"You Shouldn't Have!"

It’s that time again. You open the box—

“Oh, honey! You shouldn’t have!”

Because even though you love him—really, you do—you do not love that jewelry. 

And you know he meant well. Some store clerk said all the women were wearing it this year and he thought, “Great!”

Not long ago a woman on the bus, upon hearing I’d just written an article to help men make better gift choices (right here: http://myjewelrydoctor.blogspot.com/2014/04/hard-to-shop-for-not-any-more_27.html), said, “I’m giving that to my husband,” who had, with the best of intentions, bought her diamond hoop earrings. Not little, delicate earrings, which is her style. J. Lo hoops.

“What was he thinking?” she asked.

Poor guy. He was in a store, nervous, wanting to do the right thing, and the clerk sold him the earrings.   

And she didn’t mean any harm, either. She just didn’t know your style. He went along with what she said the trend was, and she forgot how women view trends: We view them. We think about them. We think about what part of the trend looks like something we would actually wear. At least, most of us do.

So there’s the box, destined for your drawer. Not to worry. Take it out. Bring it to the Jewelry Doctor. Those big diamond hoops?  No reason the diamonds can’t be repurposed in other earrings, or a pendant, or maybe a ring. And the hoops themselves? They can be set with other gemstones. Garnet, for example, or citrine, or amethyst.

“But I wouldn’t wear them.”

Right. But that friend of yours that loves big everything? Honey, you now have her birthday gift.

Or say he gave you a gold pendant. You think the sapphire in it is wonderful. But you haven’t worn gold in years. You like platinum. (Or white gold. Or sterling silver.)

Fine. The sapphire goes in a platinum pendant mounting for you, and the gold pendant mounting is set with lapis, or blue topaz, or smoky quartz. Another gift.

Maybe somebody gave you a choker, and you don’t wear chokers. Fine. We can make the choker into a longer necklace. Or the necklace is too long, and you end up wrapping it around and around and around. We can make that into two or three separate necklaces that you can wear separately or together. 

Perhaps you like some of the elements in the necklace, but it doesn’t work for you as a whole. We can take it apart and redo it. Or the pendant he gave you is tiny, but you’re not, and it’s lost on you. We can put a frame around it. (See how we solved that challenge here: 

http://myjewelrydoctor.blogspot.com/2009/04/music-for-josie.html).

 

And then there are the things you bought when you were out with the girls after the champagne brunch, or bought when you were much younger and your style was—well, you're not sure what it was, but it sure isn’t your style these days.

So gather everything you have no intention of ever wearing (or wearing again), call Laynie at San Francisco Jewelry Doctor, 415/796-3969, and we’ll make it all better.

“Promise?”

Promise. Oh, and you know the best part? It’ll be our little secret. Just tell him he’s the greatest. Well, he is, isn’t he? Of course he is. He’s with you.

©2015 Laynie Tzena.