Friday, September 19, 2008

Sunday, July 20, 2008

This Queen's chair I spotted on Ebay in July of '08. Where did she come from? Where has she lived all my life? I searched frantically for some information regarding this charm. Was this the offspring of Juicy Counterfeiters? A charm only released overseas? It dawned on me that this world needed to be mapped and documented. This frontier of collectibles so easily intertwined with fakes leaves ones head in a virtual spin. I received my first bracelet Christmas of '06, with the beautiful Pea Pod Charm (each pearl representing each of my four children) and the Taurus charm from my sister. Too busy to really investigate this new world I settled for loving glances at several upscale department store websites to see what else might catch my fancy. I knew with the gift of the pea that this line was imaginative, well made, and totally me! (My Roman Heritage of bigger and golder spoke to this line of ladies costume jewelry and the JC charms spoke back.) My first gift to myself was the frog prince, a must have piece. The pave cherries and the key quickly followed. The ballet shoes were another gift from my sister. I had since given my eldest daughter a bracelet with the fawn (she loves deer,) the Rudolph, and the ballet slipper. And then a lull fell over the valley of juicy charms. All was quiet...for many months I remained content with my bracelet and my charmed life. My husband lost his grandmother the week before Mother's day and we prepared for the funeral. With my youngest being 1 I really do not have a lot of time for myself and I threw my Juicy Couture bracelet and my solid gold charm bracelet with the silhouettes of my children’s face and their names engraved on each one in the paper bag with the baby food. I meant to put them on my wrist on the way to the funeral and perhaps the baby could entertain himself with the charms during the service. Let's face it; the charms are so big that they must resemble baby toys to a 1 year old. I never saw my bracelets again... oh don't worry, while it has been several months I hope to unearth them eventually. You see, I also have a 3 year old in my company of vagabond children and I am hoping beyond hope that she ran off with them. I can hope, can't I? Now it occurred to me that someone may have happened upon these two priceless bracelets and listed them on Ebay and it was in this way that I opened up the door to my happy home and let the devil in. The devil is a fallen angel and I fell from grace at just that minute. My frog prince charm was listed on Ebay for 3 times what I paid for it...not my personal frog prince charm but one just like it. My jewelry box charm, my pea pod charm all were subjects of unbridled desire for some and profit for others. I quickly repurchased my ballet shoes from Nordstrom’s to give to my youngest daughter in the event that they stopped production and it suddenly was worth more than I could afford. The cherries were retired the next day and ceased to be available on Ebay. They were not in stores and not on Ebay. I can only describe the feeling that came over me as what they described as the frenzied feeding behavior of sharks. I was circling my monitor desperate to find footing. I am not fond of bidding on Ebay I am not interested in losing an auction, or paying inflated prices for something that sold earlier that day and will sell again for less. What to do? There are not alternatives for buying retired pieces... there is Revolve Clothing and E Luxury that sell some of the most recent charms. There is IOFFER that sells something that looks enough like Juicy to consider it. So what if I purchase a Juicy like item for ten dollars - not bad, we are all adults. But what if I purchase that same item on Ebay during an auction for 100 dollars? That my friend is fraud. Punishable in The Charmed Life Land by Heart Break.
And so now I am traveling through the unchartered terrain of the Internet not only to find authenticity but also to document the past pieces that I did not know existed. The fabulous one of a kind gems that every girl should be entitled to no matter what season she happened upon them first. I feel a little like Cinderella having missed the prospect of missing the ball. It is unbearable. But Juicy thought of that, too. Have you seen their carriage charm? It is in stores now.