Another one from the family keepsakes.
This will probably apply to girls more than boys, but who had a jewelry box (or similar keepsake box) as a child? Did you have one that wound up with a twirling ballerina? For some reason, I’ve kept my jewelry box all these years with jewelry I wore as a little girl. I don’t think I’ve looked at it in over a decade, except for when I’m sorting through stuff and deciding what to toss, what to keep.
Top of the box. Yes, of course, it has kittens on it.
Back of the box – wind up to hear the song.
Inside: felted thick paper creates three spaces. This ballerina has lost her tutu and has seen better days, but the music still plays and she still twirls when I open the box. What did I find in there? Just random necklaces and bracelets that I used to wear as a little girl (that’s a unicorn necklace on the right) and a bunch of beaded necklaces on the left.
This particular jewelry is also a music box, a combination of the two. What sort of jewelry box did you have? Today I have a few small ceramic boxes (some from childhood, too) that were gifts from relatives and friends. Did you know that jewelry boxes were uncommon to the masses prior to the industrial revolution? Requiring such craftsmanship, tiny intricate boxes were not something that everyone could afford. Boxes were crafted out of metal, whereas today we find them in all sorts of materials, shapes and sizes.
For any jewelry box or music box aficionados out there, do you know when or why a ballerina was added? I haven’t come across that information yet. Please share!
Preservation in Pink 