Musical Jewelry Boxes

In the movie, Titanic, there is a scene where Rose is sitting at her vanity listening to her musical jewelry box. The scene is tender and reminiscent at the same time. For many adult women, they were able to related to the sweet sound from their first jewelry box that played a tune just as prettily as Rose’s did. Music boxes have played an important role in many women’s lives and the most memorable ones for most women are the musical jewelry boxes.

For many people, the first company that comes to mind when thinking about musical jewelry boxes is Mele. This company has been making jewelry boxes since 1912, when the founder Emidio Mele began making his own displays for jewelry stores. His work was quickly appreciated and put into shops on New York’s Fifth Avenue.

After World War II, when the world had a little more time and money to spend, the Mele jewelry box was a successful seller at Macy’s Department Store. The first jewelry box that they sold had an automatic tray and this tray helped make the Mele jewelry box one of the top ten gifts of the 1948 holiday season; the box was even given a feature article in Life Magazine. Just a few years later in the 1950’s, Mele added musical jewelry boxes that used a precise Swiss movement, which made the music sound precise and charming.

Once the musical boxes became popular with adult women, Mele introduced the iconic ballerina jewelry box for young girls. This box had a ballerina that would pop up when the lid was lifted and she would spin when the music box feature was wound. These musical ballerina boxes played favorite tunes like Fur Elise.

At Chasing Treasure, we sell a full line of ballerina musical jewelry boxes for young girls of all ages. The boxes range in sizes and many come with accessory drawers and compartments for all of your favorite girl’s jewelry and treasures.

When you shop for a music box, there are some features to be familiar with so you know you are getting a high quality box. Each music box contains a small motor that needs to wound in order to play. The motor is wound with a windup key or a ratchet lever that winds a spring so that it slowly releases and plays the music. Some music boxes will play for a few minutes and some will play for over an hour.

Each music box has a cylinder that is covered with pins spaced to create a musical tune. The cylinder pins are played when they move the teeth of the comb, which has teeth tuned to different sounds. When the cylinder spins, the teeth ring, which makes the sound of the music box. There are some music boxes that have several combs and cylinders so that they have complex musical sounds, but many of the simple ballerina music boxes have a single cylinder and one or two combs that produce the sound.

Musical Jewelry Boxes to Make Mom Smile

When it comes to Mother's Day or Mom's Birthday, you want her to feel loved with the special gift that you select for her. We have a wonderful treat for you today that you may not even realize that we carry. It is a small musical jewelry box known as a trinket box that is fashioned in a manner similar to a Faberge Egg.

If you are not familiar with the Faberge Egg, it has a long history. The first Faberge egg, the Hen Egg, was created for Easter 1885 as a present from Czar Alexander III to his wife Maria. He had them custom made until the Russian Revolution when the Communists seized Faberge's business. The Czar and his family fled to Switzerland, and the eggs were scattered or claimed by the Bolsheviks. In total, fifty Faberge eggs were made but only 42 known eggs survived to the present day.

Our beautiful Trinket Boxes are decorated in the same fashion with gorgeous hand set Austrian crystals, hand enameled details and 24kt gold accents. Inside, these amazing boxes are lined in velvet to protect the finest jewelry. Included is a ring roll for presentation purposes should one want to use this as a ring holder to display a magnificent piece. Each musical egg has a beautiful song that plays when the lid is lifted.

Chasing Treasure has many of these gorgeous egg musical jewelry boxes to choose from so selecting the right one for your mom is going to be easy.  Many people collect these lovely pieces and house them in lighted cabinets where the lights bounce off the clear crystals and make for a sparkling display.

However your gift recipient chooses to use your musical egg trinket box it will be welcomed as a memorable and thoughtful gift and treasured for a lifetime.

Heart of the Ocean Titanic Diamond

There is much conversation about the Titanic lately and about a diamond necklace that is supposed to have really existed. Was the Heart of the Ocean a real diamond or something that was created just for the movies? Well, it could be both.

It has been said that there was a blue diamond pendant on the RMS Titanic. Supposedly a necklace was given to passenger Kate Florence Phillips by her married lover, Samuel Morley. They were on their way to America to make a new life for themselves. Morley perished in the sinking which became the basis for the 1943 film Titanic as well as the 1997 remake too.  Many historians say that the original Hope Diamond is the necklace that is being referred to because of its rock history.

To bring the movie and the all-important Heart of the Ocean diamond to life for the movies, London bases jewelers Asprey & Garrard created the necklace with a blue cubic zirconia set in white gold. The cost of the necklace was approximately $10,000 back in 1997 when it was used in the film. Today, this famous prop is property of Twentieth Century Fox Studios.

However, Asprey & Garrand were also commissioned during the release of the Titanic in 1997 to make a real Heart of the Ocean necklace using the original design. The necklace they came up with was a gorgeous platinum-set, 170 carat heart-shaped Ceylong sapphire surrounded by a row of 65 diamonds, totaling 36 carats. The necklace was valued at $3.5 million at the time. It was sold a a benefit auction for the Diana, Prince of Wales Memorial Fund and Southern California's Aid for AIDS for $2.2 millions, with the condition that Celine Dion would wear it to the 1998 Academy Awards ceremony. She did indeed wear the necklace at the show and sang the film's theme song "My Heart Will Go On." The necklace reportedly belongs to the daughter of an Asprey & Garrard client.

Are you a fan of the titanic and all the romance that is wrapped up in the mystery of the famed necklace? Heart of the Ocean replica jewelry can be found online at many reputable jewelry websites and, popular as a romantic gift, the song "My Heart Will Go On" is found in this gorgeous musical trinket box that is available at Chasing Treasure.

by Jasmine Yesak, Contributing Editor at ChasingTreasure.com, online retailer of quality jewelry boxes, jewelry organizers and watch boxes. Jasmine is a Jewelry Enthusiast and Organization Consultant, she writes about Jewelry Care and Jewelry Storage Tips.

Romantic Gift Idea - Lara's Theme Musical Jewelry Box

What better song than Lara's Theme for a keepsake musical jewelry box.

Originally written in 1965 for the film Dr. Zhivago, it later became the basis for the song Somewhere My Love (recorded in 1966).

When the lid of this beautiful wooden musical jewelry box is lifted, the romantic music plays.


Music by Maurice Jerre, Song Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

Somewhere, my love, there will be songs to sing

Although the snow covers the hopes of Spring

Somewhere a hill blossoms in green and gold

And there are dreams, all that your heart can hold

Someday we'll meet again, my love

Someday whenever the Spring breaks through

You'll come to me out of the long-ago

Warm as the wind, soft as the kiss of snow

Till then, my sweet, think of me now and then

Godspeed, my love, till you are mine again

Someday we'll meet again, my love

I said "someday whenever that Spring breaks through"

You'll come to me out of the long-ago

Warm as the wind, and as soft as the kiss of snow

Till then, my sweet, think of me now and then

Godspeed, my love, till you are mine again!

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(Features include a curved top, key lock and lift out tray. $79.95)