About Third Act Vintage

As far back as I can remember, I have always loved jewelry. As a child, at any family gathering, I went straight to my aunt's jewelry box. My favorite thing to do on weekends with my mother was clean her rings- Art Deco masterpieces full of diamonds and delicate platinum filigree, passed down to her from her mother, and hers before. I still remember the light streaming through the kitchen window and catching the facets, reflecting tiny rainbows all over the wall. 

I collected pieces here and there, gifts from lovers, things I bought myself, but nothing modern ever sparked joy the way my mother's rings had. I decided it was just that time and place, that memory tied to my mother, and happy days in the Harbert Ave duplex we shared with my grandparents who lived in the upstairs apartment. 

Many years later, my great aunt died, leaving her 86 year old husband in their Upper West Side apartment with no idea how to make coffee or do laundry. My mother packed him up and brought him down South to live near us, and the contents of my aunt's jewelry box came to me again. There were gobs and gobs of classic designer costume pieces (which I now know I should have kept, but they didn't interest me at the time!) along with a few really lovely things. I found myself drawn to a locket she always wore, and decided to try to find out if there was a story behind it. 

I'm still searching for that story, but I’ve found so many others along the way. I became a collector. Every city I travel to is an opportunity to find just the right little shop and choose just the right little thing to remember the journey. Every piece teaches me about history, about culture, social norms, art, period politics (looking at you, suffragette jewelry!). 

When the opportunity came to leave my corporate career and do my own thing, I didn't hesitate, and Third Act Vintage was born. Maybe the story of the locket doesn't have to be where and when it was made, or who the woman with the laurel crown represents- maybe the story of the locket is that this beautiful thing, loved and prized by the women in my family, inspired me to do something new and bring other beautiful things to other people so that they can create their own stories, too.