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Partly cloudy skies. Low near 35F. Winds light and variable. Shredded Color Tissue
Akoya Saltwater Pearls are always available at Reigning Jewels, but this story features a very special strand and how it came to be.
Akoya Saltwater Pearls are always available at Reigning Jewels, but this story features a very special strand and how it came to be.
Sharon Townsend is a well-known Athenian who does a lot to help the community, especially the East Texas Arboretum. Her daughter, Kelley, is also well-known, especially among those at Trinity Valley Community College and this is a story Sharon has wanted to share for some time with the public.
In June 2021, Sharon went to local jewelry store Reigning Jewels to see what she might be able to get Kelley for Christmas that year and Owner Traci Wilkes helped her look at diamonds and many precious stones in a variety of settings such as bracelets, earrings, rings, and necklaces. Since Traci also knew Kelley, she tried to help as best she could, but the two could not find anything that jumped out at them.
Sharon said Traci must have seen the disappointment on her face and went to the consignment area and brought out what Sharon describes as “the most stunning antique pearl necklace I’ve ever seen.”
Sharon put the necklace on layaway and made all the payments in time for Thanksgiving. When Sharon picked it up, Traci had put the necklace in the original leather antique gift case that it was originally bought in and put it in a Reigning Jewels purple gift bag with gold tissue paper. Sharon brought the bag into the house along with other parcels she was carrying and sat it down beside the newly erected and decorated Christmas Tree.
At this point she says, “I thought nothing more about it and had to admit I was pretty full of myself thinking I had really pulled off such a good surprise for my daughter. Every time she walked through the den, she would glance over at the tree and smile at the purple gift bag with no name, because she knew so well who the gift belonged to.
On December 18, Sharon walked into the den to find her husband Jimmy already awake. As she went to turn on the Christmas tree lights, she noticed the purple gift bag was missing. She says she calmly turned to Jimmy and asked what had happened to the bag to which he responded, “Oh, I wadded that old bag up and set fire to it to help start the fire in the fireplace.”
Sharon said at that point, she was no longer calm and screamed. Then with bare hands, she started digging in the fireplace. She sent half-burned logs and other paper and kindling flying out onto the den floor until she could see the little handle of the purple gift bag and she grabbed it and yanked it out of the fire.
She pulled apart the blackened, smoking, charred, steaming paper that once was a gorgeous gift bag and held her breath with tears in her eyes. The antique necklace gift case was terribly burned and was so hot she had to hold it with oven mitts to open the case and check the status of the pearl necklace. All that remained was the burned, original antique silk thread that had once held the pearls and many loose, brown, and blackened pearls rolling in the case.
Sharon says she won’t go into what transpired in her home with her husband, but later in the day, she messaged Traci the following, “We have had a horrible accident here at the house. My husband has accidentally thrown the sack that had Kelley’s pearls in it into our fireplace. There is damage to four or five pearls and the string has been burnt.” To which Traci answered, “I can fix them. Bring them by on Monday and I’ll restring them for you. No worries,” and closed the text with a smiley face with hearts on it. Sharon says, “Oh, how I cried.”
She went to Reigning Jewels as early as possible on Monday, December 19 and the next day received a message from Traci that the pearls were ready. When Sharon went to pick them up, she said “Traci stood, smiling that sweet smile of hers, showing me how she cleaned each pearl and then double-strung the pearls on silk thread of the finest and strongest and double-knotted between each pearl.”
There were four pearls that were too badly burnt to restring but Traci had cleaned them to the point that there was barely a difference in color. She knew that they wouldn’t look right on the necklace and instead gave them to Sharon separately.
The new strand of pearls was then packaged in a necklace gift case and placed in a new purple bag with gold tissue. Traci also returned the original burnt paper bag and burnt antique case.
Sharon exclaims, “Here’s the kicker. She refused to charge me for the cleaning, the restringing, the string, the double-knotting, and all of her hard work. Not one dime would she take. She just smiled and said ‘Merry Christmas’ and saw me out the door.”
She continues, “You don’t get any better people walking the face of this old world than that. Thank you again, Traci.”
Reigning Jewels can be found at its new location at 1120 SE Loop 7, Suite 101, Athens, and can be reached at 903-904-5048.
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