Vintage Repurposing-- One Woman's Trash is Another Woman's Treasure!

I scour estate sales, flea markets, antique malls, and anywhere else I might find vintage costume jewelry every chance I get.

Sometimes I find things that are in great, wearable condition.  Sometimes, in fact most often, I find broken pieces of jewelry that someone mistakenly thinks can no longer be used.  Lots of times, I figure there's a story behind it.

This, is a great example~

A pretty, circa 1980s floral, gold tone locket and chain-

As you can see, the chain and locket are very pretty, and in great condition, other than the fact that the chain is broken.  But it's a very easy repair, or it can certainly be repurposed into something entirely different.

What a sweet locket.  I know, at some point, someone really loved and treasured this.

This locket is so pretty on the outside...

I love that when I opened the locket I saw this~

Inside the locket- One face intact, the other, RIPPED OUT!

Oh the drama! This looks like love gone wrong in the 80s for sure!  Here is the story, as I have reconstructed it.

Daryl was the high school quarterback.  He was dating Shannon, the head cheerleader of the squad of 1982.  Shannon thought it meant "forever" when Daryl gave her this locket for her birthday with his and her picture inside.  Eventually, as high school romances go, things went south between Daryl and Shannon.  I'm pretty sure Daryl had a thing for Shannon's friend, Heather.  One day, Shannon got word of what was going on between the two of them behind her back.  She ripped the necklace off her neck in disgust, opened the locket up and tore her face out of it.  She then had her mom drive her over to Heather's house.   She shoved the locket in Heather's mailbox with a mean note about how they would never be friends again because she was a boyfriend-stealing-slut!  In the note, she also told her to enjoy the stupid locket, and glue her own face in it because she didn't want to her picture in there anymore anyway!

I don't think Heather ever wore the locket, but instead just stuck it in a drawer, where it sat for many years.  Eventually, there was an estate sale, for whatever reason, and I got to buy the locket!

The question is, when I repurpose the locket, do I remove Daryl's photo?  I think not.  It seems to add to the charm, humor and heartbreak. It's important to realize there's a story behind every piece of jewelry!