Born a Magpie

My jewellery drawer (top drawer of my dresser) had become a nightmare. Over the Christmas break I - tongue clamped between teeth - carefully polished all my bits of silver and individually bagged them to keep them from tarnishing, on the advice of a jeweller friend. I never put them back in their boxes so it was a bit of a disaster. Today I did that, and all is... well, top drawer.

The first piece of jewellery I ever received is in the small pale pink plastic box in the centre of the drawer...




A gift from my Italian nonna when I was just a baby:

The ruby and gold heart is still protected by the original pink cotton batting that it came with.

What a thrill when I was allowed to wear it as a child! And what an even bigger thrill when I was allowed to take full-time possession of it.

And today, on a whim, I googled Gioielleria Fanuele and found that in 2005 it celebrated its centenary and is still going strong. When I next visit Rome, it's on the agenda.