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Thursday, November 5, 2009

Treasure Chest Thursday - Nan's Engagement Ring



My grandparents, Marilyn Mulcahy and Bill O'Hara, were married 7 July 1956 at the church of St. Vincent Ferrer. Their witnesses were my grandfather's brother Ted and my grandmother's childhood best friend, Nancy Budd.



Several months before the wedding, Mrs. J. O'Hara - that's my great-grandmother, Mary Quinn O'Hara - had a diamond ring appraised for insurance purposes. It's described as follows:

ladies diamond solitaire ring, platinum
1 diamond weighing approx. .65 carat
modern cut, white, imperfect
2 tapered baguette diamonds weighing approx. .20 carat

It was worth $400.00.

I don't know anything about this ring, nor do I know where it is now, though I'd imagine one of my aunts does. I wonder why it appears to have been not my grandfather but his mother who had the ring appraised. Is that something mothers did for their soon-to-be-engaged sons? Maybe she was just the person in the family who already had an account at the jeweler? Or - since it's not a receipt for the purchase of ring - could it have been a ring that was already in the family, and she was having it appraised before giving it to Pop to give to Nan?

Looks like I'll have to start asking around about this family treasure!

1 comment:

  1. I'd like to see that ring too! I wonder if she was buried with it?

    ReplyDelete

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