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How to Customize Tiffany & Co. Jewelry

Mar 7, 2011 / By Gail Cohen

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Customizing Tiffany & Co. merchandise may leave your gift recipient both thrilled and speechless.

Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Charles Lewis Tiffany borrowed money from his dad to open a "fancy goods" store in 1837 with a couple of partners. By 1853, the partnership thing went out the window but the store kept growing. Talk about Charlie in charge. His trademark brand came to represent style and quality. These days, a gift from Tiffany's can get you out of a big doghouse and if that trinket is customized, you may wish to present smelling salts when you hand it over.

Pair history with sentiment by customizing a classic 1837 bangle bracelet for a special pal. Your bracelet; your engraved message. Congratulate her on her latest achievement or have the date the two of you met over that awful cafeteria lunch engraved on the bangle. Wait until you see how many sizes of 1837 bracelet bracelets you'll find at Tiffany's. Of course, a velvet pouch and care card will impress the recipient of your customized gift, big time.

Borrow a page from the past. Pick out a wristwatch guaranteed to wow a friend or lover from the Tiffany & Company timepiece collection and have the back of the watch engraved with a special message or initials. Women love the O. Henry story about about the man who sold his engraved pocket watch to buy a gift for his wife, so even if you've forgotten having to slog through that English assignment, you'll charm the socks off a girl who's convinced you slept through that class.

Charm someone you adore by ordering a Tiffany & Co. sterling silver square chain bracelet featuring a delicate string of links held together by the company's signature clasp. Time to tell the story of your relationship by adding charms from Tiffany or another source, as long as you match silver with silver. Symbols representing events and experiences like graduations, weddings, awards, children, travels and hobbies customize a piece of jewelry like nothing else. If you're striving to leave someone speechless, this customized jewelry statement could do it.

Design your customized necklace or pendant by choosing, for example, any of the sentimental hearts found in the Tiffany & Company catalog. Choose a flat-backed heart that can be engraved with a message or order a heart inset with the birthstone of the gift recipient. Choose both to make a statement that says, "You're unique and I want you to know that I recognize that."

Keep it in the family! David L. Tiffany, descendant of the founder, makes custom jewelry pieces ready to be engraved -- like the quirky silver pig featured on his website (see Resources) that could be a trendsetter in your fashion-savvy crowd. It's not expensive, but it is adorable and you won't find it at Tiffany & Company shops. No snarky piggy sentiments, please, but if there's a pig collector in your life, you can be certain it won't ever wind up in her jewelry box.