Rui's lost earring story...

My mother gave these earrings to me for Christmas I think, though I don’t remember exactly now because I seem to have trouble recalling events between 2003 and 2008. I was very happy to receive them especially since they are my favourite colour and I liked to pretend they were the Taria River stone (a fictional stone) earrings worn by Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind. My mother said she got it at Paddington markets, which wasn’t a hugely impressive fact before a lady approached me at a an jewellery exhibition opening and asked where I had got the earrings from. The lady was Sydney jeweller Brenda Factor and it would have been nice for her to recognise her pieces out in the world as it was for me to gain a further appreciation for the gift and my mother’s taste.

I’ve lost the earring before on a plane to Japan (or was it to Australia?). I was in a bit of a panic because I was fond of them and angry at myself for losing them so quickly but I got it back thank goodness. Then one day when I happened to touch my ear it had disappeared. I guess it never liked me back the way I liked it. Or maybe the pair didn’t like each other, who knows.

A tall-Asian-beauty-also-former-Cathay-Pacific-flight-attendant-now-jeweller friend of mine shocked me one day when she recalled how her friend had thrown out a few pieces of silver jewellery because she thought silver was a consumable. Lost others and things like it (broken necklaces, your relative’s broken necklaces that you promise to fix but never do) tend to sit in the bottom of drawers and boxes because they have a strange will to survive. They influence your conscience, which is why by the time I am 80 years old (the age where I wouldn’t mind dying), I will be surrounded by many trinket friends, great substitutes for real ones and a husband no longer living. This woman with the heavy garbage bin may end up with a quiet mind but may not have so many friends.

Rui
Osaka, Japan

Jasmine - on lost earrings

Where did you get the earrings from?

I am not your typical earring wearer so I don't have any personal lost earring tales to share. I do work in a restaurant however and we are constantly coming across lost treasures and earrings, especially after busy nights. I thought that I would share some of the earrings that have found in the restaurant, telling the story from the other perspective. I work at the Vanguard Jazz and Blues live music venue in Newtown, Sydney. Our patrons are hard core music enthusiasts. I see a lot of earrings come through the venue, some just don't want to leave it's such a lovely place.

When or how did you loose the earrings?

I can't identify exactly when the earrings were lost, I do remember finding the silver one under one of the tables late one night during clean up. The owner must have been doing some serious chair dancing for this one to come loose.

Why did you keep the lost earrings?

After a long period of time, the earrings remained unclaimed. Being a jeweller, I decided to keep them and add them to my scrap metal collection. The gold one is marked 375 meaning it's 9 carat yellow gold and the silver is marked 925 making it sterling silver. I will eventually melt the two earrings down to ingots and re-work them into new jewellery, especially the gold one with todays gold prices being as inflated as they are. I have another gold earring that my sister found in the street that I have already melted down ready to work into a new piece. I like the idea that what was once precious to someone can be re worked into something that will become precious once again. If any-one recognises these as their own, I will gladly return them.

Jasmine
Newtown, Australia

Zoe's earring story...

Where did I get the earrings from?
I spent a wonderful 6 days in Florence about 9 years ago and bought the earrings from one of the many little jewellery shops on the Ponte Vecchio.

When or how did I loose the earring?
A couple of years later, I was having lunch in a Sydney food mall, when I brushed my long hair back from my ears and realised I had lost one earring. I desperately checked the floor, my bag, my clothing (it was cold and I was wearing a scarf and high collared jacked), then returned to the last couple of places I had been. I couldn’t find it.

Why did I keep the lost earring?
I always intend to return to Florence to buy the second one so I can wear them. I really hadn’t worn them very often. I loved my time in Florence and the earrings were an important memento. This is a lesson, too, that I should wear and enjoy everything whenever I want to, not just for an occasion.

Mudgee
Australia