A Box of Memories

Dear Diary,

I received a small box in the mail yesterday from my sister containing some pieces of jewelry that belong to my mother and grandmother.  As soon as I opened it I could smell my mother's favorite perfume.  Smells have such a strong power to pull out memories of events and people.  So did some of the pieces but this coin pin was something I had completely forgotten about until I picked it up and held it in my hand.

My great great grandfather had it made to commemorate the birth of his first child Emma, my great grandmother, in 1853.  The silver quarter was still in perfect condition and I remembered my grandmother telling me that Emma's mother wore it and then passed it on to her.  Then it was my grandmothers, my mothers and now it comes to me...a 163 year journey.

A quarter in 1853 was worth $8.00 if adjusted for inflation over the past 163 years and seeing that the average laborer only earned $150.00 a year at that time, it was a special gift.  But it's worth is far greater than any monetary consideration.  The energy of four generations of women are contained in that small piece of silver and I will cherish it until it is time for me to pass it on and I will be sure to put the story in the box along with the pin.

The photograph is a tintype of my great grandmother, Emma with her first child, Walter Ficket Howell, born in 1874 when she was just 21 years old.