Commonly held to be effective deflectors of the evil eye or more, charm bracelets have a long and both magical and fashionable history. We are especially taken with the way they can make statement jewelry into a literal statement. Some of us have deep and pleasant memories of playing with the charms hanging from our mothers or grandmother’s wrists. One of us recalls driving her mother mad by asking that she repeat, over and over again, the provenance of every charm on her wrist—and there were 30 of them. Remember the scissors that almost cut paper and the teeny tiny telephone charm that had a moveable dial?
Queen Victoria, the affectionate mother of nine, made gold charms more than fashionable. Upon each birth ( perhaps the first push present)Prince Albert affectionately gifted her with a gold locket that held a lock of each scion’s hair. With so many children and likenesses on her wrist; we are imagining that she made a delightful jingly jangly noise when conferring knighthoods and such.
More recent history had us commemorating our favorite horses, dogs, sweet sixteen’s and high school graduations. Wearing your sorority insignia or Phi Beta Kappa key (doesn’t everyone have one?) on a chain-link bracelet was de rigueur in the fifties. Every day of the last Presidential campaign Hilary Clinton made the wags wag when every day she wore a charm bracelet with her granddaughter Charlotte’s picture. Today’s ready-made bracelet confections are available in all kinds of metals with precious and semi-precious stones. We love these intaglio and heart-laden versions and the ones with evil eyes and hamsa charms can’t possibly hurt—can they?
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