In 1761 George Washington recorded the receipt of an invoice dated December 26, 1760 detailing recently received goods from London. Therein he listed "A pair 3 dropt Garnet Earings" bought from a jeweler named J. Grymes to grace the ears of his wife, Martha. In the eighteenth century, "dropt" earrings referred to earrings with removable dangling pendants. As garnet jewelry remained popular throughout the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, few pieces survive in their original state. These drop pendants were later altered into a pair of earrings.