For many centuries men and women have been wearing charms as amulets to safe them from evil spirits, or as amulets for luck and prosperity. Wearing charm bracelets seems to have been started by the antique Egyptians who wore them as signs of their devotion and to carry with them to the afterlife, in order that the gods could identify them and give them their spoton position.
The early Christians in Rome carried a charm shaped as a fish to identify one another. In the Dark Ages, they were used for religious and political recognition and to indicate the family of the bearer. Knights in the Middle Ages carried them to safe them in battle and the coarse population also them. While the Renaissance the use faded, especially by the richer classes, as population became good educated and less inclined to be superstitious. Nonetheless the less knowledgeable poorer classes still wore charms as security against evil and to give them good luck.
Gold Bracelet
The wearing of charms and particularly charm bracelets was revitalized in Great Britain by Queen Victoria who wore a gold bangle with lockets containing images of her close family. This had a great sway on charm bangle wearing by the general population who began to wear them, not as amulets, but as ornamental items. Lockets, family crests and beads became the mode of the day. Following the windup of World War 2 there was a huge upsurge of charm wearing as soldiers brought back gems and beads to their fiancees from separate countries of the world. Craftsmen in the Us picked up the trend and began to make gold charm jewelry. Ever since the wearing of thgis type of jewelry has continued to boom.
Nowadays a broad diversity of pendants, earrings and charm bracelets are available with bracelets being the most admired. The precious metals, silver and gold, are regularly used though some population favor bracelets made from beads or seed pearls with precious metal charms. Bracelets differ in price from less than 0 to over 00 so are within everyone’s finances. There are scores of types of religious charms depicting saints and a grand selection of charms depicting objects and animals along with hearts, cupids, crosses, dolphins etc.
Charms and Charm Bracelets – A Short History