The One That Got Away

Whether we are single or married and no matter what age we are, we all have our version of ‘the one that got away.’ These come in many forms and due to fate, timing or our not being ready or prepared, we let this great romance slip away. All of us jewelry lovers, who feel passionately about jewelry can relate. At some time or another and sometimes more often than we like to admit, we have let the perfect one-of-a-kind never to be found again get away. I have felt the pain of knowing that I DM’d too late about a love token on IG or called a dealer only to find that one and only piece I had to ‘think about’ was sold and it wasn’t to me. And for all you jewelry enthusiasts who are like me you were crushed about losing that piece, so much so that you long for it and might search for it, hoping to find it again some day.

While I do believe that there is an element of destiny with antique jewelry as with romance, knowing that a special piece came along at the wrong time for me does little to satisfy my yearning for the one(s) that got away. In the case of my love tokens, in spite of warnings that the universal ones will go fast, their popularity has left my clients and those interested in my collection feeling disappointed about their own jewelry destiny when one flies off the shelf as predicted. Knowing how bad that can feel, I realized that I needed to come up with a solution...

And thus the Reimagined collection was borne. After collecting thousands, and showing and selling hundreds, of love tokens, I have a good idea what the next one that got away will be and I do something about it. Although original love tokens, (authentic coins which were predominately made in the 19th century, the front ground down and engraved with romantic motifs, mottoes, Initials, names, and witticisms in silver, copper and gold) the most unique and rare engravings on love tokens are almost exclusively silver. This excludes those customers whose preference is gold from these unexpected keepsakes of humor, hope and joy.

By molding and making castings available, I accomplish a few things for customers – first, that, while they may long for the original coin, they have the option to purchase a copy of the original, and secondly, the Reimagined collection can be customized to the exact taste of the purchaser – metal type and color, adding their choice of bezels or stones. Additionally, the Reimagined collection is made with a blank back, to let customers to know they are not getting an original antique love token and equally important—giving them the opportunity to personalize with even more sentiment and symbolism. Clients can engrave the love tokens with initials, sayings, dates and so on.

As you can probably tell from my collection, I am very hardcore about love tokens, but I happily mix and match original antiques with recast versions from the Reimagined Collection, as do some of my most ardent customers.

We hope you will take comfort in knowing that you can have a piece created to your specifications and as collectors of the Reimagined love tokens you will not know the disappointment of ‘the one that got away’ because you take control of your jewelry fate by having a hand in creating ‘your one’ with bezel, birthstones, acrostic placement of stones or engraving.

xoxo, Samantha