Introduction

Sometimes destiny appears early in life, but that only becomes clear with age and perspective. My mother, the church lady always willing to work on church projects, took me to help setting up the annual rummage sale when I was eight years old...she hoped that her daughter would learn to volunteer...but that day when I fell in love with a string of beads in the middle of a pile of jewelry and took a quarter out of my pocket, my destination was set in another direction. Ten years later there was a pile of old jewelry under my bed and a closet filled with flapper dresses and an art deco purple velvet bias cut gown worthy of Jean Harlow.

Fifty-three years have passed and there is still a pile of jewelry...no longer under the bed...well, maybe some...I thought it would be fun to share some of that collection with you.