L&E ad: Every Piece Is Now $1

We put the sign up in the window this morning. After 48 years behind this counter, we are closing the shop. We're Lucy and Emma. For nearly five decades, we have stood on this side of that glass case, sizing rings, restringing pearls, talking a nervous young man through the ring he was about to hand over. Nothing has gone wrong. We would simply like to see our families more often than we see our loupes, and there is only one way to do that. Which leaves the case. Rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings — the whole thing, not a clearance tray at the back. We are not marking it down. Every piece left in that case is one dollar. You cover the shipping and nothing else, and we pack each one by hand, in a box, the way we always have. We have thought about this for a long time and we keep landing in the same place. Jewellery that goes into a safe deposit box stops being jewellery. It becomes inventory. We have watched these pieces leave this shop on anniversaries, on eighteenth birthdays, on the day after a hard year — and that is the whole point of them. We would far rather every last one went out to somebody who'll actually wear it than sit in a vault because we couldn't bring ourselves to part with it. There is no restock. We're not ordering more of anything; we are closing. When a piece is gone from the case it is gone, and when the case is empty we turn the lock for the last time. If something in there is meant for you, come and get it before the lights go off. — Lucy & Emma