Inheritance

In several cases the future of jewelry is not predetermined. In these cases, rules about inheritance become the key mechanisms for handing down jewelry from one generation to another. In particular, when there is no will, jewelry is often distributed among the family members. This requires a determination of the best recipient for each piece.

One guideline for passing jewelry down the family line is to find someone who is will- ing to learn and foster the stories connected to the jewelry. In particular, when pieces of jewelry are meaningful they are hardly ever sold, even if their retail value would be high. These stories become keys in finding a new possessor.

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9. multigener ational possessing

Of course, the stories may get buried with the deceased. This often leads to attempts to restore bits of the history. Even if an inherited piece of jewelry lacks some parts of its history, it may end up as multigenerationally possessed jewelry. In the following interview quote, Maija describes how she found a small magnifying lens on her mother’s desk after she died the past summer. Now she is wearing it to keep her mother’s memory alive even though she knows nothing of its history. Knowledge about the history is not integral to her; a connection to her mother is the reason to wear the lens as a piece of jewelry.

M: Well, I don’t know where it came from [the small magnifying lens]. I just found it on my mother’s desk and I had that chain, so I decided to put it on it. And, it’s pretty cool because it reflects the different colors of the clothing you are wearing underneath it. So, when I am wearing a green blouse, it looks really peculiar.

P: But your mother used this for reading?

M: Supposedly, yes. I never saw her use it but there it was on the desk. P: Is this an everyday piece of jewelry for you?

M: Everyday, yes. It’s a funny piece. P: Do you wear it a lot?

M: Actually this summer I got the idea, I have worn it a lot this summer. P: Is there any memories that are linked or…

M: Well, I call it the memory jewelry. This summer was a bit hard, so… But I always remember my mother every time I wear the jewelry.

(maija 60 yrs)

When pieces of jewelry are received through inheritance after the owner’s death, the unknown stories may bring surprises. For example, Maija described a process of divid- ing her mother’s estate after she passed away. Her mother neither gave her jewelry to her children before her death, nor had a will concerning jewelry. Her five children had taken her jewelry to a goldsmith who had divided it into five bags, one given to each sibling. This method produced a fair result without emotional attachments. Although this method did not pay any attention to stories or powers in their mother’s jewelry, bits and pieces of these stories and powers were there. For instance, Maija’s bag contained pieces of jewelry which carried stories of her mother’s history that Maija had not been aware of before.

As Maija’s case shows, the stories and powers in jewelry are not always known to chil- dren and grandchildren, who sometimes have no desire to know them. It is always a choice of the previous possessor if and what she is willing to share. Sometimes, however, details like engravings and hallmarks reveal surprising things. This happened to Maija when she received her mother’s jewelry. Due to the hallmark of the country where her mother’s old ring was manufactured, a new secret of her mother’s history with her lover was revealed. Maija had thought that her mother’s foreign lover had gotten the ring in his home coun- try. Before seeing the hallmark, she had never known that the lover had journeyed to her mother’s country. The hallmark, however, revealed where the ring had been bought.

M: So my mother got it in 1984 and I got it this summer. And, I didn’t know about the history of this one.

P: So, again what was the engraving in it?

M: Do I remember correctly? Was it Greta 1.1., so it would have been a birthday present from her foreign lover.

P: It says Greta and 31.12… M: Aha, well then it is…

P: 80, but did you know that this one has been produced here? M: Is it?

P: Yes.

M: Oh dear, oh dear. Well, okay. P: I don’t know, does it change the story?

M: No it does not. So now there’s a new secret. She really had her birthday on 1st _of January, so somehow it’s related to that. Well.

(maija 60 yrs)

Inherited jewelry can bring surprises like this. All the siblings knew about the jewelry, but they did not know which pieces they would receive. However, this is an exception. Most jewelry received as an inheritance comes with obligations regarding its future. Jewelry needs to be physically taken care of but equally important are the stories and memories associated with it. It is also important to find a future possessor, someone who will care for the pieces and pass them on to the subsequent generation, even if some pieces include painful stories and memories and are not pleasant to wear. It may take a long time before the new possessor is able to wear them. Often, in these cases, women either redesigned the jewelry or just let time pass, waiting for the right time to wear them.