Oh So Charming

Any southern belle will recognize the charm bracelet as a piece of decorative jewelry worn around the wrist carrying personal charms (i.e., decorative pendants, trinkets or beads) that often signify important things in the owner's life. The first recognizable charm bracelets and necklaces emerged during the age of Egyptian Pharaohs. And throughout history, variations of the bracelet can be found everywhere from the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages to the Renaissance era.

The end of World War II, however, marked the explosion of charmed 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 tiny replicas of items common to the locale. Women loved the idea of a bracelet full of charms because of their sentimentality. Enterprising jewelers in the States quickly picked up on the trend to create charms for all occasions.

The look began to disappear from the fashion scene during the early 1970s when disco and bare gold chains became the rage. By the mid-1980s, bracelets that had been out of circulation for decades were showing up in antique stores and flea markets — much to the delight of enthusiasts. And the boom in collectibles in the 1990s caused demand for vintage charms and charm bracelets to skyrocket. A gold charm purchased for $10 in 1950 now easily commanded $70-$80. Vintage charms with moving parts often sold for over $100 apiece and were highly prized by collectors. Even with the advent of massive buying and selling arenas like eBay, prices for vintage gold charms remain strong and show no sign of decline. As recently as 2001, the fashion industry again discovered the lure of the charm bracelet with modular pieces that built on the success that 'Add A Bead' necklaces had in the 80s.

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—Pinehurst Magazine | Mar/Apr 2010