Danielle’s love for vintage jewelry gave birth to a fascinating blog, Gem Gossip,  with dreamy pictures of her extraordinary collection of rings. Engagement 101 asked her a few questions to learn more about the lady behind the stacks of rings.

Quickly, without thinking, how young were you when  you became obsessed with a jewel? What was it?

I think I was about four years old…it wasn’t a jewel in particular, it was the set of encyclopedias on the very top shelf that every family during the 1980s owned–I would make my mom get the “D” volume down and I was obsessed with the diamond pages.  I remember looking at the photos of people mining for diamonds and pictures of diamonds themselves.  I would stare at those pages for hours!

You are a jewelry collector and expert. Why did you decide to engage others through a blog?

Well it all began with a passion for gems and jewelry, with lots of self-taught knowledge through reading.  When I decided to create my blog Gem Gossip, I had just moved for the first time in my life with my family down to Tennessee–I had never been there before, knew no one and had no job lined up.  It sparked some creative energy and a desire to follow my passion.  That’s when Gem Gossip was born and I remember checking my website traffic and getting so excited when 7 people visited my site in one day!  Now I get thousands of visits in one day, and that passion is even greater!

You are very involved in appraising and uncovering estate jewelry. What is your favorite period for vintage engagement rings?

You can’t go wrong with an Art Deco engagement ring–the filigree, the Old European cut diamond, the craftsmanship–everything is outstanding.  My personal engagement ring is Victorian because I wear more yellow gold and it is harder to find a yellow gold Art Deco engagement ring–but they are out there!

Tell us more about your engagement ring and wedding band.

My engagement ring is an all original Victorian bypass style ring, also known as a toi et moi (meaning you and me).  The bypass style is significant because my mom’s engagement ring is a bypass style, only hers has three stones instead of two.  I like the symbolism of two diamonds, representing myself and my fiancé.  I also love the dainty “claw” prongs on the Old European cut diamonds.

Was your proposal very romantic?

I would describe the proposal as very “us.” We are very laid back, low-key type of people, with a heavy importance of family for both of us–both our parents are still together, and we both have two sisters.  The night of the proposal we already knew, but no one else did–so we drove out to my parents’ house unexpectedly on a Friday night.  He wanted to ask my dad’s permission before he officially asked me. It was a memorable night at my parents’ house and on the way home, I finally got to wear the ring for the first time.  I must have been very distracted because I got pulled over by the police for not coming to a complete stop at a red light!  Makes for a good story now!

You are a trendsetter in ring selfies – you single handedly launched the hashtag #showmeyourrings on Instagram. You always come up with the most gorgeous shots. Can you give our audience some tips?

I actually did a blog post on this since I thought my readers would really enjoy all my stacking tips in one blog post.

Lastly , what can you tell us about your special relationship with LOVEGOLD?

I’ve been a contributing blogger for LoveGold for almost two years now!  I’m one of their few longest running, consistent partnerships and it definitely is a special relationship.  When you blog for yourself it is one thing, but for me, this relationship kind of helped raise the bar for me and my work–I wanted to continually provide amazing content and awesome photography, so I’ve been thankful to have this opportunity!

Check out Danielle’s blog, Gem Gossip >>