Hive mind, PLEASE help me replace a jade bracelet my friend lost!

December 18, 2006 10:35 PM

I need some help finding [somewhere to purchase] a piece of jewelry that was lost. It was originally purchased at TJ Maxx in Orlando.

My friend bought it and somehow lost it shortly after.

Description:
It is a bracelet composed of oval shaped jade beads. It has a silver toggle clasp with a heart charm. Inside of the heart charm are the Chinese characters for friendship.

PLEASE HELP! I'd like to give her a new one for Christmas.

posted by mhuckaba to Shopping (8 answers total)

Response by poster: The symbol inside the heart looks like the top, large image:

http://www.artbeads.com/charm317.html
posted by mhuckaba at 10:54 PM on December 18, 2006

Buy her a string of pearls and she will forget all about the jade beads.
posted by caddis at 11:34 PM on December 18, 2006

I couldn't find any quite like it with a bit of searching, but there are lots of nice variations with no characters...If I lost something like that, I'd prefer a vaguely-similar jade bracelet rather than pearls.
posted by dreamyshade at 1:17 AM on December 19, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestion caddis, but its not that I'm trying to just get her jewelry, I'm trying to replace what she lost.

I looked for a couple of hours last night online and didn't find anything. I feel like the key to the search is the little heart charm with Chinese, but that didn't yield any results.
posted by mhuckaba at 5:30 AM on December 19, 2006

I have a TJ Maxx a mile and a half from my house. I could buzz over there today and check to see if they have any in stock if you'd like. email is in my profile. I'd have to go early this morning or later on tonight, but let me know.
posted by jvilter at 6:02 AM on December 19, 2006

You could purchase the beads to make the bracelet yourself fairly easily. If your local bead store doesn't carry the heart charm with the character, you could buy one online and bring it to the store. They will likely have the oval jade beads, but you could buy those online as well. They will likely come temporarily strung, in a 16" long batch (so you'll have a few inches of beads left over) Most bead stores will string your purchases for you, for a fee, if you aren't up to it.

Here are the jade oval beads (they have many color and size variations online).

Here is my best bet on the heart/character charm.
posted by AuntLisa at 9:53 AM on December 19, 2006

mhuckaba, not to be a downer, but you may have a very hard time finding an exact replacement. I lost an aquamarine and diamond earring purchased at Sams Club and I thought for sure I could buy a replacement pair of earrings. No such luck. I always search jewelry counters looking for my lost earrings but I can never find the same ones.

If it was genuine jade they may have made a limited number of the bracelets. A jeweler once told me that they make a certain amount of pieces and then break the mold. I don't know if this is true for your friend's jade bracelet, but it's probably true in other cases.

Good luck, you are very sweet to think of her. I will check also the next time I am in TJ Maxx.
posted by LoriFLA at 11:00 AM on December 19, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks for all of your help. I looked online for a while longer and then I called pretty much every TJ Maxx and department store in Orlando and no one had anything like that.

If anyone does happen to find it, please post here and I'll check back periodically.
posted by mhuckaba at 11:21 AM on December 19, 2006