For thousands of years men and women have been using charms as talismans to protect them from evil spirits or for good fortune and riches. The use of charms attached to bracelets is thought to have been started by the ancient Egyptians who wore them as signs of their devotion and to carry with them to the next world in order that the gods would identify them and give them their correct rank.
During the early days of Christianity men and women carried a charm shaped like a fish to identify themselves to one another. During the Dark Ages, charms were used for religious and political identification and to designate the lineage of the bearer. Knights in the Middle Ages wore them to shield themselves in battle and the common people also wore charms. Throughout the Renaissance their use faded, particularly by the richer classes, as they became more informed and less inclined to believe in superstitions. In spite of this the less knowledgeable poorer classes still believed in charms as a defense against wickedness and to bring them good luck.
The wearing of charms was rejuvenated in Great Britain by Queen Victoria who wore a gold charm bracelet with lockets which contained images of her family. This had a huge affect on the wearing of charm bracelets by the general population who started to wear them, not as amulets, but as ornamental objects. Lockets and family crests became the craze of the day. After the conclusion of World War 2 there was a massive outbreak of charm wearing as soldiers brought home gems and beads to their fiancees from far away regions of the world. Jewelers in the US carried on the trend and started to make charms and silver charm jewelry. From that time the wearing of charm bracelets has continued to grow.
Nowadays an extensive diversity of charm bracelets, earrings and pendants are offered with bracelets being the most prevalent. The precious metals, silver and gold, are mostly used although some people prefer bracelets made from seed pearls or beads with gold or silver charms. Bracelets differ in price from less than $100 to many thousands of dollars and are therefore within everyone’s finances. There are a lot of kinds of religious charms portraying saints and a vast range of charms depicting animals and objects including crosses, hearts, ankhs,rabbits etc. One of the most admired are angel charms.
