Family Heirlooms Recovered After 9/11 Attacks
September 23, 2011
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Robin Silvers, a gem specialist in Los Angeles, was moved and overwhelmed by the items a client showed her – two petite silver mesh clutches, a diamond brooch and two pocket watches – all recovered from the family’s safety deposit box buried in the rubble of the World Trade Center after the September 11 attacks.
The safety deposit box was one of 2,500 found in a JP Morgan Chase bank vault at 5 World Trade Center, which partially collapsed. The vault sustained severe damage from fires that burned for weeks after, and most of the boxes’ contents were nothing more than ash when they were finally discovered.
Silvers’ anonymous client didn’t remember the family had a safety deposit box until weeks later. She was extremely worried about her father on 9/11 because he lived in Lower Manhattan and was likely on his way to work in a family-owned commercial building situated on the perimeter of the World Trade Center complex.
Her father was late to work that day, so he was unharmed, but people who leased space in their building were injured or killed. “We knew people who were lost in those attacks, and our building was partially destroyed,” she said.
When she did remember the safety deposit box, “it was like an electric shock went through me. The ripple effect of losses continued.” The family assumed the contents were destroyed.
A couple of years passed before bank officials began to evaluate the boxes and contact owners. Silvers’ client went through a roller coaster of emotions as news went back and forth about whether or not the pieces in the safety deposit box had survived.
“It was really surprising when they were found – and kind of bittersweet,” she said.
A 1950s-era 14k white gold ribbon bow brooch, a gift from the client’s father to her mother, is particularly special because her mother, who passed away from breast cancer when the daughter was 19, had very little jewelry.
“It’s one of the last pieces I have of my mother’s,” she said. The brooch was blackened from the heat of the fires, but the diamonds were in good condition, so she thought she might have it repaired.
The silver clutches and pocket watches belonged to her great-grandparents. Her great-grandfather emigrated from Nazi Germany and her grandmother grew up during the Great Depression, so she imagines they were prized possessions, as well as being links to her heritage.
Silvers said she got the chills the first time her client showed her the pieces. She immediately realized the brooch should not be repaired.
“When I saw the brooch and was able to touch it, along with the other items, it brought home to me everything they had gone through. To repair the brooch would erase everything that had happened to it on 9/11,” she said. “It’s beautiful the way it is.”
Silvers showed it to her friend, David Humphrey, a jeweler from Pacific Palisades, California, who contacted GIA to write a report for Gems & Gemology. Terri Ottaway, curator of the GIA Museum, saw the brooch as it was being photographed for the journal and asked to display it on campus.
“This exquisite diamond brooch endured a horrendous event that forever changed America,” Ottaway said. “Its condition is a reminder of how the human spirit can shine through tragedy – just as these diamonds still sparkle in their blackened setting.”
One conversation led to another between Silvers, her client and Ottaway, and now all five pieces are on display in Carlsbad through Nov. 18. Silvers’ client appreciates the symbolism they represent and is at peace with her decision to display them at GIA.
“I miss having my mother’s brooch with me,” she said. “But I realize it is a connection for people to 9/11. It’s a symbol of resilience, renewal and rebirth – there’s life in it.”
A 14K gold Columbus pocket watch, left; a 14K gold Lord Elgin pocket watch, center; and a 1950s-era 14K white gold ribbon brooch, with 75 diamonds (2.78 total carat weight) intact, right.
Two petite silver mesh clutches fused together from the heat of the fires that burned for weeks. The larger one, left, measures 5.5 inches wide by 4 inches high and the smaller one 2.7 inches by 2.5 inches. You can see the remains of some of the contents in them. The reverse side of the clutches is on the right.
Two petite silver mesh clutches fused together from the heat of the fires that burned for weeks. The larger one, left, measures 5.5 inches wide by 4 inches high and the smaller one 2.7 inches by 2.5 inches. You can see the remains of some of the contents in them. The reverse side of the clutches is on the right.
About the Author
Amanda J. Luke is a senior communications manager at GIA. She is the editor of the GIA Insider and Alum Connect and was the editor of The Loupe magazine.
