Mother's Day is the time of year when you might be looking for a gift for a Mom or remembering gifts from the past. My first Mother's Day in 1988 I got a baby buggy charm for my charm bracelet. I got my first charm bracelet back in the 60's when I turned 15, it was a silver bracelet with a charm that said JUST 15. But let's stroll even further back to the how the charms came to be....
Charms and Charm Bracelets
Charms go back as far as the Neolithic era where man would pick up an unusual stone or piece of wood and carry it with him to ward off his enemies. Elaborate jewelry made of precious stones and metals emerged during the age of the Egyptian Pharaohs. It was during this time that the first recognizable charm bracelets and necklaces first appeared. They used them to identify themselves to the Gods when they died.
During the Roman Empire Christians would pull fish charm from underneath their garments to identify themselves to other Christians to gain entry into secret, forbidden worship activities. The Jewish scholar of that same time would write passages from Jewish law on tiny slips of parchment and carefully insert the slips into a small, golden amulet that was worn around his neck.
Let's fast forward to a time some of us can remember or maybe have a charm or an entire charm bracelet that was passed down. The end of WWII saw the explosion of charm jewelry as we know it today. Soldiers leaving Europe and islands in the Pacific purchased little handmade trinkets as gifts to bring home to their sweethearts. Native craftsmen fashioned small bits of metal into little replicas of items common to the locale. Enterprising jewelers in the States quickly picked up on the trend to create charms for all occasions.
One charm bracelet that has stood the test of time and young girls still ask for today for their sweet 16 is the famed Tiffany bracelet.
In 1889, Tiffany and Co. introduced their first charm bracelet — a link bracelet with a single heart dangling from it, a bracelet which is an iconic symbol for Tiffany today.
American teenagers in the 1950s and early 1960s collected charms to record the events in their lives. Screen icons like Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Crawford helped to fuel the interest and popularity of charm bracelets.
Bobby Socks, Disco, and the Go-Go's By the 1950s. The charm bracelet was a must-have accessory for girls and women. Today some of these vintage bracelets sell for two to three thousand dollars at auction.
The charm bracelet began to disappear from the fashion scene during the early 1970s. Disco was in and bare gold chains became the new status symbol. But in the mid-1980s charm bracelets reappeared. New-money heirs uninterested in the old baubles of their dead relatives were liquidating huge estates. Charms that had been out of circulation for decades were showing up in antique stores and flea markets.
Today you can find old and new charms for sale and there are new styles that look more like beads to me. Personally I want my charm bracelet to jingle and jangle like the good old days!
See ya next Time ~~~ Thanks for Strolling with
