15 Jewelry Pieces That Have a Mind-Boggling Story Behind

While most of us keep our jewelry tucked in a drawer, waiting for a wedding or a half-decent party, these 15 lucky souls are casually flexing pieces that look like they belong in a glass case at the Louvre. We’re talking about family treasures so rare, so breathtaking, and so steeped in history, that even total strangers online couldn’t help but turn green with envy.

You won’t find these in a jewelry store. Well, you might not even find them in a royal vault. But somehow, these people inherited or stumbled upon wearable art that outshines even red carpet gems. Get ready to meet the internet’s most dazzlingly spoiled jewelry owners.

1. For Christmas, I gave my partner a necklace with an engagement ring hidden inside. For Valentine’s Day, I opened the necklace with a key and I proposed. She said yes!

2. I inherited this necklace when my ma passed away. I think she wore it in the 70s. I just found out it has a secret.

“This pointy mini arrow looking thing comes out! Does anyone know what it’s used for? Maybe like an emergency writing utensil if you dip it in ink? It’s the width of a toothpick.”

• “Most likely held perfume.” © raineykatz / Reddit

3. Nana’s necklace

“This is the only thing I inherited from my Nanny, she wore this fish every day for since before I was born. My grandad bought it for her as a gift, as she was a Pisces. I loved it as a child and my Nanny would always tell me it would be mine, and I needed to look after it for her.
Well, one of the aquamarine eyes came out. Every jeweler I have been to has refused the job.”

4. Made this one for a client-drawing by her daughter.

5. Besides my son, the best thing I got from my marriage-my ex mother-in-law’s wedding ring.

“Her late husband had it designed for her. The yellow stones move around the diamond.”

6. This ring was handed down from my wife’s great-grandmother.

“According (second hand) to a jeweler, it’s sapphire set in platinum with qty 20, 1/5 ct diamonds.” © TLDRpro / Reddit

7. Inherited my grandmother’s necklace

“After she passed, it went missing for a while. We eventually found it with a broken chain in a plastic bag along with a bunch of dead batteries. She had dementia, and we think she broke the chain and was trying to put it somewhere safe so she wouldn’t lose it.
It was seconds from being thrown away and lost forever. I miss my grandma, and I’m happy to have her close to my heart, she wore this one every day.”

8. Got engaged! This is his great-grandmother’s ring (likely purchased in the late 1980s) from her 3rd marriage.

“14k gold and diamonds confirmed by a local jeweler.”

9. Left behind at my parents’ house, 40 years ago (by previous owners, deceased with no family).

“Jeweler says it’s gold and diamonds. The big stones are a karat each. Mom originally thought it was costume jewelry and was going to put it in the kids’ dress-up box.”

10. Cuff made of hair from my two daughters

11. My mother gave me her heirloom pearl necklace. It’s getting some new silk and a nice polish this week.

12. I am the 4th woman in the family to inherit my great-grandma’s wedding necklace. She got married in 1956 back home in Pakistan.

13. I am now the fifth-generation owner of this engagement ring.

“It’s the only monetarily ‘precious’ item that my great-grandparents had. Nowhere near being married, but I’m honored :)”

14. My grandmother was an eccentric woman

“The story I was given by my mother is that the family had just recently moved from Pennsylvania back to LA (where my mother was born and mostly raised) and my grandmother was feeling cramped, like a sardine in a can. So being the quite unique person that she was, she commissioned this 14k and diamond sardine pendant. Because why not?
She passed several months ago and my mom didn’t know what to do with this, and I said, give it me, I’ll wear it. I think it’s fantastically weird.”

• “I have actually never seen a piece of jewelry that I wanted more badly than this.” © Free_Seaweed_6097 / Reddit

15. Great-great-grandmother’s necklace

• “Wow, that piece is flipping amazing! The case is a work of art in itself. I rarely see pieces posted that I envy because I’ve got a ton of great jewelry, but this is super amazing. I’d sell a kidney for this necklace.” © Kristin2349 / Reddit

You might agree that it’s cool to study bygone epochs and cultures not only by inherited treasures, but by photos: clothes, hairdos, poses. The heroes of this article decided to open their family photo albums and take another look at the pictures that were taken in the last century.