To Jessica Graham, owner of Mae’s Emporium in Fayetteville, vintage jewelry doesn’t belong stuck away in a box. When not being worn, and especially during the holidays, it should also become a focal point of your decor. Graham, with the help of business partners Lynlee Critz and Emily Digby, even uses it to trim her store, hoping to encourage customers to rethink the role of vintage jewelry within their homes. “Creating visuals is one of the things we like best,” she says. “We change our store window depending on fashion trends and seasons, and we always decorate for Christmas.”

Graham has built her collection over the course of a decade. She gathers pieces based in part on notes she keeps in a “little black book,” for clients who may be looking for a locket with their initials, or brides seeking special earrings for bridesmaid gifts. Otherwise, what she brings back to Mae’s depends on her discerning taste, and the invaluable knowledge she has gathered from experts while buying in California, New York, and the 28 flea markets she frequents across Arkansas.

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As the son of a librarian, Jim Rule developed a passion for antique books at an early age. In the nearly 30 years since he began his collection, it naturally evolved to include bookends, which may play a supporting role but have a rich and interesting history all their own. Rule’s Antiques and Fine Books, located at I-40 Antique Center in Maumelle, now features upwards of 60 pairs.

Quite simply, their main function is to hold up books. At the beginning of the 19th century, when books were printed on an industrial scale and the public’s libraries began to grow, so too did their desire for different means of displaying and accenting them. In the United States, factories like The Bradley & Hubbard Manufacturing Company responded, adding bookends to a line of products that already included clocks and sewing machines.

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