On May 1, 2026, I hit 20 years sober.
Twenty. Years.
The kind of milestone that used to feel mathematically impossible when I was 30 years old and white-knuckling my way through my first 90 days, convinced I’d never have a personality, a love life, or a Friday night again. (I’m still waiting on the love life part, but I’ve got the personality and Friday night plans in spades.)
Twenty years deserves more than a plastic chip rattling around in a junk drawer next to a Costco rewards card and three random AAA batteries.
Enter Cindy Kaye.
What Annum Actually Is
Cindy Kaye Jewelry is a fine jewelry line built around one collection: Annum. Not “annum” like the stuffy Latin word you forgot the second you turned in your high school exam. Annum as in: this is the medallion you collect for every year you’re still standing.
Each piece is 18 karat gold. Yellow, white, or rose, your call. Available as a small or large medallion. You can choose brilliant cut bezel-set diamonds around the edge, or an engraved rim with the number of years you’re celebrating, your anniversary date, or both.
The collection is designed to layer. To add to. The entire premise is that you come back for the next one.
If that doesn’t read like sober life to you, I’m not sure what will.
The Spiritual Path Cindy Doesn’t Quite Spell Out
Pop over to Cindy Kaye’s About page and you’ll find this sentence: “Cindy Kaye created Annum to celebrate her personal journey and honor her anniversaries with fine, elegant jewelry.”
A few lines down: “…as our company and community continues on its spiritual path.”
I see you, Cindy.
I don’t know Cindy’s full story and I’m not putting words in her mouth. What I will say is this: “personal journey,” “anniversaries,” and “spiritual path” is a sentence cluster that lands very differently in our community than it does in the general jewelry-shopping public.
Whether or not Cindy is one of us, she built a product that answers a question recovery people have been asking out loud for years:
Why does my sober anniversary gift have to be a coin made of the same material as a 90s Pog?
The Recovery Chip, Reimagined
Here’s the thing about recovery medallions. They matter. They mean something. I have cried over chips. In fact, I had a total meltdown somewhere between years four and five when my car was broken into, and all of my year one to four chips got stolen. I have handed chips to people who needed them more than I did. The aluminum token is not the issue.
The issue is that culturally, sober anniversaries have always been honored in materials that wouldn’t survive a humid August in the laundry.
Cindy Kaye took that ritual and asked a different question: what if we did this in 18K gold?
What if my eighth year and my fourteenth year and my twentieth year all hung on the same chain, in different finishes, telling my entire timeline without me having to say a word?
What if the medallion was the kind of thing worth passing down? Something that outlasts me, that carries the whole story?
What if sober women got to wear our years like the Birkin bag of the recovery world?
What if sober women got to wear our years like the Birkin bag of the recovery world?
AB
The Way You Wear Your Years
This is the part that got me.
Annum is built around layering. You collect medallions over time. You stack them. You mix gold colors. You wear your fifth year in rose gold next to your tenth in yellow next to your eighteenth in white with diamonds because year 18 feels like a flex and frankly, it should.
You build a piece of jewelry that is a literal timeline of your sobriety. A wearable, daily, around-your-neck reminder of every single year you stayed.
There is nothing beige about that.
Sober people are not delicate. We’ve survived our own brains, our own histories, and at least one chapter of life that, in retrospect, was a series of choices. We earned the right to wear gold for it.
The Practical Bits
Annum starts at $175 and climbs from there depending on size, finish, and edge. Here’s how the customization breaks down:
- Small or large medallion
- Sterling silver
- 14K + 18K yellow, white, or rose gold
- Brilliant cut bezel-set diamond edge or engraved rim
- Custom chain length
- Engraving with year number, anniversary date, or both
For the record, I’m thinking of going with a diamond-edge, large, white-gold ring engraved with 5.1.06. If I’m doing 20 years, I’m doing it all the way. ICYMI Lena Dunham just flexed her medallion on IG, and we are here for it!
Cindy Kaye Jewelry also donates a percentage of its profits to nonprofit organizations. She hasn’t named them publicly, and honestly, Cindy — we need to know more. The recovery space has a long list of organizations that could use the support, and if you’re already giving in that direction, let’s talk about it. (Contact info is at the bottom. Call us.)
You can browse the full collection at cindykayejewelry.com.
The Ritual, Upgraded
I’ve spent two decades watching the sober marketplace try to figure out what to sell us. T-shirts that scream RECOVERY in block letters. Mugs with serenity prayers in cursive. Bracelets that fall apart by year two. Rings that turn your fingers green. Some of it is wonderful. Most of it isn’t built to withstand a single dishwasher cycle.
Annum is the first piece of fine jewelry I’ve seen that takes the ritual of the anniversary medallion and treats it like the milestone it actually is.
If you’re hitting your first year, buy the small one. Engrave it with the date that saved your life and wear it like proof.
If you’re hitting your 10th, your 20th, your 30th, get the diamond edge. You earned diamonds. Recovery is the most expensive thing you will ever buy. And you get to keep paying for it, one day at a time, with every small action you take to stay sober.
And if you’re somewhere in the messy middle, white-knuckling year three because year three has its own particular flavor of weird, put one on your wishlist anyway. Your future self will thank you. That’s not wishful thinking — that’s a promise you make to the version of you who stayed.
I’ll be over here, eyeing the diamond-edged medallion engraved with 5.1.06.
Twenty years. May they all hang on the same chain.
XOXO, AB
Have a sober milestone coming up? A favorite anniversary ritual? Email us at thesobercurator@gmail.com or tag @thesobercurator. We love a celebration.
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What is the Annum collection by Cindy Kaye?
Annum is a fine jewelry line designed to honor annual milestones. Each piece is a customizable 18K gold medallion you can engrave with a year, a date, or wear with bezel-set diamonds around the edge. The collection is built to layer, so you collect a new medallion for every year you’re celebrating.
How much does Cindy Kaye Annum jewelry cost?
Annum medallions start at $175 and go up from there depending on size, finish, gold color, and whether you choose the diamond edge. Custom chain lengths and engraving are available.
Can you engrave Annum medallions with a sobriety date?
Yes. You can engrave the rim of any Annum medallion with the number of years you’re celebrating, the date, or both. For sober anniversaries, this is the entire point. Engrave your date and wear it.
What gold options does Annum come in?
Annum is available in 18K yellow gold, white gold, and rose gold. You can mix and match colors when layering multiple medallions, which is part of the charm.
Can you collect multiple Annum medallions over time?
Yes, and you should. The collection is designed for collecting. Add a new medallion every year, every milestone, or whenever you feel like marking a moment. They’re built to stack and layer on the same chain or across multiple chains.
Is Cindy Kaye Annum a good sobriety anniversary gift?
It’s one of the best fine jewelry options out there for sober anniversaries. The collection language (“personal journey,” “anniversaries,” “spiritual path”) reads recovery-coded, the medallion ritual mirrors how recovery communities already mark sober time, and the price point makes it a serious milestone gift rather than a gimmick.
Does Cindy Kaye Jewelry give back to nonprofits?
Yes. Cindy Kaye Jewelry donates a percentage of profits to nonprofit-related entities. Specific nonprofits have not been publicly named.
Where can I buy Cindy Kaye Annum jewelry?
Direct from cindykayejewelry.com. The full collection, customization options, and shop are all on the brand’s website.
