Recently my family and I headed down for a few days of vacation in the beautiful city of Charleston, South Carolina. We hadn’t seen much of the southern United States and thought Charleston seemed like a great place to get started.
Of course no trip for me is complete without checking out the local jewelry scene, and being that Charleston is an old city with lots of history I knew it wouldn’t disappoint in the antique and estate jewelry department, but I was pleasantly surprised to find lots of beautiful new offerings as well. Like many old and storied areas, Charleston, is a city full of multi-generation family owned businesses, and jewelry is no exception. Walking through the city market, the city’s oldest continuous market place, I happened upon Gold Creations, and southern hospitality is no lie, they were so warm and welcoming to me. I also learned from them that rice jewelry and ironwork gates are two really popular types of jewelry due to their prominence in the economy and architecture respectively.
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The one of a kind cocktail rings also caught my eye with their gorgeous candy color combinations. After all, no southern lady’s ensemble is complete without some serious bling. The store is run by the second generation of the family, and does lots of fantastic work that you won’t find anywhere else.
Next stop was over at Joint Venture Estate Jewelers. Joint Venture specializes in gorgeous estate and antique pieces as well as beautiful modern pieces with an antique look. There were so many pretty things that I could have spent a whole day just playing in there. Joint venture is also a family run business, that has grown to include a second generation. They have some seriously gorgeous pieces for the antique jewelry lover.
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My final stop was Croghan’s Jewel Box. They were conveniently located about two blocks from my hotel and right in the heart of the King street shopping district. Unfortunately they were undergoing renovations while I was there, so a lot of their inventory was in storage. What I did see was really beautiful and special. The store was founded over 100 years ago, is the oldest jewelry store in Charleston and still family run.
They sell a mix of antique, estate and new items. I of course immediately gravitated to the antique and estate cases, full of gorgeous bracelets, broochs, rings and pendants. A seed pearl and diamond bracelet managed to snag my heart.
My trip was not that long, so I didn’t have time to hit every place in town, but I definitely plan to go back and see more next time around.