Heirloom Jewelry can be a very important part of estate planning. When someone passes away she looks to leave not just an inheritance, but a piece of themselves that can be passed on for generations to come. This is where the ideal piece of jewelry comes into play.

Most often, the piece of jewelry handed down through families is a wedding ring. An heirloom wedding ring can pass along the story of a grandparent's love that survived the ages. It can even be a way to incorporate a memory of a loved one who passed away into a wedding ceremony.

Heirloom jewelry can also be a wonderful way to incorporate family into everyday life. It is no longer just a wedding ring that gets passed on. A new tradition today is to pass on multi-gemstone jewelry. For example, a grandmother's ruby ring gets passed down to her daughter, who has the ruby incorporated into her sapphire pendant, and then the granddaughter inherits a ruby/sapphire pendant upon her mother's death. Each generation incorporates a piece of themselves and reinvents the stereotype of an old heirloom. Heirloom jewelry is the way to begin a tradition that becomes cherished and more meaningful through the ages.

Online jewelers such as, as well as other jewelers, offer another popular heirloom piece, the gold watch. Gold watches are an excellent choice of jewelry that can be handed down from generation to generation, often from fathers to sons, and mothers to daughters. Just be sure you find a piece of heirloom jewelry that will last through the generations and will maintain its integrity of quality through the years, whether it is set aside to be cherished later or worn!

Afshin Yaghtin, graduated as an English Major from UCLA before earning his Master's Degree at the University of Wales, in Aberystwyth. He now runs Apples of Gold Jewelry.