For many centuries men, women and even children have been wearing charms as talismans to protect them from evil spirits, or as charms for good fortune and riches. The use of charms on bracelets seems to have begun in ancient Egypt where the people wore charms as signs of their devotion and to take with them to the afterlife so that their gods could name them and give them their correct rank.
In Rome the early Christians wore a charm fashioned like a fish to identify themselves to each other. During the Dark Ages, charms were used for religious identification and to indicate the lineage of the possessor. In the Middle Ages, knights wore charms to protect them in battle and the common people also carried charms. During the Renaissance the use of charms declined, mainly by the richer classes, as people became more informed and much less prone to believe in superstitions. In spite of this the less knowledgeable poorer classes still wore charms as protection against wickedness and to give them luck.
Wearing charms and particularly charm bracelets was revived in the United Kingdom by Queen Victoria who wore a silver charm bracelet with lockets containing pictures of her family. This had an immense affect on charm bracelet wearing by the people who began to wear charms, not as amulets, but as ornamental items. Lockets, family crests and beads became the craze of the day. Subsequent to the finish of World War 2 there was a huge outburst of charm wearing as servicemen brought home trinkets and beads to their fiancees from far away places of the world. Jewelers in America continued the fad and began to create charms and gold charm jewelry. Since then the wearing of charm jewelry has continued to flourish.
Today an extensive variety of charm bracelets, necklaces and earrings are available with bracelets being the most popular. The precious metals, silver and gold, are generally used though some people choose bracelets made from seed pearls or beads with precious metal charms. Bracelets differ in cost from below $100 to many thousands of dollars so are within everyone’s budget. There are lots of types of religious charms depicting saints and a huge selection of charms depicting objects and animals including dolphins, rabbits, cupids, ballerina shoes etc. One of the most popular are angel charms.
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- The Egyptian Ankh – History, Symbolism and Use in Charms
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