A token of one's affection

A lot of wonderfulness rolled into one piece of jewelry - it's old, it has a locket photo, and it includes a fragment of a letter!




I love this antique Edwardian pendant with a piece of a letter on one side and a portrait on the other. What a wonderful idea. Clearly I have somewhat of an obsession with handwritten letters anyway, for their sentiment and beauty, and incorporating a little snippet of someone's handwriting takes the locket concept to a much more personal level. Apparently, this was the woman's brother.



It's from the Paris Hotel Boutique, which has lots of wonderful stuff in addition to antique jewelry. I can waste a lot of time browsing their offerings, including this vintage Gucci horse goblet:


These suitcases...



This old cast iron shaving mirror and tray (for some reason I am nostalgic for the era I didn't live through in which shaving for men was a much more decorated ritual, with shaves done by barbers, pretty razors, shaving cream brushes, etc., it was quite a handsome thing and elevated a mundane task)....




and odd, fascinating bits like this antique French hand warmer, which, according to the translation, you boiled in hot water to warm it up. Again, way to make a boring thing pretty!