269 All That Glittered, Glitters On

Every piece of jewelry tells a story. Nowhere is this truer than with estate jewelry.

I recently bought my wife a "mourning" bracelet. For those unfamiliar, this type of jewelry's history is long, going back to the 16th Century and becoming popular in the 19th Century, especially in the Georgian era (1714–1837). The earliest types included macabre death-like symbols according to the traditional adage, memento mori ("Remember, we all die"). Queen Victoria, after Prince Albert died in 1861, mourned his death for 40 years. This made black jewelry fashionable in the Victorian era.

Common elements of the jewelry were black enamel, jet, onyx, glass, and vulcanite. Later, the morbid themes toned down and things focused on the memory of the deceased. When WWI negatively sensitized people to death, the style faded.

The piece I bought was of black enamel with seed pearls on gold, with a man's name inscribing its underside:

L.E. Dargin

Lawrence Edward? Liam Eamon? Lochlain Emmet?

I was intrigued. I Googled L.E. Dargin. Nothing. I also found nothing in Ancestry.com. Yet, there was an Irish(?) Mrs. Dargin who had thought so much of him to memorialize him on her wrist.

I wondered what kind of man he had been. A success in life, in love, or both? Whatever his success, he was loved and cherished: someone wasn't ready to let him go.

Now, a couple of hundred years later he adorns my wife's wrist.

It is a special piece of jewelry, displaying the beauty of a man and the woman who loved him even after death. That must be worth something in the human story.

Is it really fair he now exist only on an inscribed antique bracelet? His only legacy?

Despite the minute-t0-minute he lived his life, struggling, learning, educating, earning, yearning, competing, fighting, peacemaking, providing, befriending, loving, and/or fathering, it was as if, now, he had never been.

A Toast

So, to L. E. Dargin, a man who had earned the love, respect, and cherished dedication of a good woman! May you, L.E., rest in peace and be remembered.

Were I to be so lucky to be worn on the wrist of a great woman to whom I meant the world!

_________

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

For Wednesday, September 24, Day 269 of the 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge

366 WORDS (without A/N)

Accompaniment photos were by the author, husband, and acquirer of a mourning bracelet.

THIS CHALLENGE MOURNS ON, 366 SENTIMENTS AT A TIME.

There are currently three surviving, jewelry-donning, morning Vocal writers mourning in the 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge:

• L.C. Schäfer (Inscribed)

• Rachel Deeming (Described)

• Gerard DiLeo (Prescribed)