After a divorce or a major breakup, what have you done with any valuable gifts, such as jewelry?

I have kept all the stuff that I/we shared when we were still together and I relish them as reminders, remembrances of how it was.
Some I still take with me on travels, as good luck charms (also keepsakes from other people, other than my then partner).
I should add that my ex partner and myself are friends, still.

My situation is a break-up after many years when I was very young. I kept the jewelry. My situation the jewelry was not very expensive and the pieces are mostly a fashion I wouldn’t wear much anymore so the items sit in a box now. For a few years immediately following the break up I still used the items.

I thought about giving some pieces to my niece when she was younger, but never did. The rings I would have to resize to wear them now. There is one ring I could imagine using again. I don’t have very much real jewelry, especially not from that relationship. We were so young and didn’t have a lot of money to spend on jewelry.

If you only meant this to be about romantic relationships, then this doesn’t apply.

When I estranged myself from my mother a number of years ago, it was “suggested” by one of my sisters that I return the valuable heirloom stuff (some jewelry, some silver) that had been gifted to me over the years. Much to her dismay, I have no intention of doing so, as there are plenty of heirlooms and family things to go around. I will pass them on to my daughter, who is not estranged from my family

The only jewelry I had that related to my marriage was my wedding ring. I took it off as soon as we split up but it’s still in my jewelry box. Jewelry doesn’t mean that much to me except for a cameo that was my grandmother’s and that my mother gave to me. I do wear a gold chain that my Ex gave to me because I like it, it doesn’t have any special meaning attached to it.

If I had valuable jewelry and I needed money, I would sell it except for the cameo.

After our divorce, my ex wife kept the jewelry I’d given her over the years. There was a time she was bitter, but we did not have a contested divorce. We are friends now and before covid saw each other on major holidays with the children. I gave her at least one heavy gold necklace purchased when gold was much cheaper. I suspect it’s quite valuable now.

The only jewelry that my ex gave to me was one small cheap ring of which I gave to my daughter.
My ex was cheap and spent on himself lavishly while my children and I did with bare essentials.

After establishing my self and obtaining a Student loan I was able to purchase new beds, bedding, and dressers and we were well looked after then as we should had been in the first place.
I realize now that I was conditioned with a overbearing ,dominant father and thus entered unwisely into a marriage with the same or worse in this case ( selfish ,demanding and self centered ) who tried to make up for problems of dominance( overbearing mother and father) in his own family.

After my second major break up I was able to put everything I possessed into one suitcase. There wasn’t much that was valuable in it, just two wedding rings and my daughter’s first tooth.

My ex-husband did me the considerable favor of never once giving me an expensive or thoughtful gift (he even lost the cheap wedding ring I had and never replaced it). I just finished moving, and while unpacking I noted how grateful I was to avoid having to make exactly the kind of decision you are posing here.

When my ex-husband and I initially broke up, I had a few good pieces that had belonged to his mom. This included my wedding ring set, a platinum dinner ring, an opal ring, and pearl earrings. When we divorced, I gave them back to him. I didn’t want any part of them any more. He reported to me that she wanted me to keep them to pawn in case I hit financial difficulties. I told him I didn’t want them, and to give them back to her.

When I got divorced, I let her take whatever she wanted. Except the kids and their stuff. I didn’t have much of value. My wedding ring I gave to a later girlfriend who was squawking about a ring. I gave it to her and told her it meant absolutely nothing to me and it did not mean I was proposing. I didn’t have any good memories associated with the marriage except the kids and I could see them every day! So the ring was junk jewelry as far as I was concerned.