By request, here is the other piece of jewelry from my great-great-grandmother!  Unfortunately, there are no maker marks on this one or that's the case, either.

Recently, I showed my mom and aunt (her daughters), and neither had ever seen it before. I'm guessing it's a treasure my grandfather brought home from his Navy or Merchant Marine adventures. Initially, I thought it was costume jewelry, goldtone cloisonne. However, I recently discovered it's 22k solid gold, enamel-painted, made in Spain in the 1940s or 1950s, which is why I think my grandfather had a hand in this. My grandmother likely gifted it to me because I'm a total water, beach, boat, and fish lover! I've never seen anything like it, but I'm hoping someone else has. Isn't he funky and fierce? Look at those teeth!

Not sure of the year they married, but my grandfather was born (in wedlock) in 1908, so the ring and box are 113+ years old! The box is as fascinating as the ring. It is leather, velvet-lined, hinged, and secured with a latch hook. Most importantly to me, inside the ring, alongside the Maker's Marks, is the inscription "With Harry's Love".

Some backstory behind this: my grandfather died before I was born. My family always told me how genuinely nice and cool he was, even to strangers. Growing up, whenever I visited my grandparents' house, I would see a shelf proudly displaying his collection. My grandmother passed away when I was 18 or 19, and none of my father's six siblings or my father himself were going to claim the collection of sharpeners. I couldn't let it go to waste.

To my surprise, it’s made from uranium glass.

Stanley is indeed their family name. His great-grandfather was John T. Stanley, who emigrated from England to the United States in 1860 at the age of 17. He was skilled in soap and candle making at the time however, his first job was in collecting animal fat from around the city. Now my history of how he parlayed this trade into soap making is a bit hazy at the moment but I’ll be sure to get the full story after we blow out some candles on my father-in-law’s cake.

Some of these things he had since he was barely out of diapers. There are so many gems here.

It allows you to select which cocktail you want to make, and it even tells you which ingredients and quantities you need.

It’s not quite 100, but it will be in the next year. My great-grandfather purchased it new. I remember eating waffles fresh out of it at my grandmother’s house thirty years ago. My mom has had it for the past fifteen years and decided to gift it to me this Christmas, as she knows I love cast iron cookery.

This crystal ball was passed down from my great-grandmother to my nana and now to me. It’s my most prized possession that I can’t stop looking at. I also love the stand that my nana got - three meerkats!

All ready for the birthday girl! I've been fixing up all the furniture and making new bits for it for the last few weeks. Kitchen, as a surprise for me, my amazing brother carefully dismantled the whole house, packed it up, and shipped it over to our UK home from Canada where it had been in storage. Master, still have to fix up the baby's cot which will go with the rocker. My sister-in-law made the tufted rug. In the living room, the rug is a squirrel skin my mother was gifted in the 5th grade from a boy who had a crush on her. Bathroom! the majority of the furniture (and the house itself) was purchased in Germany in the early '90s when my military dad was posted there (we lived there for 5 years.) In the kids' room, my mum has made the bunks new bedding since this photo was taken. The cars for the car mat are buttons. And in the entryway, the lights are strings of fairy lights with the battery packs strategically hidden. I didn't want to do anything too permanent, so they're just taped up for now.

My birthstone is sapphire as well, so this is extra special to me. 
We even had our house robbed, but they missed it, thank goodness.

My dad used them while flying helicopters in the Army, then in the National Guard. I adapted them for use when I maintenance taxi commercial aircraft for a major airline. They still sound great and will probably outlast me as well.

I used it decoratively until I realized that it accepted 4x5 sheet film without modification. Now, it's my go-to, large-format film camera.

I teach 5th and 6th grade math.
I have no idea how old it is, but it's certainly older than all the students and even some of the teachers.

His father was not the photographer - the photographs were mailed to him from the infamous "PO Box 1663" in Santa Fe and were taken at Bikini Atoll.

His dad went to Notre Dame, MIT, and USC, and had degrees in chemical engineering, architectural engineering, and nuclear physics.