Almost every woman has a box of jewelry stashed somewhere in her bedroom or powder room full of outdated, broken, or just plain never worn jewelry.  More often than not when a piece of jewelry breaks, we sigh (or cry) and put it away in a box “just in case.”   Why not break that box out and sort through it?  Chances are, it is filled with potential!

My box of unused jewelry was full of potential.  Here’s my story.  When I was younger, I received a lot of jewelry from my Great Grandmother and never really knew what to do with it.  I kept all of it, and came upon my box of unused jewelry several months ago.  My favorite of all the pieces were these two gorgeous bracelets; one gold and pearl bracelet and one silver bracelet studded with narrow marquis cut crystals.  The later was actually a piece designed by Weiss, a popular affordable costume jewelry company from 1940-1971.   The pearl bracelet was miss all but four pearls and a little too big for my tiny wrist, the crystal Weiss bracelet was broken in a few different spots that  linked the bracelet together and missing one marquis crystal.  Gazing at these beautiful bracelets, I thought, there has to be a way to fix them!

There was a way to fix my vintage bracelets!  The Left Bank Jewelry, a tiny bridal boutique in Chicago’s Lincoln Park had introduced me to a young, local designer name Alex Agudo (shown above) whose precious gem jewelry line, Monsieur Pamplemousse, had always appealed to me.  He turned out to be my savior!   Alex is a jewelry genius!  He was able to replace all my missing pearls and shorten the first bracelet.  Since the shortening was exactly two links, he took the remaining two and converted them into chic, dangling earrings.  The second bracelet, the Wiess piece, needed more help, so Alex completely reconstructed it.  The individual crystal links were separated out and he strung gorgeous black agat between four of them, converted two into post button style earrings, and made a pendant necklace out of the last, undamaged link.  Now I have new beautiful jewelry, and a great way to remember my Great Grandmother.

Your broken and vintage jewelry box can have a happy ending too.  Take a survey of your pieces and see what could be repaired or redesigned for you.  A pair of old looking clip earrings can easily be converted into post earring with a chic crystal drop for your pierced earrings.  Bracelets can be reconfigured into necklaces in your favorite color or necklaces can be twisted into bracelets.  Know someone who is getting married?  Have a broken bracelet converted into tiny, sparkling hairpins and gift them to the bride to be for her “something old” or “something borrowed.”  Need more instant gratification?  For an quick conversion, try taking three or four older bracelets and wearing them stacked together. 

Jewelry deserves to be worn, and if the pieces in your box are just sitting there.  Find a local designer and see what they can do for you.  The possibilities are endless.   Sometimes all that broken bracelet needs is a few extra pearls and a little extra love. 

Sources & More Information

A little history as well as Weiss Jewelry pieces for sale http://www.collectorsindex.com/weiss.htm
The Left Bank Jewelry http://www.LeftBankJewelry.com
Monsieur Pamplemousse http://mpbijoux.com/