14th Wedding Anniversary: Gold Jewelry
Wedding anniversaries are a time-honored tradition. Whether it is your one-year anniversary or your fiftieth, being able to show your significant other how much you care about them is always time for celebration. Throughout the decades there have been both non-traditional and traditional anniversary gifts that commemorate a specific year or decade of marriage and partnership. 14th wedding anniversaries are no different.
Traditionally referred to as the “Ivory Wedding Anniversary”, making it to your 14th wedding anniversary takes an immense amount of dedication, patience, and commitment. If you’re coming up on 14 years of wedded bliss and want to find the ideal anniversary gift to complement your partner’s taste and style, look no further. Here is a comprehensive guide to selecting the perfect gift for your forever someone.
History of Traditional Ivory Anniversary Gifts
The 14th wedding anniversary is typically accented by gifts of ivory. Ivory, in the historical sense, is found in the tusks and teeth of elephants, boars, and even whales. It is unclear exactly when the tradition of ivory gifts actually began, but it is said to date back to ancient times. When you take a closer look at the symbolism surrounding our planet’s largest pachyderm the elephant, it becomes clear why ivory was once considered the ideal 14th-anniversary gift.
In many cultures, elephants symbolize stability, strength, and dignity. Hinduism considers elephants the ‘God of Luck’ and is said to bring blessings of new projects, and offerings of protection and prosperity. If you are in line with that train of thought, all of the lore surrounding elephants would also bless your union and marriage with those positive energies.
While real ivory may be beautiful, the international trade of ivory was banned in 1975 in an effort to save elephants, and other ivory-bearing animals, from extinction. Avoiding gifts that are made from real ivory is the only humane choice. Luckily, there are products available today that do an amazing job of replicating the look and feel of real ivory, without the slaughter.
If you want to keep with tradition, there are some ivory alternatives that are environmentally sound and awe-inspiring. Tagua nuts, otherwise known as vegetable ivory, are one of the best options to get that ivory-look without the guilt.
Vegetable ivory is made from the material of a particular type of palm seed. When the ivory trade began to slow and was aggressively outlawed, tagua nuts were sourced and used to craft traditionally ivory-made products like make buttons, chess pieces, and yes, jewelry.
Traditional 14th Wedding Anniversary Gifts
Since real ivory isn’t an option, here are some traditional 14th wedding anniversary gift ideas that pay homage to the alabaster allure of ivory, but are 100% ethical.
- Jewelry made from vegetable ivory or tagua nut
- An elephant figurine
- Statue or animal carved out of ivory-nut
- Ivory colored dress or dress shirt
- Tagua nut ivory bracelet
- Elephant themed gifts
- Adopt an elephant
- Mammoth ivory jewelry
- Walrus ivory jewelry
One lesser-known ivory-alternative is the beautiful and eco-conscious prehistoric mammoth ivory. Sounds otherworldly, doesn’t it? Well in some respects it is. Believe it or not but mammoth ivory materials are still being unearthed in tusk deposits that are found preserved in permafrost throughout Alaska, Russia, and parts of Canada. These mammoth ivory deposits can age anywhere from 10,000 to 200,000 years old and can be fashioned into bracelets, rings, pendants, and beautiful works of art.
Since jewelry made from these existing ivory deposits isn’t bringing any undue harm to living animals, it is considered a luxurious and eco-conscious choice for those that want to offer a traditional 14th-anniversary wedding present without the guilt. There are other forms of fossilized ivory as well. Walrus tusks that have been buried deep below the Earth’s surface can also be made into amazing pieces of ethical ivory jewelry to gift to your loved one.
Modern 14th Anniversary Gift Ideas
If fossilized or vegetable ivory isn’t your style and you want to take a more modern approach to commemorate your 14th anniversary, there are a whole host of creative and equally elegant gift ideas.
- Gold Jewelry - Gold has become the go-to choice for those wanting to replace ivory as a 14th wedding anniversary gift. You really can’t go wrong with gold jewelry. It’s classic, timeless, and if taken care of properly, retains its value. The options are endless when it comes to gold jewelry. Pair of nice gold drop earrings are always a showstopper, while a gold wristwatch or gold cufflinks would be an ideal gift for that special man in your life. Yellow gold is the most traditional color of precious metal, but white gold and rose gold is quickly becoming a more contemporary and popular choice for anniversary gifts.
- Opals - All that glitters isn’t necessarily gold. If your lady likes jewelry with a shimmer, opals are a beautiful, modern choice for a 14th wedding anniversary gift. Opals have skyrocketed in popularity and are quickly becoming a highly sought after stone. Some precious opals are more valuable than diamonds because of their rarity. If you want to go the extra mile and marry two modern gift choices together, you could opt for opal earrings set in gold fittings, or an opal stone in a gold ring setting.
- Agate - Agate is another clever choice. Agate is translucent quartz that comes in a wide range of colors like white, blue, red, gray, pink, black, and yellow. You can find agate set in a variety of ways to accent cufflinks, chunky fashion rings, bangle bracelets, and pendants.
- Symbolic Flower, the Dahlia - Just in case you are searching for another anniversary gift idea that is outside the realm of jewelry, flowers are always a simple yet meaningful choice. If you are going to gift your spouse with flowers for your 14th wedding anniversary, you might as well go big. Dahlias are said to symbolize inner beauty and strength, everything your union should emulate, and are remarkably beautiful flowers.
Jeweler’s Touch Reopens This Week!
Jeweler’s Touch will be opening Wednesday, May 13th, 10 AM - 3 PM, for curbside and virtual appointments!
In keeping with the theme of a slow, safe and gradual return to business as usual, we’ll be offering curbside pick-up and drop-off, as well as virtual jewelry consultations via video conferencing technology. If you have a 14th Wedding Anniversary gift to purchase or a piece of jewelry, whether it be a watch, wedding ring or necklace, that needs to be polished, appraised, or professionally resized, you can do so with our convenient curbside jewelry service.
You are also welcome to call and leave us a message at (714) 579-1616. We appreciate all of our customers and look forward to reopening and seeing you all very soon. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates.