Time Capsule
The Coin & Jewelry Auction at Pook & Pook on October 30th is composed of pounds and pounds of gold and many, many carats of diamonds, but my favorite item is of a humble nature.
Lot 2228 is an assortment of sterling silver. The jewel of the collection is a charm bracelet. Most charm bracelets reflect the interests of their owner. This bracelet captures the essence of the 1970’s and the ethos of an entire decade of suburban housewives. It took me back to the Bicentennial, the Oil Embargo, and DDT. Moms wore lipstick to the grocery store. People still received telegrams. It inspired me to re-read my grandmother’s Erma Bombeck book “If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What am I Doing in the Pits?” Every charm is like a quote from Bombeck, who stated “Housework, if you do it right, will kill you.” Bombeck’s humor lightened the load of housewives across America, dispensing with the notion that everything had to be perfect and ironed.
Among the twenty-five charms is a folding ironing board, of which Bombeck said “My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first being hitting my head on the top bunk until I faint.” There is also an alarm clock, scissors, eyeglasses, a tabletop fan, and a backyard mosquito fogger. A frying pan contains bacon and eggs, although the day of cooked breakfasts was waning. As Bombeck said, “In general, my children refuse to eat anything that hasn’t danced on television.” The gas pump charm has a sign “Sorry! No gas!”, which brings back memories of long lines at the pumps, if you could find them. A covered wagon reminds me of the America’s Bicentennial celebrations. A Social Security Card charm reminds us of why Bombeck was a working mom, “I was too old for a paper route, too young for Social Security, and too tired for an affair.” A baby buggy reminds us that “Motherhood is the biggest on-the-job training program in existence today.” There is a martini shaker, a Western Union telegram, a retractable lipstick, and a U.S. mailbox with a working letter slot. There is a rocking chair, a bingo card, and a birdcage with canary.
This bracelet is a perfect time capsule. As Erma herself said, “I’ve been on a constant diet for the last two decades. I’ve lost a total of 789 lbs. By all accounts, I should be hanging from a charm bracelet.”
by: Cynthia Beech Lawrence
