After 30 Years, the Whitfields Are Closing Their Family Jewelry Boutique for Good
Mae & Rose Whitfield — the mother and daughter behind the family jewelry boutique known for its pure copper collection and their lifelong love of the metal — are closing their doors. Their famous collection is being released one final time. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
By Eleanor Hughes · Craft & Living
July 6, 2026
Rose (right) and her daughter Mae (left) at the workbench. Every piece is solid 99.9% pure copper, hammered by hand. Picture by Thomas Reilly for The New York News
After 30 years in business, Mae & Rose Whitfield — the family jewelry boutique known across the country for its pure copper collection and the mother-and-daughter team’s lifelong love of the metal — are closing their doors for good.
The announcement, made quietly to loyal customers this week, marks the end of an era for a small business that grew from a single workbench into a name thousands of women came to trust. In an age of mass production and cheap plating, the Whitfields built their reputation on one simple promise: real, solid copper, made by hand, the way it used to be.
Before the doors close, the family is releasing their famous copper collection one final time — every remaining piece, at prices they say they never thought they’d offer.
To understand why this closing means so much to the women who wear their pieces, you have to understand how it began.
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Rose and Mae in the early years, outside their first small shop — long before their copper would find its way onto wrists across the country. Picture from the family archive, circa 1998.
It began with disappointment
Rose Whitfield had worn copper for the better part of forty years. She loved the warmth of it, the way it aged, the quiet weight of it on her wrist. But every few years, the piece she was wearing would let her down — the color would rub away, a dull grey metal would surface underneath, and she’d realize, again, that what she’d bought was never really copper at all.
“I lost count of how many I threw away,” Rose says. “Twelve dollars here, twenty there. All of them fakes. Plated junk sprayed to look like the real thing just long enough to sell.”
Her daughter Mae watched her mother’s frustration build over the years. And one afternoon, the two of them decided to do something about it themselves.
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Rose’s very first copper cuff, the one that started it all — kept in a drawer to this day. Picture from the family archive.
A mother, a daughter, and a workbench
Neither of them had set out to build a jewelry company. What they wanted was simpler: one honest piece of copper that would last. So they learned to make it — slowly, by hand, at a small workbench, one piece at a time.
They used only solid 99.9% pure copper. No plating. No filler. No cheaper metal hidden underneath. Rose set the standard; Mae brought the patience and the hands. What started as two women solving their own problem quietly grew, by word of mouth, into something thousands of women came to trust.
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Mae and Rose at the bench, hammering copper by hand the way they always have — two pieces at a time, never more. Picture from the family archive.
The Magnet Test
There’s one simple test that separates real copper from the fakes. Hold an ordinary magnet to any piece. If it snaps to the magnet, there’s cheap base metal underneath — it was never solid copper. Real, pure copper is completely non-magnetic; a magnet won’t move. Every piece Rose and Mae make passes this test — not one has ever stuck.
★ Why Their Copper Is Different
What set it apart from everything else on the market
- Solid, not plated. 99.9% pure copper all the way through — no coating waiting to wear off.
- Made by hand. Each piece shaped and finished at the bench, one at a time.
- It ages beautifully. Real copper warms to your skin and deepens into a rich patina no two pieces share.
- Built to be passed down. Pure copper doesn’t wear out — a piece made today will still be here in a hundred years.
We just made the copper we’d want to hand down in our own family. If others noticed, that was a gift we never expected.
— Mae
Which makes what comes next so hard to write.
After a great deal of thought — and more than a few late nights — Rose and Mae have made the decision to close the workshop for good. The reasons are personal, and they’ve asked us to leave them there. What they will say is that this was not a decision they made lightly, and not one they ever expected to face.
They were offered the chance to sell — to let someone else carry the name forward. But every offer came with the same quiet assumption: that the solid copper would be swapped for cheaper plated metal, the bench for a factory, their name stamped on something hollow.
“We couldn’t do it,” Rose says simply. “These pieces carry our name. We’d rather they end up on the wrists of women who’ll treasure them than live on as a logo on something fake.”
So they’re doing it themselves, one final time. Every remaining piece — every cuff, bracelet, ring and pendant they have left — is being released to the public directly, at prices they never thought they’d offer.
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Rose and Mae outside the shop, taken shortly before the decision to close — the end of a chapter three decades in the making. Picture from the family archive.
A Note from Mae & Rose
We’ve gone back and forth about whether to share this. What’s happening at Mae & Rose isn’t something we planned. After a lot of late nights and difficult conversations, we’re closing a chapter that means more to us than we can put into words.
For now, we’re letting the jewelry speak for itself. Every piece has quietly been released at prices we never thought we’d offer. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
We see your messages. We feel your questions. We just ask for a little patience — and we thank you for being here, now more than ever.
— Mae & Rose
The Final Collection · While Pieces Remain
The workshop is closing — the last of the copper is up to 80% off
Every remaining piece is solid, hand-hammered 99.9% pure copper. Once they’re gone, they’re gone — no restocks, no new collections, no factory version. Discounts apply automatically at checkout.
The last of the work at the bench. When the final piece ships, the workshop closes for good. Picture by Thomas Reilly for The New York News
If you’ve ever wanted a piece of real, solid copper — the kind Rose spent forty years searching for — this is very likely the last chance to own one made by their hands.
A word of caution, in Rose’s own spirit: don’t rush out and buy the cheap imitations that flood the marketplaces. Hold a magnet to whatever you buy. The real ones are rare — and once these doors close, there won’t be more.
See the Final Collection
The last of Rose and Mae’s solid, hand-hammered pure copper — up to 80% off while pieces remain.
Visit the Closing Collection →
✓ Magnet-Test Guaranteed✓ While Pieces Remain
From Their Customers
★★★★★
I did the magnet test on an old bracelet I’d worn for years and it stuck instantly. Rose and Mae’s didn’t budge. The first real copper I’ve ever owned — so sad they’re closing.
Patricia M.
✓ Verified Customer
★★★★★
Bought one for myself and three for my daughters before they sell out. The weight of real copper is something you feel the moment you pick it up. Heartbroken this is the end.
Margaret T.
✓ Verified Customer
★★★★★
I’ve thrown away so many fake copper bracelets over the years. This one is solid, heavy, and only gets more beautiful. So glad I got one before they closed.
Carol W.
✓ Verified Customer
Before the Doors Close
When the last piece ships, Mae & Rose closes for good. See the remaining collection here.
Visit the Closing Collection →
✓ Magnet-Test Guaranteed✓ While Pieces Remain
Mae & Rose Jewels are handcrafted decorative jewelry pieces made from solid pure copper. They are not medical devices and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or health condition. This article is a promotional feature.
