Compass Rose Design Jewelry Blog: The Junk Drawer & Pocket Watch Retirement Program

We are in a brief break between summer Compass Rose Jewelry shows and I wanted to take a moment to talk about an interesting trend we observed early this year when people started donating their antiques to us. It's easier to get rid of stuff when we know it's going to a good home. We all have drawers of once-sentimental keepsakes waiting to be discovered! Earlier this year at the Edwardian Ball, a customer purchased a necklace one day and returned the next day with a box of unfinished medals – “junk in a drawer to her pure treasure to me! These civic medals have found there way into many charm bracelets and necklaces, at least one of which now lives in Paris.

Last year I connected with an older gentleman at a flea market. He was selling his lifetime collection of vintage subway and trolley tokens because his grown children were not interested. And – granted, this is a pretty niche interest, so he became terribly twinkly when I bought them and explained that I was making jewelry that people enjoyed BECAUSE it was historical and was made with things like antique trolley tokens.

Speaking of trolleys and cable cars - we found some San Francisco Market Street Railway AND SF Municipal Railway Co. brass uniform buttons and made some smashing tie pins and cufflinks. We're sending the tie pin pictured below to Jesse Thorn, the host of our favorite radio shows Jordan, Jesse Go!, Bullseye, and the menswear blog, Put This On. You can read more about early San Francisco transportation from horse-drawn omnibus to cable car it in our recent blog post.

We all have junk in boxes and drawers – some of it sentimental and some of it just there through the forces of inertia. So we’re making it official – we want your tins and boxes and drawers of unwanted doodads and curiosities!

Old mechanical watches
antique keys
antique medals
old coins
vintage belts & belt buckles
vintage jewelry, charms, brooches and beads
pretty much anything old and historical that fits in a breadbox.

There are a couple of ways to participate in the Junk Drawer & Pocket Watch Retirement Program :

Just get rid of your junk/treasure and let us give it new life.
We can exchange your box of junk/treasure for a custom-made bracelet or necklace with a special piece you want to keep, but would rather wear and enjoy than have stuck in a drawer.

What to do:

Visit us at an upcoming event (Rivertown Revival, This Train, Tiburon Art Festival, Urban Air Market) or our join us for our summer open studio trunk show August 18 & 19 (space is limited – email us to reserve your spot). You can bring your junk/treasure and your special keepsake for us to take a look at and we can talk about designs for your special sentimental item. You can always email us a photo of your treasure/junk and we can talk about whether it makes sense to ship.

*Keep in mind - we have pretty high standard for antiques but are happy to use curiosities you have no use for when you are ready to clean out the drawers - and we're happy to help transform broken watches and other treasures into wearable keepsakes. I made this watch with broken watches from my mom, grandmother and aunties - rather than having broken watches in a drawer, I have a bracelet I wear often and enjoy. You can have one too! Check out the one currently available in our online shop.