I was never willing to change them for a bigger stone, but several years later, I lost a stone and it freaked me out. I didn’t know where I lost it. So I thought, ‘Oh, what am I going to do?’ Even though it’s just half a carat, it’s just a tiny little piece, they were personal. So we went back to Sears and bought the stone, and even though we could have afforded it, we charged it. We paid on it so it would feel like it was still the original.”
Dolly’s Second Wedding Ring
“Because my wedding rings were so small, and I was wearing other bigger jewelry, I had this band made just to wear with it. It says May 30, ’66. I think it gives it a little more oomph, so that it didn’t look so tiny compared to other jewelry. I love, love, love these rings together, and wouldn’t trade them for nothing.”
An Assortment of Butterfly Brooches from Dolly Parton Fans
“This collection is just a few of the thousands of things that fans have given me through the years; the ones that I always thought were the most special. They’re all special, but some are just beautiful pieces that I’ve been collecting my whole life, especially since I started in show business. I started early on, when I started making records back in the sixties—’67, ’68, ’69— and then when I started with The Porter Wagoner Show, and now my own career has gone on.
I have a whole building called The Arts & Crap. It’s some art and it’s some crap, but it’s all things that fans have given me. It’s pictures they paint or draw of me, thousands of these butterfly brooches, and many other things, some of them beautiful and some of them not so beautiful, but I know the love that went into each one and I cannot throw anything away that the fans give me. That includes the butterflies, which are my signature and my emblem, because I’ve been known to chase butterflies and get lost in the woods since I was little.”
Custom Star Ring
“My little nieces fight over who’s going to get this one when I’m dead, because they grew up seeing me wear this ring, but this little star is the first thing I ever indulged in for myself. When I felt like I had become a star, I thought, ‘Well, you know what? I’m going to have myself a ring made.’ I can’t remember the name of the jewelry store, but I had it made here in Nashville and I’ve been wearing it on my little finger for years and years and years. I’m one of those people that, if I see something I like, I’ll buy it, and if I think of something I want to have made up, I’ll just go ahead and do that.”
Parton Family Charm Necklace
“I had this necklace when I first started making any kind of money at all, because I’m very proud of my family, and love my family a great deal, and you know, there’s 12 of us children. Mom and daddy had 12, and daddy had a couple later, but anyhow, this is all mom’s and daddy’s 12 kids, and each charm has their little names and birthdays. There’s six girls and six boys, and I had this made to wear when I was on the road, because I loved and missed my family. Then I have little earrings in the same style, just a boy and a girl, which are just to say, ‘I have to have some earrings to match it.’
Platinum Butterfly Ring
“I’ve been with my manager Danny Nozell for 20 years, and in our tenth year of management he had a jeweler friend in Minnesota make this for me. I put my little wedding rings on all of the time when I’m around the house, but If I’m going to a special dinner or celebrating a hit record or there’s something fun going on, I’ll always wear this one when I go out.”
Dolly’s 50th Anniversary Wedding Ring
“My husband and I have been together 60 years. We’ve been married 58, and when we had been married 50 years, we got married again. Carl was telling everybody I was his second wife, and I said, ‘Stop saying that! I’m your first and only wife,’ but we had a wedding with all the stuff we didn’t have before with the beautiful suit and with my beautiful gown, and then we had these rings made and we both paid for them. He paid half and I paid half. Mine is a three carat diamond. I could’ve afforded bigger, and I tried the five carat, but it just didn’t fit right.”
