THERE WAS ONCE A JEWEL CASE in a household very proud of her extensive collection of precious jewels. “The clearer the gem, the higher the value of the jewel”, she used to say to the other silverware of the household and she spent countless hours studying her possessions and assessing their value. The silverware thought of all this as nonsense, as they considered all jewels as simply… “pebbles”.

One day they thought of putting her to the test. “Show us a piece that is truly worth a fortune!”, they asked her and gathered around her with great enthusiasm. The jewel case in her turn accepted the challenge, as she thought it would be a great opportunity to prove them her worth.

First, she showed them a beautiful necklace with a golden chain and a sparkling green emerald, which was gifted to the housewife by her sailor husband after a long trip to India. “Its value is estimated in the hundreds”, the jewel case told the silverware. Much to her disappointment, however, they did not seem impressed.

Second, she showed them a pair of glowing earrings made of bright red rubies, which the housewife’s man brought back after an adventurous trip to exotic Indonesia. “And this is estimated in the thousands”, the jewel case told them. Still they did not seem impressed, as they thought the red rubies were like any other stone.

“What about this then?”, she told them as she took out a flashy medallion with beads made of sapphires of many different colors: from brown and dark blue to green, yellow and orange. This one, she said, was given to the housewife by her husband after he came back from a trip to distant Australia. “Its worth is estimated in the millions”, she said, only to see them unfazed by the jewel’s beauty for a third time.

Last, she took out a collection of impressive and expensive - looking diamonds: others were clear like the water, whereas others had the colors of the rainbow. These were brought back by the housewife’s husband all the way from the jungles of Africa, after he had eventually travelled the whole world in his ship and decided to finally retire. “Their worth is estimated in the billions!”, the jewel case exclaimed with enthusiasm. Yet, even this time they were unimpressed, and so they turned their back on her and walked away with indifference.

The housewife then entered the room. As soon as she saw her precious jewels outside the box, she rushed to clean up. A long-forgotten ring then caught her attention, which was made neither of gold nor of precious gems like the other jewels. “Its worth is estimated in the tens…”, the jewel case explained to the silverware, making no effort to impress them this time.

“My precious wedding ring…!”, the housewife whispered as tears flooded her eyes. “It’s worth so much more for me than any other jewel”, she explained to the silverware who stared at her with great curiosity. She then told them the story of how her husband had bought it for their marriage when they were both very poor and couldn’t afford to buy anything expensive, just before he embarked on his first voyage to sail the world.

The silverware burst into applause to hear it, as they realized that a jewel as precious as this was nowhere to be found in the world, as it is the story behind the item that defines its value and not the materials.