Read My Pins_ Stories From a Diplomat's Jewel Box - Madeleine Albright [25]
There is one other pin that is in a category by itself.
In the fall of 2006, I spoke at the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, at an event delayed for a year because of Hurricane Katrina. This gave me an opportunity to look around the city, large parts of which remained in ruins. I was saddened by the contrast between the museum—which celebrated America at its best—and the shabby treatment accorded to the residents of one of our country’s most beautiful and historic cities.
At the reception following my speech, a young man bearing a small box approached me. Inside the box was a pin. “My mother loved you,” he explained, “and she knew that you liked and wore pins. My father gave her this one for their fiftieth wedding anniversary. She died as a result of Katrina, and my father and I think she would have wanted you to have it. It would be an honor to her if you would accept it.” I am not often speechless, nor am I quick to tear up, but this gift pushed me to the brink. The young man’s father, I discovered, had earned two Purple Hearts fighting the Nazis in France, having suffered a bayonet wound and still carrying shrapnel in his left calf. His name is J.J. Witmeyer Jr.; he and his wife, Thais Audrey, were married for sixty-two years.
CO2, Stefanie Rahmstorf; polar bear, Lea Stein.
Katrina pin, designer unknown.
I call it the Katrina pin, a flower composed of amethysts and diamonds. I wear it as a reminder that jewelry’s greatest value comes not from intrinsic materials or brilliant designs but from the emotions we invest. The most cherished attributes are not those that dazzle the eye but those that recall to the mind the face and spirit of a loved one.
Wrapping Up Bow, designer unknown.
As these pages illustrate, pins are inherently expressive. Elegant or plain, they reveal much about who we are and how we hope to be perceived. Styles have changed through the years, as has jewelry’s role in relations between the genders and in the affairs of state. I was fortunate to serve at a time and in a place that allowed me to experiment by using pins to communicate a diplomatic message. One might scoff and say that my pins didn’t exactly shake the world. To that I can reply only that shaking the world is precisely the opposite of what diplomats are placed on Earth to do.
Black-eyed Susan, Sandor;
dandelion diamond puff
dandelion, McTeigue & McClelland;
lily of the valley, designer unknown;
tulip, designer unknown;
seed pearl flower, designer unknown;
sunflower, Carolee;
pearl flowers, JJ;
gold and aqua flower, designer unknown.
PINDEX
Frontmatter: THE GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES BOOK LOCKET AND PIN, 1990. ANN HAND, USA. 18KT YELLOW GOLD–PLATED BASE METAL. 1.4" X 1.4" (3.5CM X 3.5CM).
Frontmatter: THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL, CIRCA 1970. MONET, USA. YELLOW GOLD–PLATED BASE METAL, RHINESTONES. 2" X 1.6" (5CM X 4CM).
Frontmatter: ASYMMETRICAL GOLD HEART, 1996. ERWIN PEARL, USA. YELLOW GOLD–PLATED BASE METAL, GRANULATED FINISH. 2.8" X 2.2" (7.2CM X 5.6CM).
Frontmatter: RED HEART AND BOW, 1996. ANN HAND, USA. YELLOW GOLD–PLATED BASE METAL, RHINESTONES. 2.5" X 1.3" (5.5CM X 3.5CM).
Frontmatter: BEJEWELED HEART, CIRCA 1999. DESIGNER UNKNOWN, USA. OXIDIZED RHODIUM–FINISHED BASE METAL, RHINESTONES. 2.2" X 2" (5.6CM X 5CM).
Frontmatter: SPARKLING RED HEART, 1998. ANN HAND, USA. YELLOW GOLD–PLATED BASE METAL, RHINESTONES. 1.8" X 2" (4.5CM X 5CM).
Frontmatter: INTERLOCKING HEARTS, 1991. SWAROVSKI, AUSTRIA. YELLOW GOLD–PLATED BASE METAL, SWAROVSKI CRYSTALS. 2.8" X 1.9" (7CM X 4.8CM).
Frontmatter: PURPLE HEART, CIRCA 1980. D.M. LEE, USA. STERLING SILVER WITH SUGILITE, AGATE, CORAL CABOCHONS. 1.3" X 1.2" (3.3CM X 3CM).
Frontmatter: HAMMERED METAL HEART, CIRCA 2007. OMEGA, SWEDEN. HAMMERED AND OXIDIZED STERLING SILVER, GOLD. 4.1" X 1.5" (10.4CM X 3.9CM).