feel I somehow have the right to dictate to him what he should do with them. Once they are his, they are his.

When my children were small we lived in a very small flat in London so we decided to buy a caravan to get out at weekends but we didn't have quite enough money so sold my grandmothers rings. That gave us a lot of pleasure for three years then we sold the caravan to get the deposit for our own house. I'm sure Grandma would have thought we did the right thing.
.

I wear my DM's engagement ring as well as my own.
I had to have a diamond replaced but it was worth it.
DD wears her DGM's.

Moving house when the children were babies I lost my engagement ring. It was given by DHs grandma , and I loved it. I have spent the last 50 yrs looking for something similar, but no luck yet. Don't sell your ring. You will regret it I'm sure

I'm with you Bijou, I've only kept family jewellery which I like and wear, otherwise it's been given to other family members who liked it. I have no problem in selling any surplus and giving the proceeds to my children to enjoy now when they are young, rather than leave it in my will.

Off Topic really ........ when we got married , one present from a neighbour was an electric clock , it was a dark pink colour . I quite liked it but OH just loved it and I was surprised when I couldn't find it to put in our new kitchen ........ he had given it to his Mum , said she needed it more than us , never found out what the neighbour thought !

Gillibob - I have a sister like that. Don't give in.