Initial Reaction

Personalized gifts are an ideal way to celebrate a special occasion or mark a milestone in the journey of life. The tradition of engraved jewelry is the perfect way to show you care. My most popular gift items are vintage style sterling silver pendants, charms and earrings suitable for engraving with a loved one’s initials or interlocking monogram.


Each piece, like the initial earrings and pendant, pictured above, is engraved to order in my fave vintage script font by skilled artisans who practice a dying craft. Although most personalized jewelry is now engraved by machine, engraving by hand produces a unique design each time, ensuring that no two engravings will ever be exactly alike. It costs a bit more, but it's a worthwhile investment, for an heirloom quality keepsake.

Beautifully engraved monograms were a passion of the Victorians, who popularized the three letter monogram, and created the rules regarding placement of the initials. Victorian convention ruled that the bride and groom’s last initial be placed in the center with the grooms first initial on the left and the bride’s first initial on the right. Today, placement of the initials is according to preference. When designing a monogram for an individual, the last initial is placed center with the first initial to the left and the middle initial to the right. If the individual is a married woman, she may choose to place the initial for her maiden name to the right instead.

Each vintage style interlocking monogram, like the medallion pictured above, is a unique design that the engraver must first create, according the particular combination of letter shapes. Alas, there is no substitute for the human aesthetic, when it comes to creating a one of a kind monogram.

Cynthia Rybakoff sterling silver hand engraved initial earrings, $195.00; sterling silver hand engraved initial pendant, $150.00; sterling silver hand engraved monogram medallion, $295.00, all made to order by request at CynthiaRybakoff.com.