EMAIL TO A FRIEND  

VIEW GALLERY

JEWELRY DESIGNER INTERVIEWS

Roberto Coin photo

A Roberto Coin ring is one of the pieces that was stolen from jewelry writer Carol Besler.

Carol Besler

A jewelry writer on the pain of losing treasured pieces

The first time it happened. I was on my way to the South of France and I had packed all my best stuff. I struggled out the door with a large suitcase stuffed with every fashion option – and a travel case of jewelry. I threw the suitcase in the back seat of my car because it was easier than lifting it into the trunk. I stopped at the office on my way to the airport, so I was rushing. I parked the car in the underground lot and charged upstairs, forgetting to lock the car door. I returned to find my suitcase gone.

It was losing the jewelry that hurt the most – more than my clothes, more than my shoes – because it had special significance beyond the financial loss. Like most people, I change my outfit every day, but I might wear my favorite earrings for a week straight, or favor a certain watch every day for a year.

Jewelry starts out as adornment, and that alone makes it a wonderful, necessary possession. But gradually, it becomes more than that. The jewelry I lost had sentimental value. They were treasured tokens commemorating the events, experiences and relationships of my life. It wasn’t until I lost them that I really understood that.

The other day my friend Marilyn told me about a new ring she bought to replace one she had lost while on a shopping trip to Chicago. She had also left a ring at my house once, taking it off to help me with a handyman project. “Watch those rings,” I said. She replied, “I know, I know. And I knew when I bought this one I would eventually lose it too.”

Better to have loved and lost, I thought, than never to have loved at all.